San Diego’s popular Get It Done tipster app recently expanded to allow complaints about vacation rentals and will soon allow complaints about city parks and hundreds of new electric vehicle charging stations.
City officials say the 9-year-old app, which gets more than 1,000 complaints a day in 65 different categories, is becoming more liked by s because they now more frequently get “after” photos when problems get fixed.
They’re also considering adding more categories for complaints — such as stop signs that are frequently run, areas where speeding is common and problems with parking meters, which are set to spread to more neighborhoods under a new city plan.
The app could also help officials and residents cope with an expected wave of deep budget cuts this summer that’s likely to slow city response times to many types of problems.
Officials say the app will help residents lower their expectations appropriately, because it estimates for s how long it will likely take to fix the problem they reported based on previous reports of the same problem.
Despite steady innovations and upgrades, city officials still want to improve customer satisfaction with the app. During 2024, just over half of those surveyed rated the app either a 9 or a 10 on a scale of 1 to 10.
But satisfaction varies widely by complaint type.
s reporting graffiti are satisfied 91% of the time, and s requesting a new trash bin have a 75% satisfaction rate.
But s reporting a parking violation are satisfied only 23% of the time, and those reporting a streetlight problem just 28%.
Dissatisfaction with parking violation responses is particularly problematic because that’s the No. 1 type of complaint submitted to Get It Done, making up 61,443 of the 391,561 complaints made in 2024 — about a sixth.
“It’s one of the highest volumes, but also historically it’s been one of the lowest-scoring on customer satisfaction,” said Alex Hempton, who oversees the program as interim director of the city’s Performance and Analytics Department.
The second most common complaint, illegal encampments, is also a challenge. Only 40 percent of s express satisfaction how their reports of illegal encampments get resolved.
Hempton told the City Council’s Rules Committee last week that his department began sending more “after” photos in late 2024 and that they have seen better satisfaction numbers since.
Also, in response to a 2022 city audit, the department revamped when it marks a complaint “closed,” because many s objected to complaints being closed when the problem hadn’t actually been solved.
Now, s typically get estimated completion dates for reported problems and interim progress reports.
But Councilmember Kent Lee said he still frequently gets complaints from constituents that cases are closed prematurely or without explanation.
Councilmember Vivian Moreno expressed frustration that Get It Done is so internet-based, when many San Diegans lack access and rely on telephones to ask city officials questions or report complaints.
In 2024, 11% of incoming reports were received by phone calls, 32% through the Get It Done website and 57% through the smartphone app. The app has the advantage of using GPS to determine the location of a problem without the having to describe it.
Moreno noted that city officials say Get It Done saves money because it would be much more expensive to hire enough customer service operators to handle by phone all the complaints submitted through the website and app.
“Missed in that analysis is the cost of leaving behind lower-income communities and senior citizens without access to an iPhone or laptop,” she said.
The city recently expanded the app to begin allowing complaints about violations of the city’s short-term residential occupancy law, which places a long list of restrictions on vacation rentals and the people who rent them.
Another newly added category is violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires the city to make curbs friendly for people who use wheelchairs and other accommodations.
Coming this year will be the opportunity to report problems about individual city parks or recreation facilities.
Lee praised that change, noting he gets lots of complaints related to parks. “Having a way to funnel those will be helpful,” he said.
Also coming soon will be a category for the 400 electric vehicle charging stations slated to be installed in parking lots at beaches, libraries and other city facilities over the next five years.
Reports of malfunctioning chargers will be sent directly to the contractor that will install and oversee the stations. Initial rollout of the first 10 stations is scheduled for the end of the year.
Hempton said his staff is trying to go beyond surveys to determine how to make the app more useful. They recently did hour-long, one-on-one interviews with 27 s — three from each of the city’s nine council districts — to gather information on what actual s truly want.
Council President Joe LaCava said the city officials who oversee Get It Done should be praised for always seeking ways to improve it.
“We’re doing great today, but we can do better tomorrow,” he said. “We’re never satisfied.”
