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Mar 3, 2010
THE BUCK STOPS WITH THE CEO
Firms have a long way to go
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I REFER to yesterday's letter, 'Bad service? The buck stops with the CEO'. Poor service afflicts large and small companies here.
When I tried to dispute data roaming charges three months ago with a major telco, I could not reach the head of customer service, let alone the chief executive officer.
To file a complaint, I had to go onto its website or call its customer care officers. There is no physical address to write to - perhaps because the head of customer service is not a real person.
The website limits the complaint to relatively few characters, which prevents you from fully explaining the circumstances of your complaint. Promises of a call from a customer care officer within a certain time were not kept.
Each time I called a customer care officer, I ended up speaking to someone different and having to explain my situation several times. Meanwhile, I kept getting reminders that my bill was overdue. Eventually, a customer care officer called me and made me an offer, which I considered derisory because it came across as a token gesture which did not accept that the problem with the data roaming charges stemmed from lack of transparency and the failure of front-line sales staff to understand customer needs in the first place.
One of the CEOs in the report mentioned Singapore Airlines as an example of a company with good service. I could not agree more.
Each time I fly SIA, I encounter excellent service and always reach my destination on time or ahead of time. When there is a problem, its service recovery is also first class.
SIA is an anomaly in an industry rife with poor service. I just wish more companies could emulate the SIA standard of service.
Mak Yuen Teen
THE BUCK STOPS WITH THE CEO
Firms have a long way to go
<!-- by line --><!-- end by line -->
<!-- end left side bar --><!-- story content : start -->
I REFER to yesterday's letter, 'Bad service? The buck stops with the CEO'. Poor service afflicts large and small companies here.
When I tried to dispute data roaming charges three months ago with a major telco, I could not reach the head of customer service, let alone the chief executive officer.
To file a complaint, I had to go onto its website or call its customer care officers. There is no physical address to write to - perhaps because the head of customer service is not a real person.
The website limits the complaint to relatively few characters, which prevents you from fully explaining the circumstances of your complaint. Promises of a call from a customer care officer within a certain time were not kept.
Each time I called a customer care officer, I ended up speaking to someone different and having to explain my situation several times. Meanwhile, I kept getting reminders that my bill was overdue. Eventually, a customer care officer called me and made me an offer, which I considered derisory because it came across as a token gesture which did not accept that the problem with the data roaming charges stemmed from lack of transparency and the failure of front-line sales staff to understand customer needs in the first place.
One of the CEOs in the report mentioned Singapore Airlines as an example of a company with good service. I could not agree more.
Each time I fly SIA, I encounter excellent service and always reach my destination on time or ahead of time. When there is a problem, its service recovery is also first class.
SIA is an anomaly in an industry rife with poor service. I just wish more companies could emulate the SIA standard of service.
Mak Yuen Teen