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November 2006 > Mayor Brown, American Water Announce New Customer Service Process

Mayor Brown, American Water Announce New Customer Service Process

Source/Contact
Office of the Mayor
Peter K. Cutler
Director of Communications
716-851-4841


Improvements Benefits 79,000 in Buffalo

BUFFALO, NY – Following discussions during the City of Buffalo’s regularly scheduled CitiStat Buffalo meetings, American Water has developed a new customer service process for the city’s water authority, which has been managed by American Water since 1997.

“We are very pleased with the quick response from American Water,’’ said Mayor Byron W. Brown. “Their expertise in developing a workable customer service improvement plan is indicative of their willingness to work through any problem. The swift resolution truly benefits the residents of Buffalo, and is testament to the strong public-private relationship we have developed in partnership with American Water.’’

The program’s success is the direct result of private industry and government working together through a very successful public-private partnership, said Walter Lynch, president of American Water’s Northeast Region.

“This was a team effort from start to finish,’’ he said. “We know customer satisfaction rapidly increased following the implementation of this new customer service process.’’

Among the improvements made:

Updated phone system to expand the number of lines available to customers and provide callers with an expected time for call to be answered.

Modified phone messages to reduce wait time and provided callers with additional information.

Web based payments through the City of Buffalo’s web page. This was approved by the city’s Water Board, and is expected to be in place later this month.

Provide water payment and other important customer information to the city’s public access television bulletin.

Adding messages to water bills to advise customers of new bill payment opportunities.

In less than three weeks, nearly 80 percent of customers saw their wait time for phone calls drop to less than three minutes.  Walk-in traffic at the water authority’s office has also decreased as a result of the new customer service process.

CitiStat Buffalo, launched June 16, 2006, is a Brown Administration computer-based management tracking initiative designed to provide greater accountability and efficiency among the city’s workforce.