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B-Bot virtual assistant

B-Bot is our virtual assistant who can answer questions and help you find information on our website about a range of council services, including:

  • bins, rubbish and recycling

  • births, deaths and marriages

  • Council Tax

  • libraries

  • roads, travel and parking

  • schools and education

  • street care

How to use B-Bot

You can start chatting to B-Bot by selecting the blue 'Let's chat - Ask B-Bot' icon in the bottom right corner of our webpages.

Let's chat - Ask B-Bot

For B-Bot to provide the most relevant answer to your query, it's best to use a short phrase or specific question, such as:

  • How do I order a new blue bin?

  • I want to apply for a single person Council Tax discount.

  • Report fly-tipping.

  • What do I need for registering a birth?

  • What time does Dodworth Library open?

B-Bot will use information published on our website to answer your question. After providing an answer, you can ask B-Bot a follow-up question about the same topic if you need more information, or ask about something else.

If the phrase you enter is too general (eg if you just typed in "bins" or "schools"), B-Bot won't be able to give you the best answer, as it needs to know specifically what you'd like to find out about within that topic.

Artificial intelligence (AI)

B-Bot uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate most of its responses.

Any answers generated by B-Bot using AI may not always be completely accurate. You should always check important information on our webpages. When B-Bot generates an answer using AI, it'll provide links to the webpages it's used when generating the answer. 

By using B-Bot you acknowledge and understand that any AI-generated answers may include mistakes.

Chat conversation

You can restart your conversation at any time by asking B-Bot to "start over".

You can minimise or close the chat using the icons in the top right of the chat window. Your conversation history will stay in the chat window until you close the chat.

If you want to download a copy of your chat, select the icon in the bottom left of the chat window to download the conversation transcript. Once you've closed the chat window you won't be able to download a copy of the chat.

Privacy

If you chat with B-Bot, we may collect and store:

  • chat conversations

  • completed surveys

  • automatic information, such as your IP address, operating system, type of browser and geographic location

Depending on your enquiry, B-Bot may ask for things such as your postcode, house number, or other details in order to give you a response. For example, this might be so it can provide you with your bin collection days.

We won't collect any information from you that isn't needed for B-Bot to perform its intended function. Any extra personal information you do choose to submit to the chatbot is done so at your own risk.

For some topics, B-Bot will transfer you to a customer service advisor to continue your chat. The advisor may ask you for more details, such as your name and address, so they can assist you. This information may be shared with other council services if needed, to help resolve your enquiry.

See our B-Bot privacy notice for full details.

Feedback

At the end of your conversation with B-Bot you can rate your experience of using the chatbot. This will help to improve B-Bot in the future. You can also leave us feedback about the chatbot, including telling us if you had any problems or if B-Bot answered incorrectly.