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)