NWC looking for bidder for call centre
THE National Water Commission is now looking for a new bidder to whom it will out-source its call centre operations, which handles more than 13,000 customer calls a month.
With its current contract with Grace Kennedy Teleservices Ltd coming to an end in September, the utility company says it is hoping to get the services at a less costly rate, or with more features.
Grace Kennedy Teleservices Ltd had the contract for about two to three years and according to NWC public relations officer, Charles Buchanan, the contract was not terminated but had simply run its course.
One of the options now being explored by the Commission is the addition of a bill-reminder feature for it customers, similar to the system now used by Cable and Wireless Ja.
Most customer calls into the call centre, Buchanan said, centered around problems with customers’ bills.
“The vast majority of the calls are billing complaints, the next category of reporting are for leaks and the third most complaint is no water in areas, or (other) complaints,” Buchanan said.
The Office of the Utilities Regulation (OUR) which polices the island’s utility companies, has said the NWC has improved its customer service performance over many months and is no longer the most complained-about utility. For instance a Market Research Ltd survey, commissioned by the OUR, this year found that customers were most satisfied with the NWC’s service and least satisfied with that of the power company, the Jamaica Public Service.
The OUR did mention, however, that all three utilities needed to improve billing procedures for its customers.
On Monday, Buchanan stressed that the sourcing of a new call centre provider would not translate into any job losses for NWC employees.
“It should not be interpreted that out-sourcing the call centre will lead to laying-off of employees as a result of the activity,” he said.
The issue of job losses is particularly sensitive for the company at this time as the NWC will this month cut about 200 jobs as part of the recommendations out of a KPMG Peat Marwick audit. The audit was commissioned last July to find ways to cut costs after the Government wrote off $6.5 billion in NWC debt.
Buchanan said that no worker had yet left and was unable to give details as to when they will be required to leave.