Customer service
Customer service policy
Our customers have the right to expect consistently high quality service from us and we are committed to providing this.
We provide a high standard of service to our customers and will take the opportunity to put things right when a customer contacts us to advise that they are unhappy with an aspect of our work or service and ensure that if necessary, improvements are made which benefit all of our customers.
We have a customer care package in place which covers the service standards we promise to deliver, and what we will do on the few occasions that we don’t meet our promises. Our standards meet and in many cases exceed those required by the Office of Water Services (Ofwat).
Customer service action plan
• Timely and accurate production of bills for water, sewerage and other services relating to the company and to third parties.
• Ensure the despatch of bills to customers in accordance with appropriate payment plans.
• Effective handling of revenue and updating of the customer accounts and services databases.
• Respond to customer contacts in a timely manner whether they are written, by telephone or in person and effective monitoring of performance standards.
• Ensure that warnings of planned supply interruptions are provided in writing at least 4 hours beforehand depending on the length of time that the supply will be off.
Customer service KPIs
• Respond to 99% of written customer contacts within 5 working days.
• Respond to 99.8% of written customer complaints within 10 working days.
• Ensure that 99.95% of meters are read on an annual basis.
• Ensure that the companies call handling satisfaction score is 4.2 out of 5 (84%) or above.
Customer service case study
Bedlington incident
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.