Supplier Reps - Discussion

backfoot

Davehsug,

That is such a brilliant summary and strikes a chord with me. We would all like to think that the middle Managers and the workface people are the same as us. They want to give good service and want to be trained and learn the job.

Along the way, something has gone wrong within these organisations and I think it is on two levels. Firstly the move to Customer Service Advisors sitting in banks of staff, despatching volumes of queries rather than resolving them. Secondly, the overall culture of these organisations knocks out initiative and individuals do not own problems or find solutions. Instead again, speed in removing the problem from your own in tray/screen is the objective. There is no ongoing accountability.

If the culture of the frontline is like that,then more than likely the Complaints handling will be much the same. In nearly all cases the responses received to queries are of very poor quality.

We can currently contrast the Supplier Reps on here and Eon are getting the balance correct between the personal touch and an obvious effort to listen and provide the relevant advice. Eon seem to have found three complaint advisors who have grasped that they need to engage and manage the customer problems and the regular posters who try to represent them.

The rest are currently running well behind and sadly it is likely to come back and hit them hard either sooner or later.

Terrylw1

Sadly, you are both right.

Culture is often the problem in these companies. A change in directors can also cause a complete shift in the attitude of their managers and work environment. So, you get a shift from end to end working because new director sees transactional work & endless "handing off" as more efficient...then a different director sees end to end as more customer centric.

I really hate the handing off method as it removes ownership. It also causes staff to be trained in a limited way caused low morale.

Amazingly, these service related companies have start to adopt Continuous Improvement techniques such as Six Sigma in the past few years. This teaches the organisation to appoint process owners and to cut out all this transportation. Sadly, whilst many use it...its the directors preference that devalues it which causes a big rift between the various staff grades.

Hanging off rather than end to end working is well known for causing longer processes and bottle necks as you tend to find the upstream/downstream managers don't talk, hence its constant firefighting.

Call centres are a way to shield the back office from the basic day to day queries and the rest is electronically handed off to them. The back office guys do the complicated lengthy stuff so you need to speak to them. Back office managers then do their best to stop you accessing them.

I can't speak for Eon as an organisation, but the fact they are open and state they need to do some digging instills confidence for me. I wouldn't expect customer facing staff to know all the complex metering stuff, it takes a long time to learn, but I have confidence that they will find someone who can. That's a mark of good people.

Another basic premise of CI such as Six Sigma is to gather your customer requirements and make your services fit. The Eon reps (and those within who are backing them) have got this right. It doesn't need to be a complicated fact find, it can just take an open approach in listening to customers.

Its good that despite the politics, its business as usual for the Eon reps.

Terrylw1

The last time the Npower rep shows activity is 15/11/2021 13:26.

Backfoot posted that the rep was viewing the following thread at 10:35.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4273611

Still no response or even courtesy contact post.

The creator of that thread posted on a separate thread to get the reps attention drawn to their thread shown here.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4284693

Backfoot also prompted the rep on a separate thread replied to later.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4286035

So, Backfoot's prompt did lead to the thread being viewed but nothing was posted.

Terrylw1

Last activity by British Gas company representative is 26/10/2021 at 13:54.

Says it all really. Can't even be bothered to log on.

So, their rep status should be revoked as its clear they are not on here to be useful.

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig

Thanks Terry and backfoot for 'prodding' npower.

It is also good to document the threads: see Post #14 - above in this thread.

"Adam at npower" has now posted in the
Warning: npower accept new customers without sending them a Contract
thread - Post #63
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/57346441#Comment_57346441

I have replied.
One way to read the 'whole situation at npower' is that the issues were ongoing from at least August 2012 until last week. At the moment, I've not come to the firm conclusion that all is OK.

It will be interesting to read npower's answers to the questions I asked on 06/11/2012 (nearly two weeks ago).

25.6_Pre-contract_oblig

snowcat53

Any idea when and how often the EDF rep posted, or did they retire hurt?

Terrylw1

snowcat53 wrote: »

Any idea when and how often the EDF rep posted, or did they retire hurt?

The EDF rep joined 19/10/2010.

Last activity was 19/10/2010 at 14:37.

They posted once on a thread to contact them! They did at least put 2 alternative forms of contact on their profile page but they clearly didn't want to be on here at all.

They wasted MSE's time in approving them.

I guess it just ticked a box for them.

They should definitely be revoked and not approved again without serious commitment and MSE monitoring.