Inside MLGW's Customer Care Center

Today's Commercial Appeal has a story on our call center. It's in response to the recent J.D. Power & Associates survey of business customers that ranked MLGW last for customer service. One point that seems to be getting lost is that the J.D. Power rating was for business customers, not residential. It was also the first year we had ever been included in this particular survey. There are a number of things that MLGW is doing to address this survey and customer service as a whole. This is a nice article that gives the reader a peek into the CCC and also gives an overview of what we're trying to accomplish customer service wise.


Quality push is on for customer satisfaction at MLGW
By Daniel Connolly

Wanda Jones is a 46-year-old grandmother with short gray hair who uses simple, direct questions to control her telephone conversations with customers of Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division. Her supervisors say she handles more customers than most of her peers in the call center.

They ought to know: MLGW managers track telephone performance obsessively. Computers can spit out graphs of everything from call volume per year (1.6 million in 2008, mostly on billing and credit questions) to calls handled per person per hour (10 is about average.)

This attention to calls reflects the utility's efforts to improve its customer satisfaction scores.

Negative public perceptions about MLGW spiked in 2007, when the federal government accused then-CEO Joseph Lee III of trading illegal favors with then-City Council member Edmund Ford.

The government later dropped the charges, and today's MLGW president, Jerry Collins, says improving customer satisfaction is a high priority.

There's a lot of work to do. Just last week, a J.D. Power and Associates survey ranked MLGW 90th of 90 major utilities surveyed in terms of the satisfaction of business customers.

MLGW employees say despite the perception, they do well when it comes to the basics -- like keeping the lights on.

"It's a really interesting paradox," said Chris Bieber, who oversees the call center and other operations for MLGW. "Our reliability is extremely good relative to other utilities, but our customers don't think so."

Cliff DeBerry Jr., MLGW's director of performance, said the utility also has better prices than most competitors.

He said the utility is taking many steps to improve perceptions, including providing more information during power outages and helping people lower their utility bills through energy conservation.

MLGW has also cut down the amount of time people have to wait on the phone when they call to ask about billing inquiries or other matters.

"That was big, and we think those things will improve the J.D. Power score," DeBerry said.

To cut hold times, MLGW has hired phone operators to work during busy periods, by routing routine calls through an automatic system, and urging employees to enforce credit policies consistently so they won't call around to get the answer they want, Bieber said.

Operators are also encouraged to keep calls short, and Jones is good at this.

One caller said she needed someone to see if a light fixture damaged by a water leak was safe to use.

"I'll have somebody check it for you," Jones said. She finished the call in seconds and made a note in her computer.

A call involving a debt of $922.98 took longer, and ended with Jones telling the customer she had to pay $525 or face cutoff.

Another call came from a woman with a complex story of how her sister ran up charges in her name.

"Am I making sense?" she asked at one point. "Well, sort of," Jones answered.

"Now my bill is jacked up!" said the caller, who owed $1,787.49. She had forfeited a chance at mercy when a payment check bounced, and after a long, halting conversation, she hung up.

Jones said some of most difficult calls are from people who complain that MLGW misread their meter and overcharged them. One way to make the customer happy and make life easier for the utility is to convince the person that the reading was correct.

"I offer them meter-reading instructions," she said. "And lately when they do that, they'll settle for that."

--Daniel Connolly: 529-5296

Taking the calls

About 150 people work at MLGW's call center, at 1655 Whitten in eastern Shelby County. It is open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday.

The utility has six bilingual operators who can handle calls in Spanish.

About 70 percent of callers wish to make payment arrangements for their bills. Other callers wish to report emergencies such as gas leaks or other emergencies. They also make routine inquiries.

This year, the utility aims to answer 90 percent of calls within one minute or less.