The thought of going to a local bank or service provider dreads me and drains so much energy from me. I don’t have to go through the actual process, but just the thought. Before I can access the service, I have to go through a chain of individuals who at times weigh me and make me hate going to spaces such as banks, schools and council revenue halls.
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It seems like some of these organisations’ recruiting criteria is that you need to have a stinking attitude for one to work for them. You will have to pass through this security guard who is constantly sulking and not willing to assist you with anything, as if you are the one who forced him to do that job. Sometimes you ask yourself, what is it that you have done? If you are not careful, you will get headaches and worries over things that do not have anything to do with you. It won’t even be you at many times.
Mind you, this is just the first step into entering the kingdoms of unpleasantness. You are yet to queue to make an inquiry or to get a slip that needs to be completed and afer that you queue again to do your final transaction. It’s like someone is funding these queues.
I had a very unpleasant experience with one of the biggest telecommunication companies in Zimbabwe earlier this week. This is a communication company that doesn’t know how to communicate with its clients, who by the way, are supposed to be kings. Decisions and new ideas are randomly prompted on clients, whom in turn are supposed to just consume this with a huge smile on their faces. I had enough of their bad service and arrogance, which I literally went to their premises and queued for over 40 minutes to make an inquiry and later queued for an hour and a half to actually get feedback about my problem which I had raised the first time I queued.
I am not saying everyone in organisations and companies is a rotten egg but there are a few who spoil the rest of the eggs and make us judge everyone the same. In most cases, clients are treated like rubbish. Like in my case, I kept hearing excuses which by the way are not what I paid for. All I pay for is a good service not their internal problems. This is what our service providers need to understand clearly, we pay for a good service and please do not take us for granted.
Sometimes customers consume your bad services because they do not know what is good or bad anymore, but it is up to you to offer the best services anyway. No consumer wants to take home a product that causes harm or unintentional damage. As a service provider make sure that your products do not cause misery, they should be a solution to our problems, for example, your telecommunication services should ease communication, not make it hard. Customers want a good service not problems, you might explain by communicating prior that we will have some difficulties with your services during a certain month or week or days. Don’t start telling us about your internal issues, we don’t care, just give us good service.
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As the ones who pay for these services, we are supposed to know what is rightfully ours and refuse mediocre services and this attitude of saying, “If you are not happy, then leave”. We do not solve anything by just giving up and leaving, if that was the norm adopted by many, I guess there would have been no one in Zimbabwe.
You can listen to my #GTeeVibe podcasts for more on paying for a good service not excuses and problems.
Gilmore Tee is a well-travelled social entrepreneur, public relations and branding consultant, host, curator and above all, a global citizen. He is the co-producer of the weekly #GTeeVibe podcast and also one of the leading fashion facilitators in southern Africa. He can be reached on www.gilmoretee.com/Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/SnapChat: Gilmore Tee
