Case Studies
Timely service keeps customer satisfaction from going down the drain.
Time is money. That’s an adage Charles Tapley, Information Systems Manager for Heritage Heating and Plumbing, adheres to very closely. “In our quest for a higher level of customer satisfaction, one of the biggest things we have to deal with is arriving on time. If you give somebody an 8 am to 10 am timeframe, there’s no excuse for not being there at 8. And that first call also sets the tone for your whole day. If you’re late for the first call, you’re late for the rest of the day.”
Scheduling
To assist in keeping the company’s fleet of 40 trucks running on schedule, Heritage turned to FleetHawk GPS fleet management system. In the 11 months it’s been in place, the system has “helped focus our awareness on our shortcomings. It’s really raised our level of awareness, and proved we were not getting to jobs on time,” notes Tapley.
Knowing when trucks arrive at their job sites helps to “definitely improve our customer service. Now, everybody is focused on getting there on time every time.”
Time Cards
Employee time cards are another issue that FleetHawk has assisted in getting back in check for this largely residential plumbing and heating company headquartered in rural central New Hampshire.
“When you throw time on a time card, often you’re not looking at your watch. You may not make out your card until the next day, and you’re trying to think back ‘Oh, I left that place at about 12:30, and the next place around 2:30’ or whatever. And, it’s not necessarily accurate. When we implemented this system, we started monitoring time cards compared to the reality of the vehicle movement.”
Useful Reports
By looking at FleetHawk’s automatic reporting – which focuses on details such as hours of service and number of stops made – Heritage managers were able to locate little bits of lost time. And those little bits add up quickly. “We picked up 15 minutes here, a half-hour there, extended lunch breaks, things like that. In the end, we figure we probably paid for the system in the first year just in tracking down that time,” says Tapley.
Expert Help
In regard to the timeliness of FleetHawk’s own techs in responding to questions and issues with the system, Tapley points out that they’ve been “very responsive. I think if another company were to receive the level of service that we’ve gotten from them in making the most of the product, they couldn’t go wrong.
I wouldn’t hesitate whatsoever to go with them. And, we’ve definitely seen an ROI.”
