Spotlight on National Customer Service Week

Here at Welsh Water, good customer service isn’t just something we focus on one week of the year, but all year round.

What else would you expect from a company whose vision is to ‘earn the trust of our customers every day’?!

Our Diolch initiative sees customers nominate our colleagues for rewards who’ve gone over and above to help them. We’ve picked a handful to showcase below:

Dean Quigley

Network distribution inspector

We were recently called to help Glamorgan County Cricket Club with an issue that could have jeopardised their future cricket matches and events. They were experiencing intermittent issues with their Sophia Garden stadium’s water supply and called us for assistance.

Dean was called to site to investigate the problem. "I arranged to meet the customer at Sophia Gardens, he showed me his internal tanks and private pipework. Water was only trickling into his holding tanks. I then identified which meter was feeding the holding tanks and quickly identified there was an issue with our meter restricting the flow of water into the site.

"I informed the customer that the meter had to be changed and would require the water to be shut off for a period for the work to be completed. The customer gave us a suitable time and date and I arranged for our contractors to meet me on site, so I could isolate the water main to allow them to change the water meter safely. Afterwards I checked their holding tanks again and water was freely flowing in and filling the tank, making sure it would be full in time for their next major event."

Dan Cherry, Head of Operations at Glamorgan County Cricket Club, said "Thanks to Welsh Water for moving so speedily to get it all completed. We’re already seeing the benefits and are really pleased with the results."

Ashleigh Curtis

Specialist support customer advisor

A customer was struggling with their bills, and everything was getting on top of them. They contacted Welsh Water and were blown away by the support shown by Ashleigh:

"I think Ashleigh Curtis is very worthy of this award. I was at breaking point and due to Ashleigh’s patience, kindness, friendly approach and her understanding all of my concerns, I was left feeling like a huge weight was off my shoulders. Ashleigh is very professional too. She dealt with all my problems with such excellence. Nothing was too much for Ashleigh. I now am reassured that this huge worry is dealt with and that is because of Ashleigh. She went away, sorted my extreme worry out and rang me back to tell me she had sorted it all. What a credit to the team and to Welsh Water."

Chris West

SHEQ Advisor at our partner Morrison Water Services

Chris witnessed a serious crash on his drive home from work and was the first person on the scene to help. Immediately stopping his vehicle and running to the scene, he pulled a man out of a vehicle, realising he had a serious head injury.

Chris administered first aid by applying direct pressure to the man’s head wound. Putting the man in the recovery position, Chris checked for other injuries and made sure the man was stable. He continued to speak to him and treated him for shock by keeping him warm.

When the ambulance and police arrived, Chris gave them an assessment of the man’s injuries and the treatment administered. He then helped the ambulance crew put the injured man on a stretcher so they could take him to hospital.

Before working at Morrison Water Services, Chris served in the armed forces so he is familiar with responding to serious incidents. He said: "I completed two tours of Afghanistan and one of Iraq but this was my first time dealing with a road traffic collision."

Richard Carne & Ben Roberts

Repair and Maintenance Operatives at our partner Morrison Water Services

A customer was walking with her sister in her wheelchair on a narrow road where Richard and Ben were working. They let the customer know they would move the digger out of the way so they could get past. The customer said:

"My sister has obvious additional needs and once the digger was moved, they asked if we needed the engine turned off while we walked by. All without a hint of irritation when this is clearly extra hassle for them. I consider this to be OUTSTANDING service. Thank you so much."

Whether our colleagues are out at a customer’s home, driving on the roads or even driving home from work, they are encouraged to always try to do the right thing.

While we may not always get things perfect first time (who does), we are proud to have people that care for our customers and will always do our best to provide great customer service.