February 3, 2015
Utility customers can now access accounts by phone
MURPHY (February 3, 2015) Murphy residents who hold accounts with the City’s water utility are now capable of conducting all of their payment transactions over their phones, says Candy McQuiston, the City’s Customer Service Manager.
“While we always look forward to interacting with customers, our new system allows them to conduct their business without having to speak with one of our customer service professionals,” she said. “We’re hopeful that customers appreciate the added convenience of accessing their accounts at any time of the day or night, on any day of the week, year-round.”
Customers need only call (972) 468-4101 and have their account number handy to gain complete access to their accounts via the Interactive Voice Response or IVR system. Once the IVR system establishes a positive identification of the customer, the individual can obtain account balances, make safe and secure payments and receive immediate confirmation of those payments.
While payments made over the system use numbers attached to credit cards or bank accounts, customers can feel secure in the knowledge that each IVR transaction is fully compliant with the global PCI Security Standards Council.
“And, the IVR system truly is full-service,” she added. “It even allows us to send a reminder when an account becomes delinquent. That dramatically cuts down on the inconveniences associated with potential service interruptions.”
Features of the system also include an outward bulk message program that allows the City to send messages to subscribers such as water outages, freezing weather alerts or other important notifications.
“In addition, we are cooperating with our IT department to introduce the Aquahawk Alerting System,” she said. “That program will exponentially increase the information and control that customers have over their water accounts.”
Aquahawk, a customer portal, will allow users to keep close tabs on their usage in real time, critical for water usage goals and conservation targets the customer may set. Weather readings, leak detection and estimated end-of-month billings can also be obtained via the system.
“We’ll be rolling out Aquahawk citywide in the near future,” said McQuiston. “But customers can start using the IVR through their phones right now to access their accounts.”
Questions regarding the IVR system can be directed to Customer Service at (972) 468-4100.
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