ATCO Gas Australia’s customer service team has been acknowledged with a silver medal win at the 2013 National Customer Service Excellence Awards. The team was chosen as a recipient of this prestigious award among some stiff competition across a range of industries.

Customer Service Council Chairman, Chris Lejmanoski said that the ATCO Gas Australia Call Centre was selected from a large field of entrants as the 2013 National Silver Medal Winner for Customer Service Excellence – Small Enterprise or Division of Business. “The ATCO Gas Australia call centre team are guided by a customer service philosophy that is transparent and demonstrated from the top down, and from which the call centre has developed a relevant and cohesive statement specific to their needs. These service standards are available to customers through a number of mediums,” Mr Lejmanoski said.

ATCO Gas Australia President, Brian Hahn said the award is well-deserved recognition of ATCO Gas Australia’s call centre team from the customer service industry. “The ATCO Gas Australia call centre plays a critical role in the delivery of safe, reliable, cost-effective, customer friendly, environmentally sustainable natural gas service. The team’s standing in this competition acknowledges their commitment to delivering this service to our valued customers with the highest level of skill, professionalism and dedication to customer service excellence,” Mr Hahn said.

The call centre was selected as a finalist in this competition based on their submission to the Customer Service Council, outlining in detail how the team delivers excellence in customer service through responding to all varieties of calls.

As part of the final judging process representatives from the call centre delivered an in-depth presentation and took part in a Q&A session in front of the Customer Service Council Panel Judges. “The Panel Presentation clearly demonstrated a relaxed and engaging interaction with an evident depth of knowledge and understanding of the business, principles and practices of great customer service,” said Mr Lejmanoski.

Other assessments included “mystery shopper” phone calls, a website review and an evaluation of a 3-minute video about the call centre. Shoppers Anonymous conducted the calls on behalf of the Customer Service Council and the feedback included the following comments;

“The most positive aspect of this encounter was the proficient manner in which they handled my enquiry.”

“The experience made me feel special as they made sure I was aware of how to go about organising a new gas connection.

I would recommend the business to others as they took opportunity to verify I was comfortable with what steps to take to start the process. I found they gave me all the information I needed to allow me to progress with my extensions and digging.

I was farewelled in a very cheerful and pleasant manner.”

Key elements which entrants are rated on include;

Response times
Quality and depth of service including product, people and process
Staff satisfaction
Innovation
Communication
Technology, customer access
Reporting.

Mr Lejmanoski said the call centre has good foundations for customer feedback and reporting with results reported upward and downward throughout the organisation. “Operational Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are in place to ensure customer safety and satisfaction, with alignment and rigour around Gas industry and Energy Regulation Authority code obligations,” he added.

Winners were announced at a gala awards evening held in Perth in front of an audience of special guests including keynote speaker, The Right Honourable Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi, Customer Service Council Board members, sponsors and other medal contenders.

About ATCO Gas Australia

ATCO Gas Australia owns, operates and maintains the largest reticulated gas infrastructure in Western Australia. The gas reticulation networks serve the greater metropolitan area, inclusive of Mandurah, as well as regionally including Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Albany, Bunbury and Busselton.

With the combined networks covering approximately 13,300km, ATCO Gas Australia is pleased to provide safe, reliable, cost effective, environmentally sustainable natural gas and LPG connections to approximately 667,000 businesses and residential customers in the state.