We are proud to provide a sustainable, affordable, clean and safe water supply and to manage and treat the waste water returned to us in a way that protects the environment.
| Bedlington incident | Virtual customer service advisor |
Our new look website was launched in October 2009 with a number of new features especially designed to support our ‘right first time every time’ philosophy and increase customer satisfaction.
One of these features is the virtual customer service advisor which aims to improve online customer service and reduces the need for people to ring the contact centre with routine enquires. The virtual customer service advisor provides an informative reply to questions twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week and is an easy way to access information quickly.
Since launching in June 2009 over 29,361 questions have been asked via the service and 93.5% of these queries have been resolved first time. (Figures relate to period 1st June 2009 to 31st January 2010).
When bursts on the water main affected the water supply to around 10,000 properties in Bedlington and the surrounding areas in July 2006 we did everything we could to restore supplies as quickly as possible to minimise the disruption and inconvenience caused to our customers.
We received the first reports that customers were without a water supply at approximately 4am on Monday 31 July and carried out ground and helicopter searches of 27km of pipework to try to locate the source of the leak. The initial burst was identified and isolated however two further bursts on the same system were discovered on 1 August. These were isolated on the same day and supplies started to return to the area that evening.
Water bowsers were distributed and bottle collection points were set up as soon as we became aware that supplies were going to be affected for a long period. Water was delivered to the elderly and to households with children under the age of 5 if it was requested by telephone.
Many people praised the efforts of the delivery drivers who delivered bottled water and drove around filling up bowsers. Brian Scott of Bedlington, said: “I was here at 6am and the guys were there handing out bottled water. They have been doing a great job.”
Under our Guaranteed Standards of Service, the 6,114 properties who were without water for at least 24 hours received a payment of £20.00.