5 common customer service issues with business water supply

Your bills may not match your usage

One of the most frustrating problems you can face often involves receiving a water bill that doesn’t reflect what you’ve actually used. This usually comes down to your supplier relying on estimates instead of real meter readings. If your meter isn’t being read properly, or frequently enough, your supplier will make an estimate based on your historical usage instead. While that can work fine for domestic customers, for business owners it can end up failing to account for key changes in your day-to-day operations, like seasonal demand, staffing changes, or extended closures.

The end result is that you might end up overpaying for water you haven’t used, or face a very unwelcome surprise when an undercharged bill is corrected months later. What’s more, it can become incredibly difficult to budget or spot patterns in your water use when your billing isn’t based on accurate data. Now, some suppliers can set the record straight with relatively little fuss – but for others, the process may be notably more difficult or time-consuming.

Slow responses to issues

When something goes wrong – maybe a leak, a billing error, or an unexpected spike –it’s fair to expect a quick response from your commercial water supplier. Unfortunately though, delays aren’t necessarily uncommon, and that can leave you stuck chasing updates while trying to keep your business running. And as you’ll already have surmised, the longer you’re waiting, the more impact the problem has on your operations – especially if it disrupts your day-to-day activities.

The situation can get even trickier if the issue falls into one of those notorious grey areas, like when it’s unclear whether it’s the responsibility of your supplier or your landlord. As you’d expect, people are rarely eager to accept that responsibility on their own initiative. That can leave you caught in the middle indefinitely, creating ever-greater amounts of hassle, admin, and stress – especially if you’re forced into the role of de-facto mediator. In fact, that leads us neatly on to…

Problems with communication

Business owners often report that the quality of communication can vary drastically between different suppliers. Some businesses find it relatively easy to get in touch with their supplier – but if you’re not one of them, it can all too often end up feeling like an uphill battle. One common complaint involves spending a long time on hold, only to speak with someone who can’t help or doesn’t understand the account. Similarly, email or online contact forms might involve a delayed response (if one ends up coming at all). Some responses may even contradict earlier statements by different staff, which can be hugely frustrating.

Experiencing an issue can be frustrating enough, and it can be equally irritating when you feel you’ve got a relatively simple issue or query that’s taking a disproportionate amount of time to get answered. It’s no wonder so many people choose that basis on which to make the switch.

Unclear documentation

It’s one thing to have a problem, but it’s worse when you can’t even figure out what your rights or responsibilities involve. Another common problem for business owners involves being into a contract they didn’t necessarily realise would auto-renew. Equally, you may have known that sinking feeling of being hit with charges you don’t understand, hidden in the fine print or wrapped up in jargon-heavy terms and conditions.

Even something as simple as checking your past usage or downloading a copy of an old bill can be a headache. If you can’t get hold of clear, straightforward documents when you need them, that can make it nigh-on impossible to stay in control.

Limited support for multi-site businesses

Customer service issues constitute a major component of the challenges often faced by multi-site businesses, as management can get ever-more complicated when different sites are involved. It’s not unusual to be dealing with multiple suppliers, different billing systems, and separate points of contact for each site. That means more admin, more room for error, and potentially more wasted time.

Ideally, you’ll obviously want your supplier to help you coordinate things – to give you one bill, one support channel, and a single view of your water usage across all your sites. If that kind of support doesn’t seem to be forthcoming though, that can leave you trying to stitch together different systems and conversations yourself, with no clear way to manage everything from one place. If one site has an issue, it can often be a battle just to get the right person involved – and trying to resolve it without disrupting your wider operation becomes even harder.

This is just a sample of some of the more universal customer service issues that we know so many of our customers often find themselves dealing with – you may well be experiencing even more specific ones of your own!

If so, that’s where we can help here at The Business Water Shop. With a network of trusted suppliers at our disposal that spans across the UK, we’re perfectly positioned to get you the most competitive water quotes for your business. In fact, we’re able to save some customers up to 55% on their water bills, and you can count on us to use all our resources and industry expertise to get you the best deal.

It only takes a few minutes to get your online quote – so if you’re thinking about switching business water suppliers, there’s never been a better time to do it!