Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs), the organisation behind Direct Debit, has welcomed a shift towards better customer service from within the water industry.
New research published by The Consumer Council for Water revealed a 17% reduction in the number of customer complaints last year. It also showed that complaints have decreased by almost a third over the last two years.
Bacs’ recent White Paper, ‘The Value and Challenges of Good Customer Service’, reveals that negative experiences relating to Direct Debit, a payment method used by more than three in five water company customers, often involve a lack of personal attention and poor communication. This highlights the importance of further investment in staff training on Direct Debit and other methods of payment.
Graham Callaghan, Bacs water sector manager, said: “We welcome any move from within the water industry to improve customer service and many companies still fail to recognise the importance of excellent customer relations.
“There are many ways in which companies can achieve a stronger bond with their customers, including regular training to ensure staff are fully confident to deal with any enquiry, even when it relates to a service such as Direct Debit.”
Bacs offers a wide range of staff training that can be used to enhance both basic and advanced knowledge of Direct Debit. This type of training can directly influence how quickly customer service team members can assist with any queries or issues.
Bacs’ training materials include Direct Debit for Dummies, a free, mini reference guide in the best-selling ‘Dummies’ series, designed to help staff get to grips with the basics of Direct Debit in less than 10 minutes.
Other training tools from Bacs include a range of five on-line, interactive, courses designed to train customer facing staff in all elements of Bacs payment products, processes and procedures, and a range of accredited training courses, provided in association with external facilitators.
For more information about Bacs’ portfolio of Direct Debit training solutions please visit www.bacslearning.co.uk.
Copies of Bacs’ customer service white paper, “The Value and Challenges of Good Customer Service”, are available from www.bacs.co.uk/whitepapers