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EWOV Connect - Summer 2009
Message from the Ombudsman
Reflections on customer service
We recently released EWOV's 2009 Annual Report (see page 2 for more information and links).
We received a record number of complaints—mainly due to problems within one large energy retailer’s business, as it continued to recover from a major
systems upgrade in 2007-08.
We found ourselves having to pick up and resolve far too many complaints that this company, and others, should have resolved themselves. Too many customers told us their company didn't respond to their concerns, or took a long time to respond. Too many said they felt the company wasn’t taking their complaint seriously.
Our messages to the companies are clear:
- They need to act now to integrate the learnings from the events of 2008-09, and previous years, into their business.
- In planning major changes, they cannot afford to underestimate the potential effects on their customers and staff.
- There will be more problems than they expect and they will take longer than expected to fix.
- The effectiveness of their contact centres will be reduced significantly as soon as any new system goes live.
- Service recovery must be their top priority.
Fiona McLeod
Energy and Water Ombudsman (Victoria)
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