South Cambridgeshire District Council Reviews

Been waiting almost 2 years to get some outstanding repairs done. Reported it again a few weeks ago and guess what..... Still nothing done. They did however send a guy out to next door, her name and address with my phone number. He called me complaining he was outside and fed up with waiting. How rude and also what a circus. Just called the council and spent 25 mins in a queue on a chargeable number to be told the line was engaged to the person I needed. It's a joke. Luckily I have just discover that my Union covers much more than work issues. Free legal advice is fab.

Called in at 08:00 and got straight through to a very helpful and friendly lady called Janice.

Surprised at all the negative reviews they did - lovely helpful woman on the phone who politely and patiently explained everything to me. Had no wait either.

My black bin should have been emptied on Tuesday but it was missed. The following day I emailed South Cambs District council twice to report this. My emails were acknowledged. By Friday my bin had still not been emptied so I phoned the SCDC. The man that I spoke too (Simon) didn't even have the courtesy to apologise to me. He said that I was too late informing SCDC and that I would have to wait another 10 days until the next collection date. I am disgusted with SCDC.

I phoned S Cambs district council at 11.35 am today 17/10/2019 I was greeted by a very polite lady called Angela. My call related to a radiator in the hallway which caused some inconvenience for the emergency services the previous day. Angela was experiencing problems with her pc yet kept going until the problem was resolved. There are so many staff in business today which would clearly have said, please could you phone back later which is what I was expecting, yet Angela battled on and deserves to be credited for her persistency, Well done Angela

We've had the pleasure of assisting the Greater Cambridgeshire Shared Planning Service with their recruitment needs. A big thank you to the coordination and Planning Policy teams who were incredibly prompt, responsive and collaborative

Wait for about 20 minutes to get through to someone. When you finally get through and ask a straightforward question regarding council tax reduction for a disabled person, they say that they don't really know as they're just a call centre and to go on line and ask the same question!!
What a waste of tax payers money!

I submitted my DBS Certificate the same day my Private Hire badge expired and South Camb issued me a new one the very next day although I was given an estimated 5 working days time period. Thanks to South Camb for getting me back on the road super fast. I hope other services also meets people s expectations. Thanks

I would to complain about your switch board 20 minites to answer the phone is way to long when i did get a answer the lady was very helpful

South Cambs Council have absolutely no comprehension of the impact of anti social behaviour on victims and are not interested in dealing with. it.
Despite initiating a Community Trigger they are in utter denial that there is a problem. This has escalated to the point where a lovely village street has become like a sink estate.. They continue to bury their heads in the sand disregarding the misery it causes and just think the problem will go away.

Had a missed bin collection so tried to fill in the miss bin collection form only to find my address is not listed in the drop down box, so I listed as the next door property thinking I would probably get an email and I could square things up only to find at the end that the system is automated and I have now booked an unnecessary collection for my neighbour. Not sure what I should do. Its all so confusing. My address is the flat above Chesterton post office. flat above Chesterton post office CB41NG 48-50 high street Chesterton.

Some of the South Cambridgeshire team are seriously not fit for purpose. The government needs to have a separate independent body over looking the whole structure of its employment, experiences of the public, customer services successes and failures.

It is operating a bit like the Grenfell authorities with the homeless safeguarding is a joke and communication is even worse. Your website ethos does not reflect what you do to help the homeless.
You DO discriminate against them and you certainly do not help them.

Shame on all of you from top down. It appears you just want is to be paid in your roles and be comfortable at home- yes some do not have home and it s clear you are selective of who you want to give them to.

This organisation is not fit for purpose only when a Grenfell like situation happens will people want to know. I don t mean with fire, I mean unnecessary deaths due to poor decision making.

I have now been waiting for an advisor just to talk to for the past 35 minutes this is costing money to the public.

My streets flooding and just because I have a shared ownership and not a council house they wouldn't do anything!
What am I paying council tax for?

Very terrible service, I call to the council to arrange our waste collection service no one didn t tuned up . I advise anyone thinking of using council commercial waste service it is one the inconsistent we put the dustbin everyday thinking someone will come and collect but sadly no one turns up one of worst service. Council greedy on business rates .

Does anyone actually work at this council? There seems to be no one to help me with issues when ever I call. I even Facebooked and emailed them!

Update: Someone answered my call after 1h and 47 mins - and the Lady was rude to me? xD Sorry Babe. clearly me say "Hello :) may you please help me with a council tax payment issue?" - was way too much. Didn't even say I was on hold for nearly 2 hours xD

Terrible customer care and rude agents. Awful council...

I have been unfortunate enough to have to call them a couple of times in recent weeks. Both calls took between 15-20 minutes to be picked up.
Be prepared to sit in a queue I'm afraid.

Google ratings is flawed - it wouldn't let me rate SCDC 'no' stars:-(.

Very impressed!!! Yes took a little time as most councils do. But I am very impressed with the housing department one member of staff in particular Linda!! Very efficient hard working woman!!!

65 mins and 15 calls no reply .What are we getting for our money. More to the point what are they doing for their money. Tried to get through to talk to them about an environmental item finished up trying to complain about the service still no luck

I called at the county offices in person to make a query about my council tax. There was only one receptionist on duty, so I waited for 15 minutes despite the fact it wasn't busy. When I was eventually served the receptionist was very helpful and knowledgeable, handling my query satisfactorily and making it worth calling in person.

I suspect council budget cuts mean it's not possible to employ more than one receptionist, even when one is sorely needed.

Well what can you say about a Tory council. They act smug and up themselves whether your on the phone or in person. Just like my old council southend who are a Tory run council too surprise surprise. Bloody awful avoid dealing with them if you can.

Unacceptable delay in answering phones. 2 calls one of 10 mins unanswered second of 14 minutes before being connected. This clearly needs to be resolved.

With an upcoming change of senior management in the administrative side of this business unit perhaps we can expect an improvement. If not watch this review for further complaints.

This review is solely for booking an appointment - rang on a Tuesday morning ( around 10:30 ) , a few minutes on hold but the gentleman who answered the phone was helpful and professional.

possibly the worst and most inefficient badly run council in the UK today

less than 2 minutes for lovely Emma to pick up the phone, told her what information I was looking for, she transferred me to another lovely, very polite lady and information passed over within 5 minutes. Best council call I've ever had!

Having to deal with people after the death of a loved one is difficult enough, you don't need large organisations making it more difficult. You'd like to think that simply returning the keys to a bungalow rented by an elderly mother would be made as simple as possible - instead the council seem hell-bent on squeezing as much money from the deceased estate as possible. The latest episode - them asking for payment to remove an outhouse already on the property when the person took up the tenancy. Hours on hold, rude reception staff refusing to put you through to the people you NEED to speak to. So pleased I don't have to deal with them regularly.

vermin. If you owe them money, it gets deducted automatically from your bank account. If they owe you money you have to call them and face their incompetence

SCDC Do not deserve even half a star! Never have I ever come across such rude, unhelpful and ignorant local Authority and inept housing officers who breach personal data left, right and center (namely Liz Irvine and Natalie Dane) Deliberately misinform tenants (Louise Moulding - Private Sector Leasing Scheme) who rent on their private sector leasing scheme, forcing them out with misinformation and then making them "Intentionally homeless" due to them not following the correct procedures, not looking at affordability accurately, being unwilling to agree reasonable amounts to pay back arrears enabling them to uphold their decisions, not filling in PHP correctly missing off vital information, Incorrectly assessing income details to enable them to refuse help via a DHP, being unable to calculate accurately, holding pointless mediation meetings between known racists and people of colour without any support (allowing racist slurs to be used in the meeting without once stating racism to be unacceptable - Sherrie Lee) not wanting to deal with ASB issues from their own tenants who remain housed (despite them being charged with racially aggravated harassment and racially aggravated assault!! - a breach of their tenancy agreement) Defamation of character, deliberately delaying providing SAR's (affecting the appeals process) They advise domestic violence survivors to return back to where they were abused, making numerous referrals to social care who actually do absolutely nothing to support families either, refusing to deal with complaints fairly/accurately, ending their homeless duty on eviction day, not supporting families of colour with children under 4, managers higher up are even more useless and can't be bothered to investigate fairly/properly (Heather Wood) but can hold meetings about why they won't provide you and your babies with a home despite there being a genuine need and local connections. Luckily I have had the pleasure of dealing with Citizens Advice who have seen many examples of the above and are absolutely gob smacked at the level of unprofessionalism and rudeness of their staff. All of the one star reviews on here are accurate and true because I too have witnessed these scumbags colluding, being untruthful, delayed responses until the 11th hour. If you have children, their aim is to have them removed so they do not have to help you. Absolutely disgraceful and utter disregard for your rights as a British Citizen. THE CORRUPTION IS REAL

Very friendly and very helpful staff always welcoming ladies, Big thank you to all

20 minutes on the phone and STILL waiting for someone to answer.

Absolutely appalling.

The planning team at this Council did not issue a single enforcement stop notice in 2020 despite being aware of developments that have breached their planning permission by not discharging all conditions of the permission prior to beginning construction.

Source: Freedom of information request completed by this Council.

During my 2-3 years in the area, I found scdc to be very responsive. When I moved in and out of the area they were very efficient in setting us up as voters and with council tax refunds etc. They also got new bins to us very quickly. I also found it refreshing that on the one or two occasions I paid my council tax a day or two late, they were no threatening letters on my doorstep. Unlike other areas, I found living in scdc to be very respectful and courteous. I realize my experience may be in the minority, compared to the other reviews here. Maybe I was just lucky, but either way I enjoyed their approach, compared to the disorganised and threatening behaviour of other councils I have had to deal with.

They don't care about people. 0 customer service skills.
I did ask for a call back. Called them few days later and get told to wait.
Few days later court summons letter comes in. The council tax did not add up for me. I had no choice but to pay it as they threatened me with higher fees from court if I did not pay it.
Great way to suck out money from a students.

I ended up going to Shire Hall to actually speak to someone. 20 mins on hold and no answer

Very poor costumer service , they never have an answer to your question and always delaying paperwork, communication is next to nothing. Very very disappointed. I was continuously postponing to leave a bad review giving them another chance , but there is absolutely no improvement in their services. It s absolutely unfair that they expect you to be professional and in return you get to deal with incompetent staff who don t even know what it s going on in their office (I know there is a pandemic and it s hard, but it s hard for everyone ! We can t blame everything to the virus . I m writing about the past 3 years of my experience with them and it s not been good!)

Poor customer service. Spoke to a very stupid person after trying to report a serious pollution issue, they did not and could not understand what illegal engine idling meant. Gave up.

I have waited 10 mins on the end of a phone waiting for someone to reply. I AM STILL WAITING! Gail Kenney

Unfortunately some of the staff haven't got a clue why are they there in the first place, giving people wrong information and misleading them in the wrong way! They should be more trained, as people rely on them!

Im moving out of the area and want to stop council tax payments but they dont reply to my messages. How convenient! I bet they would have hounded me if I was ever slightly late paying the council tax. Cambridge city council is ace in comparison.

Unfortunately trying to sort anything out with SCDC is a waste of time public servants that don t serve the public !! The shame is I have to give 1 star to post this review SCDC don t deserve it.