General Inquiry Standards

• All inquiries will be handled in a timely, courteous, and professional manner, in either official language
• The identity of the person handling the inquiry will be provided in all correspondence - verbal, written, or electronic
• All inquiries that cannot be handled directly will be referred to an appropriate source

Telephone Standards

• During core business hours (08:30 to 16:00 EST), phone calls will be answered by at least the fourth ring or the phone call will be forwarded to a voice mailbox, which is checked on a regular basis
• All calls will be responded to within 24 hours (according to time zone differences)

Mail Standards

• All correspondence will be responded to within 24 hours of receipt
• The nature of the inquiry will dictate the exact response time. If an extensive search is required, or a conclusive response is not possible within that time, an acknowledgement with an anticipated date of response will be sent immediately

Walk-in Standards

• Core business hours for staff-assisted service will be 08:30 to 16:00 EST, from Monday to Friday (except for statutory holidays)
• Fully trained personnel will provide prompt, courteous, and professional service, in either official language

Feedback mechanisms and complaint handling

• Verbal and written complaints will be forwarded to line management and acknowledged within two days, with a final response depending on the nature of the complaint
• ISO Quality System Improvement Request (QSI) [PDF, 93.5 kb, viewer] forms are available (in paper or electronic format) for logging a complaint and will be forwarded to an ISO representative for immediate corrective action with preventive measures according to priority
• After investigation, an immediate response will be given to the client either verbally or in writing
• Products damaged in shipment or supplied incorrectly can be returned for exchange, replacement, or refund within seven days of receipt

Principal contact of the Cartography section

A/Manager, Scientific and Technical Publishing: Andrew Moore