Unpopular opinion: the 311 app made things worse for me, not better

Six months ago I started reporting stuff through the ABQ 311 app instead of calling, and the difference is night and day. A broken streetlight on my block got fixed in 4 days through a phone call, but the same kind of report through the app sat for 11 weeks with zero updates. I think the app just dumps everything into one queue and the phone line gets you a real person who actually routes it. But my neighbor swears the app works great for him, so maybe it depends on what you're reporting. What's your experience been, does the app actually get results or is calling still the move?

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caleb_ross1222d ago

The part about the app dumping everything into one queue really hits home. Here's a thought nobody has brought up yet: the timing of when you send the report might matter more than the method itself. I sent a pothole report on a Tuesday morning through the app and it got patched within a week, but a friend sent the same kind of report on a Friday afternoon and it sat for over a month. My guess is that reports sent right before the weekend just pile up and get buried by Monday, while a call during work hours gets logged while someone is actually at their desk. So maybe it's not app versus phone, it's whether your report lands in front of a person when they're on the clock. That could also explain why your neighbor swears by the app and you don't, since you two are probably reporting at different times of day.

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