ESCAMBIA COUNTY, Fla. — A new app from the Emerald Coast Utilities Authority was designed to make it easier for customers to pay bills and submit service requests from their phones.
But in the two months since it launched, some customers have raised concerns online about how parts of the system are working.
Before the free app, all requests were via phone call.
“The biggest thing is we just wanted to streamline and improve communication with our customers and make it easier for them to put in requests,” said Hamid Rezaie, ECUA director of information technology. “Not have to call the call center and stay on hold — just really streamline that communication.”
Some customers say they have run into confusion, one claiming the bulk trash pickup request feature was not working, leaving trash in their neighborhood streets.
ECUA says those requests are going through, even if it may not look that way on the customer’s screen.
“So when you put in the request, it’s kind of like a triage state,” Rezaie said. “We’ll acknowledge and close out your request and then we’ll create an actual work order.”
“The service request — and we’re still working on the verbiage and the best way to do this — but the service request will most likely get closed out once the work order is created,” he added.
After that, customers can send messages directly to the employee handling their request via the chat feature.
Customers can also use the app to pay bills and get alerts about notices and advisories.
“It’s a good way to monitor if there’s any boil water notices or sewer leaks or anything like that,” Rezaie says.
The company says it is still looking for ways to improve the app, taking all customer feedback into account.
“We’re still fine tuning. We’re reading all the comments and making changes and trying to make it as easy as possible on the customer,” Rezaie said.
The company says customers who prefer the old way can still call in service requests by phone.