Gwinnett Buzz

I do not live within the city limits of Lawrenceville. I don’t even have a Lawrenceville mailing address. However, for some inexplicable reason, I am a customer of the City of Lawrenceville’s monopoly natural gas service. Unlike thousands of Gwinnett households, I do not have the option to choose my natural gas service provider. Generally, I have never felt a great urge to shop for providers – after all, is Company A’s gas going to heat my house any better than the City of Lawrenceville’s gas? Unfortunately, where I, as a consumer, lose being a customer of a government service monopoly is in the area of customer service.

Recently, I realized I was a few days late on my gas payment. That is not my complaint; that was my fault and I realized it would cost me a late fee. Upon realizing this, I stopped at the Lawrenceville City Hall on the way to work one morning to pay my bill. I handed my credit card to the lady at the window and was told “We are not setup to accept credit cards.” Excuse me? You process bills that can run into the hundreds of dollars and, in 2009, you are not able to take a credit card in your office? Fortunately, being that the bill was for a summer month, I had enough cash to cover the small total. I asked the lady if there was a way to establish direct payment for my bill. I was told that I could use Wachovia’s Bill Pay service. Because I have not had good experience with third-party bill pay as compared to setting up auto-payment directly with a service provider, I was not interested in this option. I asked if there was a way to have my bill directly charged to my credit card. The lady informed me I could online with a credit card. I knew that – and I try to avoid doing that. Why? Because, though companies across America have web-enabled their business processes due to the cost savings of technology and computing, the City of Lawrenceville opts to charge about three dollars to use a credit card online. The City deems this fee a “convenience charge.” I deem it a rip-off and lousy customer service.

Why does the City of Lawrenceville make things so difficult for its customers? Easy. Aside from the fact that government has a spotty track record for customer-friendly business practices, the City of Lawrenceville has a monopoly. I have no recourse whatsoever. I cannot vote with my feet and move to another gas provider. Not being a Lawrenceville resident, I do not have the ability to express my displeasure at the ballot box. While I am sending a copy of this article to Lawrenceville Mayor Rex Millsaps and the members of the Lawrenceville City Council, what incentive do they have to serve a non-voter who will continue to be a customer regardless of what they do?

Bottom-line, I am completely trapped in a government service monopoly that shows little concern for customer service. Consider how things would be different if the City had to compete with the many private service providers. If I could cancel my Lawrenceville gas service and choose another provider that strives to make doing business with them a customer-centric experience, the City would have a major incentive to do likewise. While my concerns may be specific to the City of Lawrenceville, poor customer service is a threat whenever any entity, especially government, holds a monopoly. (One should see a major risk in turning our healthcare over to the federal government – but that is a topic for a different forum.) To be fair, poor customer service is not always the case. Gwinnett County Public Utilities is my only option for water service, but they have very modern and customer-friendly business practices. The City of Lawrenceville could stand to learn a few things about customer service from their fellow government service provider.

Tags: City of Lawrenceville, customer service, Gwinnett County Public Utilities, healthcare, Lawrenceville City Council, monopoly, natural gas, Rex Millsaps

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