Overview 2.3.4 Citizenfriendly communication Communication with the Public • 224 consultation days with about 1,379 personal contacts • 7,850 people contacted the AOB personally or by phone • 17,307 people wrote to the AOB (6,115 women, 9,796 men, 1,396 groups) • 29,210 documents comprised the AOB‘s correspondence • 14,352 letters and e-mails were sent to authorities • 100,000 hits were registered on the AOB‘s website The AOB‘s success can also be measured based on its acceptance among the population. This in turn is demonstrated by how much the population makes use of its services. The figures above impressively show that many citizens approach the AOB if they feel that public administration has treated them unfairly. The fact that contacting the AOB is very easy and informal plays an important role here. Complaints can be made in person, by phone or in writing. The service hotline is available for free for anyone looking for assistance. Consultation days give citizens in all Laender the opportunity to discuss their concerns with one of the members of the AOB in person. This service is also used intensively: 224 consultation days with more than 1,300 personal talks took place in the reporting year. This number is up from last year (2012: 213 consultation days). Consultation days 2013 2012 Vienna 80 52 Lower Austria 30 32 Styria 25 21 Upper Austria 20 27 Salzburg 20 24 Carinthia 18 21 Burgenland 16 14 Tyrol 10 14 5 8 224 213 Vorarlberg TOTAL AOB highly accepted among population 19