Last reviewed: 17 October 2022

Almost everyone is considering how and where they might save money. Rising rents and mortgage rates have added to consumer woes over the rising cost of food, fuel, and energy. What can businesses do to support some of the most vulnerable people in society – including some disabled people?

Not every disabled consumer is vulnerable and not every customer who finds themselves in a vulnerable situation will be disabled. Nevertheless, it is true that being disabled often makes life more expensive. Many disabled people face additional heating costs because they need to keep their houses warmer and higher electricity costs because of equipment such as wheelchairs that need charging. Special or restricted diets can mean that shopping from value ranges in the supermarkets is not an option and inaccessible public transport means many disabled people have to drive.

Cutting prices may not be an option open to businesses, but there are steps you can take to help disabled and vulnerable customers through this difficult winter.

Provide clear information

Provide clear, simple, and short advice on what customers who find themselves struggling to pay bills can do and how they can contact you. Make this advice prominent on websites and in letters or leaflets that are posted to customers.

Provide multiple methods of contact

It is likely that more of your customers will be trying to contact you at the same time as many businesses struggle to recruit staff in call centres to handle the calls. Digital solutions can work well for many but not for everyone.

The information on your website and in letters might be enough for some customers – but if they need to contact you, ensure that you provide different methods such as telephone, email, webchat, and SMS. Some customers cannot use the telephone because of a disability that you do not yet know about – for example, because it is newly acquired or because they have never needed to talk to you before.

If you use call routing, try to have as few options as possible. Some disabled customers will not be able to press a button on their phone to choose an option because of dexterity difficulties or because their speech is unlikely to be recognised by the technology. Many more will not be able to remember a list of options, particularly if they are very distressed or have a disability that affects their memory.

Do not have systems that cut off customers who are unable to choose an option. Tell them that they are in a queue and will be able to speak to someone. Ideally tell them how long they are likely to have to hold before they can speak to an adviser. Remember that not everyone has free minutes on their phone and so customers are likely to be racking up telephone bills while they hold which will add to their worries.

Training on empathy

There is little worse than holding on to speak to a human being only to find that the person you get through to has little empathy and few solutions to your problem. Train staff to listen and to avoid jargon or acronyms and have information available to them to pass onto customers. This could include signposting customers to experts such as debt advisers.

If a customer is disabled or in a vulnerable situation tell them how they can get through more easily next time they need to speak to someone. This might mean obtaining permission from them to record their access needs on your systems.

Address customer fears

Many customers are afraid that if they contact a business to tell them they are struggling to pay their bills, their services will be cut off. Make it clear somewhere obvious on your website that you will not cut a customer off if you are a business that provides essential services such as electricity, gas, or water and train staff to do the same.

Tell customers how to contact you if they need to discuss their bills and what you can do to help in simple, plain English. Many customers might be afraid that their credit rating will be affected if they tell you that they are struggling to pay a bill. This might be true – but the alternative of being cut off and having court proceedings and bailiffs sent in is worse. Tell customers what you will do to help them manage their bills.

Highlight possible scams

Customers in a state of distress, worry, and poor mental health might not make the wisest choices. Anyone offering solutions that are too good to be true may well be out to scam vulnerable people. Provide clear advice on how to spot a fraudster and what not to do.

Provide options for subscribers

Finally, if your service is a “nice to have”, many consumers might want to cancel. Allow them to contact you to cancel subscriptions quickly and easily without hefty penalties for early cancellation. If you want to retain your customers you could consider offering new, cheaper packages. Make it clear on your website that these packages are available but ensure that staff do not “hard sell” these when customers in vulnerable situations contact you to cancel a subscription.

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