Mayor Purzycki Introduces Wilmington 311-A New Customer Service Call Center and Online Customer Service Portal

August 18, 2020

Residents and businesses now need to dial only one telephone number—311—or access www.WilmingtonDE.gov/311 to speak with a City Department, request a service, lodge a complaint or seek information; each caller is assigned a tracking number for follow-up, resolution, and accountability of service delivery

Wilmington Mayor Mike Purzycki, whose Administration regards excellence in customer service as a guiding principle of City government, today launched Wilmington 311, a new telephone and online service for residents and businesses. The Mayor said Wilmington 311 is intended to hold the City government to a higher standard of accountability for serving customers, resolving concerns, and providing information—all at an improved pace. He said 311 is intended to make the City more efficient and accurate as it quickly resolves issues for customers.

Starting today, residents and businesses need to call only one telephone number—311—to connect with a customer service representative who can assist them in reaching a City Department, filing a service request, lodging a complaint, paying a bill, requesting information, or even sharing an idea for making the government more efficient. The 311 telephone service is available from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. During other hours, callers are directed to the City’s 311 online webpages.

The online version of Wilmington 311 is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, should residents and businesses prefer it overusing the telephone. Go to www.WilmingtonDE.gov/311 to access a service request form. The online portal is also available at the City web site home page www.WilmingtonDE.gov. Just click the green 311 Request Service button.

Regardless of whether a customer calls 311 or uses the online web form, they will receive a case number that can be used to track an issue to completion by either calling 311 and asking for an update or going online and entering the number to check the case status.

“Over the past year, we have made some good progress in reducing the wait times for customers when they call for service,” said Mayor Purzycki. “Wilmington 311 should take us to another level of customer service because it is designed to hold us accountable for tracking the calls and working as quickly as possible to resolve matters for our residents and businesses. I want Wilmington 311 to get us closer to providing excellent customer service at all times.”

The Mayor said the Wilmington 311 telephone system can be accessed from any cellular phone regardless of which company provides service to the customer. He said 311 is also accessible from home and business landlines, except for Verizon landline customers. The Mayor said Verizon is working to resolve a technical connectivity issue so its landline customers can also soon access Wilmington 311.

Mayor Purzycki cautioned that 311 is NOT a substitute for calling 911. If you have a police or fire emergency, you should always call 911. The Mayor said Wilmington’s 311 number is only for city government service requests, information, bill payment, and other non-emergency issues.

The Mayor said Wilmington 311 is another innovative initiative adopted by his Administration to improve the functions of City government, keep the public informed, make it easier for residents and businesses to interact with City departments, and encourage citizen participation. He said other programs introduced in recent years include the Park Mobile street parking and payment app; CompStat, a statistical performance, and accountability process introduced by Chief Robert J. Tracy for the Wilmington Police Department; CitiStat, a similar process used by other City government departments to improve performance; and OpenGov, an online presentation of city government budgetary and programmatic information.