News

RWA Celebrates National Customer Service Week

Oct 09, 2019

Water is essential to life, and when consumers of Greater New Haven have a question about their water service, the Regional Water Authority’s (RWA) customer-facing employees provide fast, knowledgeable and courteous assistance. From October 7 to 11, the RWA will join organizations across the country in celebrating Customer Service Week and thanking its Customer Service and Field Service Teams, which help tens of thousands of people a year with questions about their water or repairs to their service.

Customer Service Week is an annual celebration held in October, recognizing employees who work to support customers throughout the year. The RWA’s dedicated Customer Service staff are on the other end of the phone at the company’s call center in New Haven, receiving questions from RWA consumers throughout the region. The field staff make repairs and improvements to pipes, hydrants, meters and other parts of the RWA’s water distribution system.

Every RWA employee strives to provide customers with excellent customer service, and a recent survey found that customers believe the nonprofit water utility is meeting its goal. The RWA’s 2019 customer satisfaction survey, conducted by an independent research firm, found that nearly 92% of customers are satisfied with the RWA’s customer service. GreatBlue Research contacted over 600 RWA customers and found that the overall customer satisfaction index is 91.8%. GreatBlue Research categorizes a customer satisfaction index above 90% as an industry-standard, world-class metric for a water utility.

“Customer facing representatives are the front line of any business, working directly with customers, providing support and assistance when needed,” said Laura Gonzalez, Director of Service for the Regional Water Authority. “We believe our greatest strength in customer service is that when you call the RWA, you are speaking to someone in our New Haven office who is probably a customer just like you. We are proud to not only provide reliable, high-quality water and services to our consumers, but also to deliver that service in a way that exceeds the expectations of our community.”

The GreatBlue survey measured customers’ satisfaction with company characteristics, customer service representatives and field service employees. Combined office and field personnel ratings were consistently strong in 2019 at 92.1%. The largest increases in customer satisfaction over past surveys were for being open and honest about company operations and policies, being a socially responsible neighbor in the community, known as a good place to work and promoting conservation of water.

“This week, and all year long, the RWA salutes those that work directly with our customers and who are truly the faces of our organization,” said Gonzalez.

RWA customers with suggestions on how the utility can serve them even better are encouraged to email their comments to ask.info@rwater.com.