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 Ghana and 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 midday sweltering 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 Ghana are the profitable Telecommunications companies of which MTN is the prime offender. Before MTN took 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, MTN enjoys 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 US or 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 Ghana needs a Watchdog like the UK has 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 Ghana will 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 Ghana must 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 Ghana does not lag behind for eternity. For, if an investor should come to Ghana and 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 Ghana into 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)