I Am The Customer: Listen to complaints and resolve them

Chris Thewlis, director of customer service and sales (domestic), Npower:

“According to Ofgem, 52 per cent of energy customers who complained were planning to switch or had switched as a result of their experience.

Equally, the Institute of Customer Service says that four out of five customers spread the word if a complaint has been handled badly.

It’s therefore self-evidently good commercial sense to listen to complaints and make sure they are resolved first time, and well.

But, more than this, complaints present our industry with a real commercial opportunity: they let us hear first-hand about a problem with our service, product or processes – and that gives us the chance to investigate and improve.

For a long time, the utility industry – Npower included – might have seemed like it wanted to prevent customers complaining, by burying telephone numbers in the small print on bills, or in an obscure part of the website. The impression was that we wanted to avoid actually speaking to customers.

At Npower, we’ve realised that is not only deeply annoying, but it also means we might be missing out on insights that it would take several focus groups to hear.

That’s why anyone who’s had an issue gets my contact details in case they want to speak to me, and why I’ve put my name and contact details front and centre of the complaints section of Npower’s website: I’m actively seeking out any opportunity to hear from customers with any issue, large or small. At Npower, we’ve had some well-publicised services issues, but by listening closely to our customers, we’re seeing our customer satisfaction improve day-by-day.”