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The problem solvers

Executive customer relations team experts at putting out fires

Audrey Simon and her two team members, Clarice Drennon and Pat Evans, wear a lot of hats in their roles in customer relations.

Their phones ring constantly as they hear from customers, sometimes directly, sometimes through the Customer Care Center or even the Georgia Public Service Commission. Those customers all have an issue or concern they want resolved, and they're not always happy when they call.

"But our goal is to make everybody happy," said Simon.

Simon is executive customer relations supervisor, and Drennon and Evans are customer relations analysts. That's just their titles, though. They are actually a variety of things – troubleshooters, sympathizers, helpers, problem solvers, and above all, listeners.

All three women have a quiet, soothing manner, which comes in handy when an irate person calls or shows up at company headquarters with a complaint. The team handles about 230 calls a month, and in Simon's words, "We put out fires all day long."

A lot of those calls, referred to as inquiries, are from customers with questions or complaints about their bills. Sometimes, the women hear heartbreaking stories of people who have fallen on hard times and are looking for help.

"There's a lot of days you'll see us up here crying," said Simon.

When that happens, they do their best to help out everyone they can, whether it's through Project Share or by connecting with the Salvation Army or other charities that aid people who can't pay their utility bills.

"You have to be a good listener, and be a little empathetic," said Drennon. "Just put yourself in their position."

A lot of their calls come from the Georgia Public Service Commission, which contacts Georgia Power after it receives an inquiry from a customer. The company has five days to respond to the PSC and let it know how the situation was resolved.

The team also handles a large amount of calls and letters for President and CEO Mike Garrett and other executives.

On a recent day, Evans was called down to the lobby of the 241 Ralph McGill headquarters to deal with a customer who had an issue and was talking very loudly. It turned out the woman was deaf, so Evans looked up her records, made arrangements for her problem to be resolved and wrote her a note that read, "We can be out there Wednesday."

The customer later told a Georgia Power manager who came out to help her that the best way to contact her was via Twitter. She's 92 years old.

One day last year, Simon heard from a man in Fort Gaines, Ga., and he wasn't happy. It seems a transmission line runs across his land, and after a storm, some utility workers came out to check on it. He had something else running across his land: seven buffalo. He raised the 2,000-pound beasts, and when the utility workers failed to close the gate to his land, the buffalo began to roam through the town of Fort Gaines, destroying property and wreaking havoc.

Thankfully, an investigation showed that the workers who left the gate open were not from Georgia Power.

Simon talked one day to a man from Virginia who had been watching a golf tournament and saw an ad about Southern Company's sponsorship of the Payne Stewart Award, given annually to a PGA professional in honor of the late golfer. According to the caller, Stewart was actually on the way to look at some property he owned when his plane crashed in 2001.

"He just wanted to tell somebody," Simon said. "We hear from a lot of people who just want to talk to us."

The women have to be very knowledgeable about the company and the business to know how to handle the wide variety of calls they get. That's where their combined 95 years of experience comes in handy.

And of course, not every encounter is pleasant.

"Oh we get cussed out, yelled at, threatened," said Drennon. "We just try to be as pleasant as possible."

"We feel like we make a difference in a lot of our customers' lives," said Simon. "At the end of the day, that makes us feel real good."

The three women were recognized recently by Customer Service Vice President Mike Clanton at Mike Garrett's Monday Staff Meeting for their excellent work.

"Thank you to this team for the outstanding job they do every day to assist our executives and our customers," he said.

Photo by Christina Wedge