Protecting not just the home, but the residents too.

Not all emergencies are caused by faulty appliances.

At the beginning of this year, our contact centre took a call from a young woman who was upset that a contractor had failed to attend as soon as possible. Our advisor was very alarmed that in the background of the call she could hear the customer’s boyfriend who was very irate, shouting and demanding that the problem is fixed. What was equally as frightening was the sound of the caller’s children screaming and crying. Our advisor asked the caller if she was ok and the caller replied in a shaky voice that she was when the line suddenly went dead.

The advisor tried to call her back immediately and the phone went straight to voicemail, which caused the advisor a great deal of concern for the safety of the caller and her children. After leaving a voicemail, the advisor immediately alerted their Team Manager to the nature of what they had heard in the background of the call.

During this time, the customer had called back and was speaking very quietly. She told our advisor that her boyfriend had gone to bed, so they took the opportunity to once again ask the caller if she was ok. This time, she broke down in tears and said that she needs to leave the property and didn’t feel safe there with her children.

After speaking with our in-house escalation team, it was agreed that she should be moved into temporary accommodation for the night and a further investigation would take place the following morning. The caller was extremely grateful at this outcome.

“I was happy I was able to de-escalate the situation as best as I could. Not everyone admits they need help; however, I believe I have a duty not just as an advisor but as a human to look out for everyone I encounter” – The advisor who took the call.

This situation was obviously very difficult for our advisor and for the caller. Unfortunately, callers can understandably become irate when things don’t happen as expected. Our advisor was able to recognise that the level of anger from the caller’s boyfriend was not normal and that the caller and her children may not be safe in the home. By allowing themselves to be compassionate to the caller’s personal situation, the advisor was able to look past the issue with the contractor and propose a solution that would take the caller and her family out of a potentially dangerous environment.