Domestic & General (D&G) is a leading warranty and insurance specialist for appliance care. Founded over 100 years ago, the D&G team service over 1.5 million customers and their appliances against breakdowns.

In 2020, customers used and relied more heavily on their devices and home appliances due to the global pandemic forcing them to stay at home. This meant D&G played a critical role in giving customers peace of mind in helping them get their appliances repaired or replaced should they break down or get accidentally damaged.

As for most businesses, 2020 was a challenging year to navigate amidst a pandemic. Yet in the face of adversity, D&G not only retained its entire workforce but mobilised its resources and operations into a remote-working model. Its number one priority was to ensure the health and well-being of its people and customers, in line with its strategic and business growth agenda.

D&G had to find ways to continue to deliver service excellence to its customers by working closely with their partners to ensure their repair network continued to operate safely, and efficiently. The significant steps taken by D&G to enhance and refine its operational models to improve its services include:
• The implementation of an API with its retail partner. This integration project allowed customers to raise a claim in real-time meaning an approved repairer could assess repairs needed on appliances more efficiently.
• The introduction of its first-ever Service watch team, responsible for the proactive monitoring of claims to ensure customers were kept informed at every step of the repair journey achieving increasing transparency, and responsiveness.
• the launch of a new Customer Online Sales Portal, allowing customers to buy policies conveniently and safely for their new appliances online.
• Maintaining employee engagement initiatives driving a “customer first”, high-performance culture, and service excellence, plus helped staff stay connected when working from home.
• Enhancements to its Quality Assurance program, i.e. agent coaching, call etiquette, and communication skills training to improve customer experiences.
• Digitisation of the post-repair customer surveys and customer satisfaction measures for delivering quicker and more meaningful insights with online surveys issued fortnightly.

The business overcame the challenges and uncertainty created by the pandemic through its highly effective resource and operations management. D&G’s decisive action to transition all business operations to remote and online servicing was attributed to the hard work of its HR, IT and Leadership team in cooperation with its dedicated staff. This level of change is an extraordinary achievement to turn around in such a short amount of time. Overall D&G has proven to be a stable and resilient business shown by its strong employee retention rate and business performance.

Looking ahead, D&G’s business goal remains focused on its brand promise “Keeping your world running by delivering an essential service that never lets you down” and strives to surpass customer expectations through its unwavering commitment to service excellence despite local or global adversity that may threaten to undermine its business along the way.