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Customer Service Week in exploitative environment: Is the customer king?
I find the concept rather dubious in Ghana where businesses constantly exploit their clientele. The trend now is short-changing customers. The culprits span all business sectors.
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In the first week of September, a text from Vodafone informed me that I had “successfully subscribed to a service. Shortly afterwards, a similar text came from Airtel/Tigo. I sent STOP to both providers. The latter replied that I had “successfully unsubscribed”, but there was no feedback from Vodafone. In the third week of the month, another text came from Vodafone that I had received GH ȼ2.00 SOS, which amount and interest would be deducted from my next recharge. I called customer service immediately to demand an explanation for the daylight robbery.
The attendant confirmed that I had subscribed to brainwave and another service which required monthly payment. I denied and made him unsubscribe me but he could neither explain nor reverse the SOS. He attested that I had recently renewed my monthly bundle so needed no SOS. My modem also had imposed subscriptions and so does my mother’s phone. Vodafone imposes subscriptions and deducts fees from owners’ wallets. Hence, I slight its hypocritical appreciation. Where there is exploitation, there cannot be honour.
All the communication service providers are shamelessly sending the same text to customers when basic services are slipping. There have been numerous complaints about unsolicited loan offers. No provider has stopped that intrusion. Customer exploitation in Ghana is old.
Sixteen years ago, I cancelled my subscription to MTN, labelling the service useless. My phone would remain silent for days while my students struggled to reach me. At the time, Tigo offered good services, so I subscribed. Currently, I am searching for an appropriate label for the entity. I hold one Airtel/Tigo number in one hand, and with the other hand, call from another Airtel/Tigo number only to be told that “the number I am calling is either switched off or out of coverage area”. I really am nauseated by the hollow professing of customer appreciation.
Sadly, corporate cheating is steeped in the fabric of consumer service across Ghana. A new trend is short-changing. Tellers/receiving officers pocket clients’ change. It could be one pesewa or 50 pesewas. No shop/office would allow a customer to walk away with unpaid goods, but tellers have no qualms about depriving customers of the change.
My investigation has revealed that the tellers would write the amount pocketed, add it up and deduct it from total sales before closing the account at the end of the day. My bad experience includes Melcom, Shoprite, Poku Trading, Enterprise Insurance and Garden Mart. The latter has corrected the trend. It would give the five or 10 pesewas to the customer rather than short-change her/him under the pretext of “no change”. Garden Mart demonstrates customer appreciation.
In 2015, I went to eat at the Chicken Republic; when he brought my bill, the waiter, Walter, had added his tip of GH ȼ13 to the bill and had also overcharged me by GH ȼ6. When I drew his attention, he apologised and admitted responsibility for the oversight. He was displeased when I insisted on getting my money back. He thought that saying sorry would suffice for the overcharge.
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I have recounted the events to show how poorly the Ghanaian consumer can be treated across business sectors. Whereas other communities treat customers like kings/queens, the Ghanaian customer is trampled upon. Business representatives behave as if they are doing customers a favour, not earning a living.
I am going to use Customer Service Month to narrate tales of exploitation heaped on the Ghanaian consumer. The world is observing the week so Ghana goes along. Elsewhere, there is real service; the consumer receives priority. Businesses are loyal to customers. Customer Appreciation Week is legitimate in that environment.
To wit, businesses appreciate customers by offering decent and fair service. The principle is loyalty to customers. To a very large extent, there is no service in Ghana. Subsequently, Customer Appreciation Week is largely a façade, only marginally authentic. It should be the other way round.