Watchdog steps in after 50 per cent rise in customer complaints to water firm
Its customer services director says it's been a 'difficult' year
Bristol Water has come under fire from industry watchdogs after a 50 per cent rise in customer complaints in the past 12 months.
Water watchdog the Consumer Watchdog for Water (CCWater) has stepped in following a 52 per cent increase in written complaints from customers to the water firm during 2017/18.
Statistics show that in 2016/17, a total of 1,028 written complaints were made to Bristol Water, rising to 1,560 in 2017/18.
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The increase in complaints about Bristol Water was higher than any other company in England and Wales, according to the figures published in CCWater's annual complaints report today (September 20).
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The report also shows that the number of Bristol Water customers that had to pick up the phone to resolve a problem during the year rose by almost 37 per cent.
The number of phone calls made to Bristol Water regarding issues in 2016/17 was 26,229, rising to 35,885 in 2017/18.
CCWater has called on the firm - which will now come under closer scrutiny from the watchdog - to address the rise in complaints.
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Bristol Water and two other water companies have been told to report back to CCWater by the end of October to explain what steps they are taking to improve their performance.
David Heath CBE, Western Chair for the Consumer Council for Water, said: "We are disappointed to see such a large increase in complaints from a company that was once among the better performers in the industry.
People complaining to Bristol Water has risen 68 per cent (Image: Luis Tosta)
"We recognise that is has been a challenging year with a number of major incidents causing disruption to customers' supplies but we want reassurances that the company is taking swift action to improve so it quickly returns to a position of strength."
Across England and Wales consumers had to make more than 2.1 million telephone calls to resolve problems last year, with nine out of 21 water companies reporting an increase.
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Four companies also reported an increase in written complaints from their customers, although the number to the industry as a whole fell.
Bristol Water
Fewer household customers had to turn to CCWater for help resolving a dispute in 2017/18, with the watchdog handling 6,815 complaints from household customers – down 13 per cent.
The watchdog helped to return almost £1.4million in financial redress to customers.
Customer services director says it's been a 'difficult' year
Ben Newby, Bristol Water's customer services director, said it had been a 'difficult' year with a number of major incidents which led to an increase in calls.
He 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 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.
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"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."