Lantern, one of the UK’s market leading debt purchase and recovery companies focusing particularly on vulnerability, has received its third consecutive ‘gold’ award from customer experience experts, Investor in Customers (IIC).
This is no small feat, particularly from an industry that can often have notoriously bad press, nor after the last couple of years we have experienced, with more consumers than ever having to reach out because of financial or mental health problems.
The ‘gold’ award means Lantern excelled at all four principle themes - understanding customer needs, meeting customer needs, delighting customers and engendering loyalty. The Lantern team took on board feedback from its first IIC assessment in 2018, where it achieved a Silver Award, and put in place some of the recommendations that IIC suggested to further improve their service delivery.
Comments made by customers to the IIC’s assessor included:
* “Lantern were extremely helpful when repaying my debt, they were understanding and sympathetic to my situations, treated me like an actual human being! They kept me in the loop.” * “The service has been excellent; no-one likes to be contacted by a debt collection agency, but they made the process easy and not at all embarrassing if you get in touch to speak about something.” * “It's hard enough being in debt. I felt embarrassed. Lantern assured me they were here to help and not judge and made it easier to deal with.”
Employees also overwhelmingly voted Lantern a great place to work, with staff saying that Lantern treat staff as well as customers fairly; that they’re always thinking of the customer first; training is good and that ‘it’s the best company I have ever worked for’.
Danny Pickering Director of Smile Customer Experience Ltd who facilitated the Assessment commented " This is another outstanding Assessment for Lantern. It is a pleasure to work with a business where the culture is to put customers and employees at the heart of the organisation. I am very impressed by the level of detail that the Senior Management Team of Lantern go into when considering the feedback and insights from both Customers and Staff from which a culture of continuous improvement in the business is nurtured"
Tony Barritt, Managing Director of Investor in Customers also added: “Another great result for Lantern, clearly demonstrating the hard work that Denise and her team put in to delight their customers at every opportunity. In a challenging working environment, where IIC have seen average experience scores slip back during the pandemic, Lantern’s achievement is exceptional”.
Denise Crossley, CEO of Lantern: “Once again, I am over the moon that the Lantern team have enabled this wonderful business to achieve yet another GOLD award from IIC! Customer surveys are important, but an independent view across staff and randomly selected customers is clear evidence of our commitment to do the right thing for our customers and colleagues.”
Investor in Customers (IIC) is one of the UK’s leading customer experience consultancies offering independent assessments which conduct rigorous benchmarking exercises. These exercises determine the quality of client service and relationships across several dimensions, including how well a company understands its clients, how it meets their needs and how it engenders loyalty. IIC also compares the internal views of staff to identify how embedded the client is within the company’s thinking.
