Customer Service and Treating Customers Fairly

The universal conventions that “Customer is King”

and


“Customer is always right” are mere clichés Ghanaian ears are accustomed to.


However, these statements are so lacking in essence to the Ghanaian that one


can liken them to the Paternoster being recited by a class one pupil.


The wretched


state of customer servicing in Ghana


should be brought forth to the public domain so that the slumbering


people in


authority get their acts together to bring some sanity into how


businesses,


companies and public bodies treat customers.





Being a double-edged sword, customer service is both the bane of every


business


and its backbone. If well managed, it can bring in customers and if not


it can hound


out clients. In Ghana ,


though, this most vital ingredient is deficient in the meal of every


aspect of


Ghanaian businesses and public offices. In developed economies, customer


service is given such an emphasis that almost every advertisement is


inundated with


talks of a company's exceptional customer service. And these talks are


rendered


plausible by visual signs— a matter of backing words with actions. In


Ghana ,


most advertisements only stress the ingeniously humorous side— which is


gratifying


as I have watched the Cargo Gin Bitters advert on Youtube several times.





Primarily, the most important facts about improving customer service is


treating customers fairly and with respect, acknowledging their


complaints and


resolving them in a satisfactory manner, being helpful to them and going the


extra mile for them. We seldom see this in Ghana


because of the domination which exists in the Ghanaian market. If


Ghanaians had


the embarrassment of riches that exists in some developed countries,


companies


will be paying more attention to their customers. If they know that word of


mouth and verbal recommendations can give them a bad reputation and


chase away


their clients and even reduce their customer base, companies would take


better


care of their customers. For the same customer recommendations and


positive


word of mouth can also increase a company's customer base, boost sales


and a


company's profits and share—the cheapest way of advertisement.





Believe it or not, we are all customers though it is not quite obvious


in


certain situations. Going to the hospital, visiting a government


department like the Ministries, going to a school or visiting


a university make one a customer and so the most important constituents


of


customer service must be on display in all these places. Companies and


public


organisations ought to instill the fact that customer service is the


lifeblood


of any business into their employees. Employers and government


departments


should use this maxim as their anthems and drum it into the reluctant


and obstinate


ears of their employees until they can recite it in their dreams. For, a company


cannot be profitable for long if the customers who troop to its stores


during


the sales period do not return after the sales. Companies and businesses should


form relationships with their customers—relationships clients recognise


and


pursue.

Regrettably, the lengthy waiting times at these places with nobody


acknowledging the presence of stranded customers leave much to be


desired. The


situation is quite sickening in government offices. People who are paid


by the


taxpayer should be quite supportive when the taxpayer who has employed


them


comes asking them to work. Ironically, people working in these places


see


people who walk into their offices like vomit which must be discarded.


Such buffoons


see themselves as doing people a favour instead of realising that they


are only


fulfilling their job roles. I can thump my chest and state, without fear of


contradiction, that customer service is non-existent in Ghana


let alone treating customers fairly. Many


companies have "Goods sold out are not returnable" printed on their


receipts and invoices. I find this thoughtlessly callous. To think that


this is


not the practice in the countries from which most of these companies and


individuals originate and import their goods; and for them to squat and


take


the piss like this in Ghana


because Ghanaians are endangered species is extremely regrettable. This


means


that the TV, the stereo or the washing machine you are purchasing cannot be


returned if it happens to be defective. What a fastidious way of


protecting the


consumer!





The next place where respect for customers is absent is the SSNIT. The


derision


and insolence with which pensioners are received at these offices can


only be


described in superlatives. I once went to the SSNIT office in Gulf


House,


Shiashie. Before you enter the reception, there is a notice which


advises one to


lodge a complaint if one is dissatisfied with the service received. In


most


countries, such a notice will mean that you can expect nothing but an


outstanding service from such a place. But the dastard disrespect and


humiliation that await anyone who enters these premises cannot be


properly illustrated.


There was nothing like a warm welcome when I entered the reception—the


receptionists


whom I later learnt were National Service persons cared less about who


entered


let alone find out one's mission. They looked up briefly and showed me a bench


with very hostile countenances as if they were forced to come to work.


One of


them was occupied with her manicure while the other was on her mobile


phone


talking to you know whom. Welcome to the wonderful world of customer


service in Ghana !


What was remarkable was; not only were


these ladies


not ready to serve the people who were waiting to be seen but we were


all to


face a rather bad-tempered middle-aged woman whose name was given as


Aunt


Maggie. The lack of respect with which this woman spoke to pensioners


whose


only crime— forget about their shabby


outlook—was contributing their hard-earned cedis into the coffers of a


nonperforming organisation—a deed which has put some many people


including Aunt


Maggie into gainful employment— incensed me almost into swearing some


nasty


imprecations at that woman and the young ladies. Unable to control my


emotions


any longer, I intervened and told the woman I was going to report the

incident


to her boss. Hearing this, hell broke lose and before her so-called


superior,


Aunt Maggie galloped into rage and was quite disposed to commit assault


and


battery to the bewilderment of everyone save her boss whose only


benignant clarification


was that the indomitable Aunt Maggie had a bad temperament.





Far worst services to people going to the hospitals cannot be suitably


described. With the exception of doctors who are sympathetic and


respectful to


their patients most nurses see themselves as doing the patient a favour. They


normally talk to patients as if they are talking to hopeless prisoners


about to


be hanged. Like the magistrates in the villages who expect sheep, goats,


foodstuffs or even bags of cocoa to adjudicate cases in the right


manner, so do


these tender-hearted nurses expect encomiums as incentives so that they


could


do their jobs! The same situation exists in the banking industry.


Customer


advisors hardly see customers as people who save their moneys with the


bank but


as time wasters. I once confronted a customer advisor at Standard


Chartered


Bank in Ghana after much frustration in other public places that when I


found


that she knew nothing about my request for an International Bank Account Number


(IBAN) and a SWIFT code, I had no strength to insist or lodge a


meaningless grievance—


all such complaints end up in the dustbin once the complainant leaves


the premises


of the company. Of course I do not


expect employees to know everything but where there is lack of


knowledge, it is


not a crime to ask or go and find out. The people who need our pity are


cocoa


farmers who are normally cuffed and buffeted in banks before they can


get the


money from their labour.





Foreign High Commissions and Embassies are very courteous in their


countries of


origin but the same cannot be said about the ones in Ghanaand Africa. If in doubt,


ask our


leave-these-shores-at-all-cost


brothers and sisters who go to them for visas. They seem to have


realised that


it will amount to some form of prejudice if they themselves abuse us.


After


all, why must they respect us if we have no iota of deference for


ourselves?


Ergo, they have mischievously subcontracted our own indoctrinated and


whitewashed brothers to do their dirty work and dump us on the rubbish


heap!


You start queuing at dawn, and then you face the middaysweltering


sun only for a dark-faced Ghanaian to teach you the meaning of impudence in


both its connotative and denotative meanings. An action which is likely


to be a


headline story is normally given both a muted mouth and a blind eye in Ghana.





Again on the culprits on poor customer service in Ghanaare the profitable


Telecommunications companies of


which MTNis the prime offender. Before MTNtook over, Spacefon metamorphosed into


Areeba and raked billion of


dollars from


the Ghanaian market. But if ever there is a lucrative company capable of giving


heart attacks, it is definitely MTN. Being the one-eyed business in the market of the


blind, MTNenjoys next to monopoly which Vodafone, in


spite of


its enormous input, is yet to rival. They normally keep you on the phone for

half an hour when you question why your credit is decreasing when you


have not


made any telephone calls only for the incompetent advisor to come out


with the


usual blatant lie that the computer is playing up or that the data are


yet to


be updated. You call back after an hour and the same lie is repeated to


your absolute


astonishment. You obviously get excited at the explanation only for the


customer service advisor to rub it in thus: "Why don't you let it go as


it


is just one cedi and twenty pesewas you have lost?"





What about Ghanaian High Commissions abroad? We have all read about the


pitiable


service that our brothers and sisters who have travelled abroad get when they


go to these places for help which they are entitled to by law. There is


always


the erroneous notion that Ghanaians who work in High Commissions will be


exceptional at customer service and dealing with people with their


exposure to


foreign excellence in this field. But the reality when you go to these


places


will be taken for exaggerated accounts. For readers who are in Europe,


the USor Canada, you have you own experiences to buttress


this point.


Einstein once said that “doing things the same way and expecting


different


results is insanity”. I trust Ghananeeds a Watchdog like the UKhas


the Financial Services Authority and the Financial


Ombudsman to oversee public bodies like banks, hospitals, the SSNIT,


schools and


universities and so on. Such a body will be charged with ensuring that


firms


treat customers fairly; that products and services meet customers'


needs; that


customers are always given clear and excellent information throughout


the


sales process; that all advice given are correct and suitable; that


every


product lives up to expectations and finally, that customers feel


comfortable


if they wish to change products at a later date or complain.





There is an unflinching need to have this Watchdog to administer the


day-to-day


activities of all companies and public organisations which deal with


people. It


is needless to say that such a body should comprise of men and women of


the


highest integrity. This group will be responsible for taking complaints,


investigating them and acting on them to ensure that customers are


treated


fairly and like a king if indeed that conviction holds any water. They


should,


in addition, be emboldened and mandated to issue fines to companies-- no matter


a company's size and influence-- to deter other companies which may want to


follow their bad example. Such actions should also be given prominence


in the


both the print and audio-visual media. What an execrable effect such


step can


have on a company's reputation!





Then, there should be a branch of this body (Watchdog) which will be


dealing


solely with complaints against public bodies already mentioned. If ever


there


was a body like this, the enormous difference it will bring into Ghanawill be felt


everywhere as Passport offices, hospitals,


school administrations will mind how they treat people. When a company


has been


fined and given bad publicity, they may want to go into image repair and

redemption by mending its ways. The fact that companies enjoy


quasi-monopoly in Ghanamust not constitute taking people who keep


them alive


for granted. This sort of laissez-faire attitude which has yoked the


whole


country should be checked so that Ghanadoes not lag behind for eternity. For, if an


investor


should come to Ghanaand see this apologetic state of affairs, he


is


likely to rethink how to invest his money.





If this is properly adhered to, it will stem the tide of abuse of office and


its simultaneous effect of blatant corruption. Under the guise of doing


you a


favour, certain corrupt people have developed very subtle ways of asking for


bribes in an indiscreet manner. Namely, they tell you that to get your


passport


or your birth certificate promptly, you will have to see the boss. The


boss,


due to the consistent way he has been asking for and taking these


inducements,


exhibits no shame when he sees you. He comes out and in a jovial


I-don't-mean-it sort of way, tells you to pay your dues—which dues and


why you


should pay them is a mystery to every good sense. Not yielding to his


demands


means it will take a long time before you get something which should


take less


than a week to obtain. The fellow normally submits with a bashful look,


dips


his hand into his pocket and produces a few notes which brighten the


countenance of the corrupt boss. These notes work like a catalyst and in a few


hours, something which was going to take not less than six months


appears


within two or three hours.





Did someone mention the Ghana Standards Board? Such a toothless bulldog; a


byword of mediocrity, incompetence and high-handed bureaucracy


constituted of a


bunch of ridiculous men whose only obsession is getting paid for busying


themselves with big talks and no action. These people have effectively


turned Ghanainto a dumping ground for perished foreign


goods. The


Koala Supermarket incident comes to mind when it was found that


Ghanaians were


being sold expired goods. If Koala sells outdated goods to the populace, what


about the rather unconstrained corner-shops? By their relentless


ineptitude,


Ghana is flooded with SQNY for SONY, EILA for FILA, ADIBAS for ADIDAS


and


PHILIBS instead of PHILIPS to name a few. What standards is this eminent bunch


of indifferent group checking?





In conclusion, good customer service is what steers any business. Doing a


little bit more for customers will bring about customer fidelity.


Customer


loyalty generally increases a company’s customer base as satisfied


customers


advertise by word of mouth and recommendations. People who work in


customer


service should remember how pathetic they look if they are only


courteous and reverent


to paler skins or western accents. Ghanaians should no longer accept


poor


customer service as a norm. Those who work in government offices should


stop


the paltry bribes and remember that; the poor, dismally dressed man whom they disregard


and frown upon is the same man who has given them jobs and put them into the


air-conditioned rooms they call offices.





Thomas Dickens (yesiah2003@yahoo.com)