Complaint assessments of water companies
We carry out assessments of water and sewerage companies to see how they deal with customer cases when we’re not directly involved. This helps us be the voice for all water consumers, not just those who ask for our help. Our assessments provide:
- Assurance that companies follow processes and guidelines consistently
- A way to capture and share focus areas and good practices across the industry to improve service to consumers
- An up-to-date view of what good looks like
How we carry out assessments
We spend two days in-person with companies. We randomly select complaint cases from a recent period and review them from start to finish with company personnel. We assess:
- Process: How the company follows its published processes and the household complaints guidance
- Culture: How the company’s culture is reflected in the service provided to customers
We give feedback in-person at the end of day two of the assessment and in a detailed report sent to each company two weeks later.
Companies we’ve assessed
Each quarter, we publish the reports for each company assessed in the previous quarter. There are two sections for each company
- Good practice: Summary of the areas where companies demonstrated good customer service that should be continued and shared across the industry
- Areas of focus: Summary of the areas identified during the assessment that companies will focus on to improve customer service
We’ll be following up the area of focus with quarterly meetings, insights from complaint handling and yearly assessment.
Good practice
Written responses
Southern Water’s outbound written responses to complaints have been designed to be easily readable and understood. Sub-headings that cover the key points of a complaint and the steps being taken to provide a resolution are used as standard. Next steps and options for the customer are clear and easy to follow.
What does this mean for customers?
The work and focus on written structure allows for accessible and clear responses that focus on the issues that are being raised and the outcomes and actions taken. It contributes to customers not having to make further efforts to understand how their complaint has been reviewed or the steps being taken to resolve it.
Good at getting in touch
Southern Water ensures that outbound calls from its complaint team are preceded by text messages which outline who they are (including a named contact), when they’ll be calling and the options for this to be rearranged if not convenient for customers.
What does this mean for customers?
The process provides confidence for customers that their complaints are being reviewed by a named contact and provides clarity around when that person will be in touch. It allows greater ownership for customers to discuss their complaint at a time that suits them, increasing the likelihood that a productive conversation is held and resolution reached.
Complete and detailed system notes
Southern Water’s case management system uses AI to generate system notes for incoming telephone contacts, providing a clear audit trail. It provides a full transcript of calls, key points and options for resolution/next steps to advisors. Human intervention is still a key part of their process to ensure these are accurate.
What does this mean for customers?
It provides confidence that the issues customers raise are recorded and understood by the company. This should reduce the need for multiple conversations about the same issues and increased effort being put on customers to repeat themselves multiple times during longer-term complaint processes. It should also provide clarity and focus for complaint handlers regarding the key points they need to address.
Insights from customer contact can also be used to drive better overall performance and service.
Understanding complaints
The assessment provided evidence that Southern Water’s complaints team carry out end to end reviews of customers’ complaints, previous contacts and circumstances prior to responding (either by phone or in writing). This preparation and understanding was clearly reflected in the majority of the responses provided from the complaints team.
What does this mean for customers?
There is an increased chance that complaints can be resolved swiftly. Equally, considered and appropriate resolutions are provided. Additional aspects, such as any relevant extra support available to customers, can be understood and discussed. This understanding can also lead to better root-cause analysis for the company, allowing for proactively resolving any issues that lead to customer dissatisfaction.
Areas of focus
Customer service during major events
During the assessment we saw evidence that in the aftermath of a recent large-scale water outage, Southern Water’s messaging and responses to those affected caused some increased customer effort.
Due to the nature of the event, Southern attempted a different approach to the usual way they would manage compensation. Resulting from this we saw some delay in decisions being made on compensation levels and a lack of clarity regarding who was eligible, meaning a difficult experience for their customers was sometimes compounded.
The surge in complaints resulting from this had the knock-on effect of causing issues with resourcing to deal with inbound contact.
What will Southern Water be focusing on?
Although this incident presented some unique challenges, the company has agreed that it has learned from this and will re-focus on its strategy for responding to major incidents. It will ensure that all staff are briefed regularly with the latest information and appropriate, straightforward customer messages are provided.
Messaging on compensation will be proactive, clear and customer friendly and, at times of high customer contact, resourcing will be appropriate.
Training for inbound call handlers
Although the quality of outbound calls was found to be generally high, the assessment highlighted several examples of inbound calls raising new issues being responded to in a manner that caused customer effort and detriment. Some advice was unclear or incorrect and there were examples of responses that were not customer-friendly. As well as examples of complaints not being responded to well, the call handling itself, through simple omissions such as a lack of straightforward apology, sometimes became the reason for complaints being raised. Equally, opportunities to provide relevant information to customers regarding the Priority Services Register, or available financial support, were sometimes missed.
What will Southern Water be focusing on?
The company have agreed that its focus will be on continuing to provide training on key, topical, areas of concern to customers, so that call handlers have a broad understanding of these issues and can provide clear and confident advice.
Not every issue can be responded to straight away and on these occasions Southern Water will explore how it can improve the support given to front line teams from subject experts. There will also be a focus on the tone of call handling to ensure that the company’s empathy and willingness to help is reflected.
Refresher training on where broader support or affordability conversations are appropriate is a key area to be worked on.
Clarity and jargon busting
The use of jargon in the water industry and, accordingly, in communication to customers is a widespread problem and this was reflected during the assessment, particularly in some of Southern Water’s operational responses.
We saw some customer effort being driven by a lack of clarity from the company regarding the technical context of complaints. There were examples where a lack of understanding of processes and associated timescales led to confusion and dissatisfaction.
What will Southern Water be focusing on?
Further efforts will be made to build on the clarity provided within Southern Water’s written responses and eradicate the use of technical jargon. More frequent use of diagrams, where appropriate, will be explored and a larger suite of ‘Jargon Buster’ videos will be offered to customers.
This focus will help customers to better understand how their enquiry/complaint is being handled and reduce the need for further contact or unnecessary uncertainty.
Case management outside of the complaints team
The assessment provided examples of transactional customer contacts not always being given the same focus or scrutiny as complaints. Follow-ups were sometimes missed and timescales for responses not adhered to.
People should not need to make a complaint to receive great customer service and have their contact dealt with in a clear and structured way.
What will Southern Water be focusing on?
There will be increased scrutiny of non-complaint contact handling and how the standard of this can be improved across front-line call centres, operational teams and contractors to ensure that promised actions are carried out and responses are clear, detailed and complete. This should stop customers from having to complain regarding service failures that are easily avoided and within the control of the company.
Good practice
The desire to put things right
During the assessment South West Water demonstrated its drive to do the right thing for customers – when issues were uncovered it acted quickly to address these. In some cases customers were called the same day and new processes were put in place.
What does this mean for customers?
South West Water’s focus on swiftly reacting when issues were flagged is something that customers should be able to expect in their day to day interactions with the company. If something goes wrong, it is clear that South West Water will want to try and put things right as soon as possible. Equally, it was clear that longer-term improvements were being driven by lessons learned from specific issues.
Well written responses
During the assessment CCW saw examples of well written complaint responses from both South West Water’s Billing and Operational teams. The structure and language used was generally customer friendly and free of jargon. With some minor tweaks, the company has a strong foundation to build on.
What does this mean for customers?
Responses being well written, clear and accessible means that customers of South West Water should be able to fully understand the company’s response and next actions. The need for further contact from customers in order to ask additional questions or seek clarity should be reduced. It was also heartening that the company is willing to take steps to improve further – increasing the benefit for its customers.
The right people picking up the phone
The assessment provided some strong examples of the benefits of South West Water having the right agents on the phone. We heard difficult calls being handled in an informative, level-headed and clear manner. The company has developed a ‘tone of voice’ handbook which should help grow this good practice across teams.
What does this mean for customers?
Complaints can be emotive and complicated – having the right people in the right roles on the front line means that customers should be able to expect a measured and productive conversation when contacting South West Water. Having empathetic and knowledgeable staff on the phones leads to mutual understanding and being able to get to the root of any issues so that they can be resolved.
Quick actions and responses
The assessment provided CCW with examples of South West Water being able to respond quickly to customers on the back of swift operational/technical action being taken.
What does this mean for customers?
Ideally this results in peace of mind that any necessary work is generally carried out quickly and the customer is informed, providing a full resolution of the issue.
This speed of response, both on site and via customer communication, should also mean that any follow-up issues can then be addressed without the customer journey being unnecessarily extended.
Areas of focus
Case management and customer effort
There was evidence during some case reviews that the level of customer effort in having a complaint resolved can be high (e.g. the need for repeated contact/the customer driving the complaint) and South West Water’s case management was not always as robust as would be hoped (e.g. further actions not completed, missed follow-up contacts).
What will South West Water be focusing on?
The company has agreed that it will explore a more structured approach to case management and look at how clear ownership of a customer’s case can be introduced, not just during the complaint process, but from first contact to last.
South West Water aspire to take the lead in resolving a query/complaint and remove the need for customer effort. The introduction of a new CRM system should greatly assist with this.
Process gaps
There was evidence during one case that there are gaps in the Customer Leakage process, specifically the join-up between departments. This led to significant problems with the progress and resolution of the complaint.
What will South West Water be focusing on?
The company has agreed to explore ways to improve the relationship between the complaints/contact teams and other departments (metering, operations, etc.).
It will consider where there are gaps in processes that can lead to a smoother journey for both customers and its own staff. One such solution, related to the Customer Leakage process mentioned above, was identified during the assessment.
Empathy and understanding
During the assessment there were some examples where empathy and understanding of a customer’s circumstances was not to the standard it could have been. This was most noticeable in cases where customer vulnerability was present.
What will South West Water be focusing on?
The company has agreed that further training will be carried out (centered around the ‘tone of voice’ handbook previously mentioned) and all areas of the business will focus on always putting the customer at the heart of their communications and actions.
South West Water will also ensure that the needs of those customers in vulnerable circumstances are recognized and responded too.
Quality Assurance Process and root-cause analysis
Some cases reviewed during the assessment would have benefitted from a more robust Quality Assurance (QA) process being carried out by South West Water. Some mistakes and unfulfilled follow-up actions were missed, even in retrospective checks, leading to errors not being remedied, and customer complaints/enquiries going unresolved. Equally, there were some gaps in understanding of where and why general queries were becoming complaints.
What will South West Water be focusing on?
The company has committed to improving the existing QA process to ensure that lapses in case handling and customer service are addressed and learned from in a structured way. Immediate actions will be taken where necessary for specific customers, and broader process issues will be recognized and resolved.
A greater focus on root-cause analysis will be embedded, helping the company to better understand what is driving customer dissatisfaction.
This process will extend to all customer service not just complaint handling.
Good practice
High quality front-line case handling
During the assessment we reviewed a number of cases where initial contact was handled by Anglian’s off-shore team. The quality of contact handling was the best we have seen/heard from an external contact centre and provided a strong basis for complaints to be resolved swiftly.
What does this mean for customers?
The service provided by Anglian Water’s front line staff means that customers can be confident that transactional contacts can be quickly and effectively responded to and more complex queries or complaints will either be answered or recorded in a way that allows the specialist complaints or operations teams to have all information needed to address customer concerns.
Detailed and consistent file notes
Based on the cases reviewed, the standard of file notes being recorded by the company was generally high. This meant that cases were easy to understand and allowed case handlers to gain a clear understanding of case histories at the point of handover or escalation.
What does this mean for customers?
It provides confidence that the issues customers raise are recorded and understood by the company. This should reduce the need for multiple conversations about the same issues and increased effort being put on customers to repeat themselves multiple times during longer-term complaint processes. It should also provide clarity and focus for complaint handlers regarding the key points they need to address.
Seamless handovers between teams/departments
We saw a number of cases where customers benefitted from Anglian’s process of transferring over contacts to handlers who had the experience and knowledge to fully address complex complaints. This was done smoothly and reduced the customer journey.
What does this mean for customers?
This process means that, not only should customers have their complaint dealt with a member of staff who has the specialist knowledge and expertise to address it fully, but this is done without the need for effort on their part. The hope is that this should resolve queries/complaints swiftly and fully.
Fast, high-quality responses
During the assessment we consistently saw responses to customers being issued swiftly, both by phone and in writing. These were generally of a high quality and, in the majority of cases, provided a resolution, or at least clear plan for resolution, of the relevant issue.
What does this mean for customers?
This speed of response, via all channels, should mean that customers can get answers or move towards the resolution of their issue faster. The ideal is that no customer has to spend extended periods of time waiting for an answer.
This also allows the space for follow-up issues to be addressed without the customer journey being unnecessarily extended.
Areas of focus
Priority Services opportunities
During the assessment we saw several examples where customers, who could have possibly benefitted from extra support or help, were not informed of the Priority Services Register or the assistance available to them.
What will Anglian Water be focusing on?
The company has agreed that it will focus on ensuring that PSR sign-up opportunities are explored with customers on a consistent basis. This will be done through refresher training for agents and understanding when and how to discuss any assistance or support that may be needed by people, both by phone and in writing.
Repeat customer contacts
Exemplified by one of the cases we reviewed, it was apparent that Anglian Water does not currently have a process for mapping repeat customer contact. Such a process would allow it to identify, and appropriately case manage, customers who are having to contact it multiple times.
What will Anglian Water be focusing on?
The company will be looking at changes to its system and how to introduce a report or process that will identify customers, in real time, that have been in regular, recent, contact. This will be used to better focus on customers that are either experiencing repeated issues or not receiving a solution to an on-going problem.
Reducing the customer journey
We reviewed some cases where customers could not be assisted by the company any further and it was appropriate to move the process on to either the next step of the complaints procedure (CCW) or another body (DWI, etc). This was not always done in a clear and consistent manner – creating further customer effort.
What will Anglian Water be focusing on?
The company is keen to look at ways to strengthen the advice provided to customers. If there is nothing it can do to help or resolve a complaint, the company will ensure it makes this clear at the earliest opportunity and accurately provide advice on the next steps open to the customer.
‘Close the loop’ with customers
Based on the cases reviewed, we identified an opportunity for Anglian to enhance the consistency of their ‘close the loop’ process, particularly for verbal complaints. While written responses are generally already followed with call attempts, we noted that in some verbal cases customers were left needing re-contact the company following closure due to outstanding queries or issues.
What will Anglian Water be focusing on?
An embedded ‘close the loop’ process (ideally a phone call) would help in ensuring that there is a clear end point to complaints, all points are covered and customers understand any next steps open to them. The need for customers to take the lead in contacting the company with follow-up points, or questions, should be greatly reduced.