Holland BPW’s Customer Service team does an excellent job explaining bills and helping our customers make payments for their essential utilities. While we have online services and pay-by-phone options, their physical presence at the Holland BPW Service Center is critical. Working face-to-face with a customer helps to remove any technological barriers or misunderstandings over the phone. It is also critical for our customers who don’t speak English.
Our team is proud to have six multi-lingual representatives who together speak four languages: Spanish, Vietnamese, Indonesian and Javanese. This has allowed our team to provide service in the language that is most comfortable for customers:
- Aurora – Spanish
- Marizol – Spanish
- Loida – Spanish
- Hannah – Spanish
- Nicole – Vietnamese
- Diana – Indonesian and Javanese
El equipo de atención a clientes de Holland BPW realiza un excelente trabajo al explicar las facturas y ayudar a nuestros clientes a realizar los pagos de sus servicios públicos básicos. Aunque contamos con servicios en línea y opciones de pago por teléfono, su presencia física en el centro de servicios de Holland BPW es crucial. Trabajar en persona con los clientes ayuda a eliminar las barreras tecnológicas o los malentendidos que puede haber por teléfono. También es esencial para nuestros clientes que no hablan inglés.
Nuestro equipo se enorgullece de contar con seis representantes multilingües que, en conjunto, hablan cuatro idiomas: español, vietnamita, indonesio y javanés. Esto nos permite ofrecer un servicio en el idioma que resulte más cómodo para los clientes:
- Aurora – Español
- Marizol – Español
- Loida – Español
- Hannah – Español
- Nicole – Vietnamita
- Diana – Indonesio y javanés
Feeling More Comfortable and Understood
“Customers are extremely happy that BPW has this diversity. They’re here to pay their bill, but also to speak with someone who knows their language too,” said Nicole, who speaks Vietnamese.
This ability to be understood allows our representatives to make customers feel more at ease when it comes to taking care of their utilities. “Their demeanor changes drastically when they realize you can speak Spanish,” said Loida. “They feel more comfortable and understood. They’ll even ask questions about things like who they should call about their trash or internet or water depending on where they live.”
“For many customers, English is their second language so speaking becomes a lot easier and there are fewer misunderstandings,” said Diana, who speaks Indonesian and Javanese.
“Sometimes we’ll have customers who are speaking to us in Spanish as their second language, with French being their native language.”
Growing the Team
Loida remembers when she was hired as a Customer Service Representative and she was one of only two Spanish speakers in the department. “You know four years ago when I started it was only Aurora speaking Spanish. Kudos to her for doing it all by herself,” Loida said. “But Aurora has to have days off too, you know. I know at that time Diana would take out her phone and do whatever she could to help.”
Having more Spanish speakers makes a difference for customers. “Now that more people can speak Spanish with our customers, fewer customers come in with a family member or friend to translate for them.” Sometimes things as small as knowing what documents to provide can be hard to navigate. Loida remembers explaining a process to a local business not long after she began. “It was simple stuff, but the language barrier can make it so complicated,” she said.
Now that we have customer service representatives who can speak other languages, it takes a lot of pressure off the team and the customers too. “It’s knowing that I don’t have to struggle through this,” said Hannah, who speaks Spanish. “We [the customer and I] don’t have to struggle through the uncomfortable feeling of not understanding one another. I can just point them down to another window where they won’t need to struggle.”
Additional Support & Speakers
In the past, our multi-lingual Customer Service team has sometimes stepped in to make calls on behalf of the water or electric departments, even tagging along to help explain easements. Holland BPW is grateful to now have a Spanish speaker in our Water/Wastewater Maintenance department as well. Thank you, Grayson Bierling, for your commitment to serving our Spanish-speaking customers!
In addition to the many cultures and languages in our community, there are so many different dialects too. It’s not just knowing the language or being fluent, it’s recognizing different words, speeds or ways of talking. Having multiple Spanish speakers strengthens BPW’s ability to serve every customer. And when it is a language that our representatives do not speak, they’re happy to work with customers through Google translate.
Thank you so much to our Customer Services team for all you do to help our customers and support our growing, diverse community!
Find Support Online
Holland BPW now offers resources online in Spanish! View basic information about our utilities, see translated rate sheets, terms of service and payment help all online. Each Holland BPW online form also has Spanish translation options available as well.
Simply toggle the language at the top of the page to view your preferred language.
Recibe ayuda en línea
¡Holland BPW ahora ofrece recursos en línea en español! Consulta información básica sobre nuestros servicios públicos, folletos de tarifas traducidos, condiciones del servicio y ayuda para el pago, todo en línea. Todos los formularios en línea de Holland BPW también tienen opciones de traducción al español.
Solo tienes que cambiar el idioma en la parte superior de la página para visualizar el idioma que prefieras.