As a global leader in customer relationship marketing, Havas Helia knows a thing or two about the value of giving customers good advice.
So, one of its facilities managers, Hayley Evans, was pleased and impressed when CleanSafe Service’s first response to a call for help with a toilet sewage flood was to say, ‘let’s wait to see how serious this really is’.
Hayley said: “When I called, they could have responded immediately and started charging us an emergency call out fee. But they didn’t do that.
“Instead, they said, let’s assess the situation in the morning, if the odour we were concerned about receded in certain areas we would know the problem wasn’t as widespread as we feared.
“Then they could respond in the appropriate way to the problem we actually had. To me, that’s excellent service, and I very much appreciated it.”
Measured response
The blockage in a toilet at the Havas Helia offices in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, caused a flood of sewage water that seeped out into a corridor and through the ceiling to a room below.
The agency’s cleaning company mopped up most of the mess. But Hayley realised that sewage water soaking through a floor presented a more deep-seated and serious problem, both in terms of hygiene and odour-control.
She said: “When the bad odours continued I knew we needed a specialist cleaning company with expertise in sewage spill cleaning, and found CleanSafe Services with a Google search.
“I was impressed by their initial measured response, and when their team arrived I was also impressed with the way they got on with the job. They were very efficient and thorough, taking with them every scrap of material that had to be removed.”
The sewage flood water had seeped into layers of flooring and sub-floor joists. A shower unit and a toilet had to be removed. Then layers of lino, tiles and floor boards had to be taken up. Finally, the affected area was sanitised with a specialist anti-bacterial agent.
Be ready for emergency
CleanSafe Services Operations Manager Brian Bowden said: “We believe in taking only the action appropriate to the emergency cleaning project we’re tasked with. Assessing the scale of a problem initially is vital, so we commit the right level of resource, and customers are entirely happy with our service.
“Sewage floods are rare events, but they can be catastrophic. We would advise businesses to have our contact details ready as part of their emergency response procedures, so we can respond in a timely way to any cleaning and waste removal emergencies they face.”
