Consumer Power! (or, how to complain effectively) (Combined Utilities in general)

Member Name: miriamb

Product:	Combined Utilities in general
Date:	18/05/02 (745 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: can get things sorted out better and quicker

Disadvantages: requires patience and may be contrary to natural instincts!

I work in one of the many dreaded ‘call centres’ for a national gas and electricity supplier. Although I’m writing from this experience, I think you can apply the general principles to any call centre operation – banking/finance, telecoms, mail order shopping, etc.

At some point everyone (except the really lucky!) has cause to complain, and what I basically intend to do is advise, from my experience, how best to do this and get an acceptable resolution.

- Method of communication –

Your first point of contact is likely to be the person at the other end of the phone. Whilst they will no doubt try to resolve your problem, it’s worth noting that they will generally have a set time that they are allocated for each call, eg 2 minutes. So if it’s a quick query this is fine, like amending the name on the account or correcting your billing tariff, but if it’s a bit more complicated, don’t expect miracles. You’d be better off writing.

If you contact by letter you will almost certainly get more attention and a better chance of resolution first time. Energy suppliers are obliged to provide a 5 day turnaround on written correspondence, which will be answered by staff who therefore have substantially more time to sort out whatever the problem may be.

It varies from one company to the next, but as a rule, I would suggest taking the time to write a real letter rather than sending an email. Access to external email is very limited within call centres and therefore your complaint is less likely to be logged as ‘written correspondence’ and dealt with accordingly.

- What to say –

Firstly and most importantly make sure that your letter is legible and has the correct name and address or account number on it. It sounds obvious but you’d be surprised! It’s particularly important to include the relevant details if you’
;re writing on behalf of someone else, for example an elderly relative. If the person reading your letter can’t decipher your writing or identify who you are, you can’t really expect them to be able to help.

Secondly, give a brief description and history of the problem, and how you’d like it resolved. This will save time in the long run.

Thirdly, don’t be abusive or unpleasant. Sarcastic or offensive letters only put the person reading it on the defensive and you’re aiming for a sympathetic response. However don’t ham it up, for example if your bill’s very high it’s not really relevant that you’ve just had a family bereavement. The person reading your complaint will be more sympathetic if you’re honest and straightforward about the problem in hand and don’t think you’re just out for compensation.

The general idea is to imagine yourself as the person who’s reading the letter, it’s your job and you’ve probably seen this problem several times before. Resolution is basically an objective thing – there’s a problem so how can it be fixed? Anything further to that, eg a goodwill gesture, is discretionary.

- Goodwill and compensation –

There’s a difference. Compensation is generally only awarded if you’ve actually suffered financial loss. For example, if you’ve had to make numerous phone calls (but don’t expect reimbursement for Freephone calls!) or had a bank charge because of a billing error.

Goodwill is a payment or gesture that the person dealing with your complaint feels is appropriate, and will ultimately be an investment for the company. So, if you’re in the process of transferring your supplies to another supplier, it’s extremely unlikely that you’ll get £50 because that money simply won’t be made back in your future custom. Bear in mind
also that goodwill is not dependent on your income, for example, £15 to a pensioner is a lot more than it would be to a solicitor, but the level of goodwill payments won’t be affected by your individual circumstances.

In most utilities, the independent regulator will have stipulated ‘penalty payments’ for specific failures in service. The company should produce a customer service leaflet that details these. For example, if you wrote a letter and had heard nothing back within 5 working days, in the energy industry you’d be eligible for £20. Check the smallprint though because companies have an incredible way of justifying non-payment.

- People are people –

Be aware that although you may have had an appalling experience with The Company, the person answering your points is not The Company, just someone that works for it. And they are probably even more critical of The Company than you are. Don’t be offensive to individuals, they’re trying to do the best they can within the parameters set out by The Company.

People who end up working with complaints tend to take their job very seriously and have a genuine commitment to helping people (believe it or not!), and you won’t get very far if you undermine their efforts before you’ve even given them a chance. If you’re pleasant and appear to be co-operative you will generally get brilliant service. If you do, keep hold of the person’s name and number and if you have problems in the future go straight back to them. If you’ve had really exceptional service from them, please take the time to write a note just to say thanks – there’s no financial benefit but it will be massively appreciated. (Think of it like a Crown but without the £1.50!)

- Indirect contact –

If all this sounds like too much hard work, you can contact a variety of external agencies who will make the compla
int on your behalf. These include the Citizens Advice Bureau, the regulator, and your MP. The best of these is the regulator as they have infinitely more clout than either of the other two. For energy suppliers, this is energywatch (consumer branch of OFGEM), who have various regional offices. You can contact them via the website www.energywatch.org.uk, which also gives their central phone number and address.

- Summing up –

~Remember the ‘do as you would be done by’ approach. A small investment of your good nature will bring much better returns than wasting your energy by screaming insults down the phone!

~Be reasonable – don’t DEMAND goodwill gestures.

~Give them time to sort it out. But if they’re dragging their feet, pester them. They’ll want to sort it out even quicker if they know you’re going to be phoning them every hour.

~Accept their limitations – not everyone will know how everything works and they may not be able to address every problem themselves. Equally, make sure you’re complaining to the correct people; if you’re computer’s packed up it may not be because workmen were digging up the road, it might be that your computer is faulty.
Also, for gas problems, energy suppliers will not be able to call out their own engineers. Work to gas supplies or meters is carried out by the transporter (for most homes this is Transco) so there’s no point ranting at your energy company if they didn’t turn up when expected – the staff are likely to be cursing Transco too.

I’m not making an apology for bad service, I agree it shouldn’t happen but this requires much greater investment from The Companies involved in terms of staffing levels, training, etc. What I’ve tried to do is explain how to complain most effectively, so if something does go wrong, at least you’ll be better prepared whe
n you try to get it sorted out.

Unfortunately, everyone makes mistakes from time to time, and it’s not realistic to expect a body of people to be perfect just because they work for your energy supplier, or bank, or in any service sector company. The primary concern for everyone should be simply getting the problem sorted, and the best way to do this is to foster personal commitment from whoever ends up trying to untangle the mess!

Hope this helps…

Summary: