“Unfortunately, there are still [water] companies that are letting customers down when it comes to service. We are pressing these companies to make further improvements to reduce complaints from their customers.” – Consumer Council for Water, 2011
Confusing bills, charging disputes, metering issues – it could be any of the utilities, it just so happens that the recent Consumer Council for Water report on complaint handling identifies these as the most common source of customer complaints in the water industry. Why? The results could have been predicted long before the report was published and I wouldn’t mind betting it’ll be the same issues that top the league table next year and the year after that. Whilst some companies are reducing the overall number of complaints, others are going backwards. Add to the mix that there is a general mistrust of utilities and the typical “flooding in winter followed by a hosepipe ban in the summer” scenario, and it’s not hard to see why the water industry has a lot to do to improve customer perceptions. But, why would they bother? Are they really serious about improving the customer experience and reducing customer effort when they operate in a monopoly? Sure, the regulator will ensure that they meet some basic, minimum standards through the service incentive mechanism (SIM) but that’s a world away from a competitive environment where the option to churn is the ultimate sanction.
Well, perhaps one way of getting a better deal for customers is to focus on reducing operating costs. Groan…that must mean an even worse deal for customers. Not so, because eliminating unnecessary contact and reducing operating costs by a benchmark 20% comes with the handy benefit of reducing customer effort and improving the customer experience. After all, most of us don’t want to be spending our time contacting our water company. You know the stuff. If you really had the time you’d call them and give them “what for” about the injustice of leaky taps, water meters and the millions of gallons of water lost due to poor water mains, not to mention the traffic jam caused by them digging up the road on the school run. But…can I really be bothered…and anyway, it shouldn’t be happening in the first place!
So how is that achieved? At Budd, our passion is to help companies to stop doing dumb things to their customers and employees. We work with our clients to implement our proven The Best Service Is No Service processes, decision flows and toolset to eliminate unnecessary and avoidable contact.
If you’d like more information on The Best Service Is No Service, take a look at the web site or contact Peter Massey on 07802 793515.
