Thank you, Liberty Utilities crew (now how many times can you say that to an organization)

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BOOMER LIFE 1You know it’s not a good thing when you smell gas while walking on your street. And it doesn’t get better when a half-dozen Liberty Utilities trucks pull up on the street in front of your house.

Unfortunately, that’s what happened to me recently. The vague smell of gas was apparent from the street. I call it a “vague” smell, but it must have been a tad more than vague to bring all the Liberty Utilities trucks to the street. 

According to the very nice, informative Liberty Utilities worker, “sniffer trucks” prowl the streets of Manchester daily to determine if there is gas emanating from somewhere. Just my luck, sincerely, that their Snuffleupagus trucks were sniffing my street!

The purpose of this story is not to detail what Liberty Utilities had to do to fix the issue, but to thank the crew working on remediating the problem with the pipeline to my house (Yes, only my house—figures) for their wonderful customer service.

We all have stories of experiencing poor customer service, especially post-Covid, when staffing and such are such big issues. But to experience very good customer service is something I just had to write about. 

It began when I drove up my street and faced men in orange vests, a police officer, orange sawhorses and two sniffer trucks before I could reach my house. Rolling down my window to say, “I live there,” the officer politely noted that the trucks left room so I could pull into my driveway.

One of Liberty Utilities crew explained that the gas smell had been picked up by the sniffer trucks and although they checked the outside of surrounding houses for any instance of gas leaking in or out with a hand-held whatchamacallit, they’d like to get into the house and test the street-facing basement area for gas. What, I should say no? Of course, I welcomed him, where he determined I (well, the house) was good. No gas inside. He went on to explain (this was on a Friday) that because it was not a critical emergency, he and his other sniffer buddy would sniff the street several times a day Saturday and Sunday to ensure there was no change and the crew would remediate the following week. 

It had been determined that the issue was from the street’s main gas line where my house’s line connected. Mine was the only home affected. They showed me ahead of time where they would have to dig into my very sloped front lawn to the house and that they would do their utmost to minimize damage to the lawn. To jump ahead, someone came in to turn off the gas at the house and then to turn on the gas to the house. 

They completed that work at 1:30 a.m. and had asked prior if I wanted them to knock when they were done in the early hours of the morning or at a more decent time of 8 a.m. Of course, my husband wanted a HOT shower at his normal 6 a.m., so he would stay up and let them in to turn on the gas in the middle of the night. As it turned out, he fell asleep, and it was me who answered the door. You’re welcome, husband.

The next day we looked at where they had to dig through the slope with dismay, thinking we’d take care of it when the very last of the snow melted. But wouldn’t you know that the very next day, they must have come around again and filled in the area and on the lawn to where you can’t even tell the slope/lawn/bark mulch was touched.

This entire process could have been horrid if not for the thoughtfulness and kindness of that crew. Knowing what to expect and when and given choices reminded me of how we used to treat each other. Now, it seems everyone is in such a hurry that the niceties of good customer service are often lost.

Thank you, Liberty Utilities crew. You made what could have been something awful into a very smooth experience.


 

About this Author

Annette Kurman

A native of Philadelphia with baccalaureate degrees in journalism, nursing, as well as an MBA from now defunct Daniel Webster College, Nashua, her endeavors in various roles and industries — as well a very supportive husband — once again bring her to the question of “What do I want to do when I grow up?”