News
Water company complaints continue to fall for a 5th year in a row.
Author: Graham Mann, Water Audit Expert.
Still a staggering 150,942 written complaints were received by water companies year ending March 31st 2013, water billing and charges were the most significant areas of concern which account for 56% of the total number of complaints.
Southern Water were the worst company for complaints which increased 77% in 2013 compared to the previous year.
By contrast Thames Water achieved a 6.5% reduction in written complaints and it remained the only company to fall short of the consumer council for waters target to resolve 90% of complaints first time.
Water consultants H²O Building Services reports that nearly all cases submitted to water companies ended up in the complaints box from claims for refunds to historical billing errors through to simple requests to change billing addresses and simple billing queries. It seems requests to do anything other than sending out a bill is a problem, a steady rise in complaint submissions with not one single offer of compensation.
Senior Consultant at H²O Graham Mann explains ” The industry appears to have gone into meltdown, all I ever seem to see is “complaint” on each case we send into water companies, I have reports from our water bill validation and bureau department where simple requests such as changing a billing address from the clients location to our offices are either ignored or the task is only completed in part and often if the task is completed as requested we receive no written confirmation even though we ask for it, yet the water companies are quick to send out red reminders and get on the phone chasing payments.
The worst performing companies will lose out in the future, if and when the water market opens up as predicted in 2017 the worst performing water companies will lose customers, we are already seeing this in Scotland where we have the ability to switch our clients water supplier not only based on price but on service.
The clients that we take on board will be secure in the knowledge that they will rarely have cause to complain. When we switch water suppliers as an integral part of the package we offer our clients all future water bills are sent direct from the new water company to us first, these are then sent to our bill validation team, logged and passed for payment on the very same day, any issues we deal with them prior to payment authorisation, that way the client never has a direct complaint. This system works a treat and with the client secure in the knowledge they have water experts on the end of the phone to advise on any water related matters – That’s service!!