Lack of response to graffiti removal request

[Frustrated09]

Myself and other neighbours have requested TELUS to remove graffiti on Telus boxes located on Smith Ave and Farrow St for over a year now without any result. What is the delay?

[Frustrated09]

This is in Coquitlam, BC

[A-B]

I can flag this to our field team to look in to. They perform cleanups in batches based on location and obviously, it's sort of a never-ending battle. They'll get to it asap.

[Frustrated09]

As of yesterday the graffiti has not been removed. It’s been over a year! This is a growing residential neighborhood and high foot traffic area. Graffiti tags represent a lack of care and pride in a neighborhood. TELUS needs to do better and respond to these complaints on a more timely basis. I would highly suggest TELUS wrap these boxes so they don’t get tagged again. Please remove graffiti asap!

[TELUS_Support]

Hey @Frustrated09 we flagged this graffiti to our team and our team will do what they can to remedy the situation. Unfortunately there is a lot of graffiti so the team is putting out small fires everywhere. Even if they were wrapped, graffiti is paint so they would paint the wraps anyways. Please give us some more time to have the issue fixed

[Frustrated09]

I had made the City of Coquitlam Bylaws Dept aware of this graffiti in early 2023 and they had reported these tags to you as well at that time. Is it normal to take over a year to remove graffiti on your street level boxes?

Studies have shown that the best way to reduce the spread of graffiti is to remove it quickly and to prevent it from returning. Prompt cover-up/removal is the most effective method of combating the problem. If graffiti is covered-up/removed quickly, future acts of graffiti are discouraged. Also, the sooner removal is attempted, the easier it is to remove the graffiti.

Further, studies have shown that wrapping boxes in art deters taggers from putting graffiti on things that aren’t a “blank canvass” and are interesting to look at.

I would highly recommend TELUS out source their graffiti removal as the current graffiti removal methods / teams are ineffective.

[Frustrated09]

Hello? Any response to this?

[TELUS_Support]

Unfortunately we don't have insight into the graffiti team's processes or routes that they take so I would not be able to provide an update. 

- Eric

[Frustrated09]

The graffiti has not been removed, it’s been over a year. One of the TELUS boxes has also been damaged. This is what happens when your infrastructure is not maintained. See images in this thread. When will the graffiti be removed?

[WestCoasterBC]

Graffiti is everywhere, it's a NEVER ending job. There is a lot of infrastructure that needs to be taken care of. That being said if the appropriate team was notified, you will have to wait till it's on the route to be taken care of. There is a VAST area to be covered and they can't instantly be deployed to one box.

[Frustrated09]

I would like a TELUS Manager or Supervisor to look into this matter ASAP. There is an underlying issue with the team that deals with graffiti. Either they are understaffed or avoiding doing their job! 

[TELUS_Support]

This has already been flagged to our field team to look in to. Dealing with graffiti is, as was already mentioned, a never ending job that they are dealing with daily. We can send another follow up email to the team on this specific location.

[Frustrated09]

I find it hard to believe that it takes over a year to respond to a cleanup graffiti request if they are working on it everyday. As I have mentioned in previous responses above, why can’t these boxes be wrapped to prevent it from happening again and avoid the long delays if it gets tagged again? Has someone been by to assess the damage to the one box I reported? 

[TELUS_Support]

I'm sorry that this is taking longer than you'd expected @Frustrated09 but this is a never-ending issue. There are other users that have reported other graffiti in this forum. We appreciate your patience

[Frustrated09]

Have the other users been waiting over a year for action? I look forward to your response

[Frustrated09]

Can you provide an update as to when this graffiti will be removed?

[TELUS_Support]

This has been flagged to our field team to investigate. Unfortunately we don't have insight into the graffiti team's processes or routes that they take so we wouldn't be able to provide any further updates. 

[Frustrated09]

Please provide me with a name and email contact information for the manager / supervisor responsible for this team. 

[TELUS_Support]

Unfortunately we don't have insight into the graffiti team's processes or routes that they take. All contact information is internal. 

[Frustrated09]

Please provide me with a name and email contact information for the manager / supervisor responsible for this team. 

[TELUS_Support]

This is not information we can share.