COLD WEATHER HEATS UP EASA LINES

2010/06/24

The unexpected icy weather certainly created challenges for Europ Assistance SA’s Call Assist team on the 17th of June 2010, however our contingency plan was quickly put in place the influx  was handled with the same care and committment to great service that our customers are used to receiving.

Slippery roads, rain and even snow in some areas around South Africa took the Europ Assistance SA’s call centres by storm.  Europ Assistance SA has never experienced such an influx of calls and many of these calls related to burst pipes and geyser problems due to the sudden drop in temperatures around the country, with the majority of calls coming in from Gauteng and the Free State.

With an average of 300 cases managed per day on Home Assistance, the more than 1300 cases logged on 17 June 2010 put our case managers and agents under severe pressure.  Service providers were in turn inundated with calls and had a backlog of 60 to 100 cases each.  The service providers were around the clock to assist with the backlog and in addition Europ Assistance SA made use of more than 180 additional service providers. 

Our clients can be assured that our contingency plan always includes appointing additional call centre agents and case managers. Our Business Excellence and Training departments continue to monitor call volumes and services levels at regular intervals to ensure this very busy period is well managed and clients are assisted as quickly and effeciently as possible.