Customer Service: Scheduling, Job Completion, and Warranty | Septic Tank Pumping Pros

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Customer Service: Scheduling, Job Completion, and Warranty

In today’s world, customer service is as important an aspect of running a company as actually conducting the physical aspect of the job. This is especially true with a company working in septic, sewage, and portable restroom fields as their services are required for sanitary and health reasons. When a construction building crew makes a mistake, it can usually be fixed later. When someone who works with sewage systems makes a mistake, it can be potentially devastating not just for the immediate client but for the community as a whole through pollution and ground poisoning. Every stage of the job requires oversight and multiple safety measures.

Balancing Emergency Service with Scheduled Jobs

The very nature of septic systems requires a company to be prepared to react immediately when an emergency service call comes in. Ideally, there are going to be enough employees to allow an emergency team to respond, but otherwise a scheduled job may have to be postponed. Most clients aren’t going to be happy when a scheduled job isn’t conducted on time as planned, but will be understanding about the importance of an emergency situation the work crew needs to address elsewhere. It always important to remember when scheduling jobs that emergencies can and do come up. It’s always a good idea to give the crew a little extra time when scheduling to avoid a disappointed client should a more important job come up.

Inspection and Bid

How to conduct an inspection and bid is going to vary according to each client. Some people want to just know a price and when the job will be finished, others want to know what is going to be involved and how the service provider plans to approach the job, along with their pricing schedule. The best approach is to have utter transparency and be prepared to explain every decision based on what the inspection determines and how experience suggests would be the most appropriate way to proceed. Even if the client doesn’t need such details, if the paperwork is filled out and kept on file it is there should it be necessary to explain details of the job later.

Finishing on Time

One of the biggest mistakes a septic and sewage provider can make is to promise to have the work complete earlier than they can realistically finish. It appears unprofessional to the client and makes them question the abilities of the company. It might be tempting during the sales pitch to suggest an aggressive time frame to better suit the client’s needs, but once the deadline is passed the client is likely to lose faith in the provider. This situation inevitably leads to more oversight and question from the client, making the job more difficult while trying to conduct the work and having to explain what’s going on.

Warranty Work and Change Orders

Ideally, a company is going to strive to never have to conduct warranty work, as the employees are well trained to do the job right the first time and the materials come from a reliable source for quality. However, if it does come up, it has to be conducted with a sense of urgency and importance as if it were still being performed for a paying customer. Even though the nature of sewage and septic construction usually precludes repeat customers, it’s simply “good business” to make sure they are satisfied with the job.

Change orders are a different matter. No matter how well the job was planned in advance there are going to be times when those plans change when a new consideration comes up during the job process. Again, transparency is key in describing to the client how the changes affect both billing and scheduling.

After the Job

Client satisfaction is often achieved after the job. A simple phone call is often enough to confirm the client was satisfied with every phase of the process, or if an aspect of the job could potentially be improved upon with future projects. A service provider may never know if a previous client has other properties or events which require the services they provide without a follow-up contact.

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