News

Severn Trent’s Virtual Field Team have ramped up their work and prevented over 1,000 engineer visits to people’s homes, helping to keep customers and engineers safe while the country remains in lockdown due to coronavirus.

Rather than engineers attending physically to leaks or other water issues, the savvy engineers use video call to speak directly to customers and provide help virtually, preventing the need for an initial visit in person. 

Goldan Mclean, Virtual Field Team Manager says: “We set up the virtual field team in 2018 to initially help with customers reporting leaks as our engineers can actually see the leak on the phone, and raise the right job to fix it there and then, saving the need for an initial inspection.

“Now with the current situation we’re in, our team have expanded the work we’re doing and we’re now supporting with a lot of more customer issues. We know there’s a worry at the moment, with customers and our teams with the spread of coronavirus, so this means we’re able to provide a safe, virtual service, that’s still face to face, while keeping everyone safe.”

Since lockdown began, the Virtual Field Team have helped prevent over 1,270 engineer visits, limiting the risk of spreading coronavirus.The team are now using video calling to speak to customers directly with issues like, reporting leaks, finding stop taps, being shown how to isolate their water and reporting faulty covers. 

“Some of our customers may be isolating or high risk, but still have a problem with their water and need to speak to us,” adds Goldan. “They may be worried about getting in touch as they don’t want anyone coming in to their home, but luckily our team is able to help with that, as they can still get the same great service, but it’s just done safely through video call instead.”

To contact Severn Trent’s Virtual Field Team, call 0800 917 24 77 between Monday- Friday 06.00-22.00, Saturday 08:00- 16:00, Sunday 08:00-15:30 or customers can email directly on VFTenquiries@severntrent.co.uk.