We have today responded to the Consumer Council for Water’s report into unwanted contacts and written complaints: Ben Newby, Bristol Water’s Customer Services Director, said: “I am very disappointed that so many customers felt the need to contact us in the past year and that we have moved from being among the better performers in the industry. The past year has been one of the most difficult in the company’s history, and we are pleased that CCWater has recognised that four major incidents, including the largest burst in the company’s history, led to an increase in unwanted calls and written complaints. “This certainly isn’t an excuse for our performance, and we are committed to improving our customer satisfaction and we will continue working closely with CCWater. While this report shines a light on areas in which we should focus, we are already making great strides in improving customer service which has been seen by a drop in complaints already this year. We are increasing the number of people we have answering customer queries, introduced new ways to track meter installations from when the customer requests it to when it is installed, improved customer contact channels including our new website and LiveChat, and setting challenging targets to ensure we reduce leakage – one of the areas of most concern to our customers. “In fact, we’re so determined to improve our performance that our new business plan commits us to moving from being the best water company for customer service – as measured by the Institute of Customer Service (UKCSI) this year – to being named the best utility, and we know we won’t achieve this without making significant improvements. “We will now review the full detail of the CCWater report and the recommendations it makes, and will provide quarterly reports addressing the issues highlighted.”
