Why customer service is NOT dead in SA

From: Nicolas Callegari [mailto:nicolasc@tribecapr.co.za]
Sent: 17 July 2009 10:48 AM
To: ‘taryn@tintswalo.com’
Cc: ‘gavin@tintswalo.com’
Subject: Tintswalo Waterfall breakfast

Hi,

I’ll apologise in advance if you’re not the right person to direct this e-mail to, but I’m hoping that you can forward it to the relevant person if that is the case.

On 11 July I booked a breakfast for five people (for my father’s birthday).  The number one reason that I chose to book at Tintswalo Waterfall is because I was there for an office breakfast function a week prior and we all found the food, atmosphere and general experience fantastic.

Upon arrival on the 11^th, I was greeted by our waitress and seated.  I was also informed that due to a large booking that had come in, the breakfast would be served buffet style.  Now, let me say from the outset, the food is always tasty and the service was also good, but I have to admit I was VERY disappointed that we had to serve ourselves from a buffet – this was not what I had experienced the previous time we had visited the hotel.

The whole reason I booked at Tinstwalo Waterfall was because of the great experience that we had a week earlier, having so many different plates of food served at our table – being able to order a nicely cooked breakfast of our choice form a menu and having all the juices on the table.  We quite literally felt like rock stars and our perception was that at R145 per head the overall experience was great value for money.

But I have to say that our experience on the 11^th was nowhere near as fantastic as I had experienced before.  The food in the buffet was very limited, we could not order any other hot meals from the menu and having to compete with a table of 30-odd people at the buffet put a general damper on the whole experience.  I wanted my dad to feel like as much of a rock star as we did a week prior, but sadly it was “just another average hotel breakfast buffet” – and, quite frankly, not worth the R800 I dropped on the day.

To compound matters, there was a general power failure in the area that morning and for some or other reason the hotel generator did not kick in so we sat in complete darkness and silence for most of the breakfast – expect for the constant beeping of the POS UPS that was slowly dying around the corner from the dining room.

I didn’t bring up the issue of my disappointment at the time with hotel management, but in hindsight I should have because I had really hoped for an unbelievable birthday breakfast for my father – which ended up being only somewhat average – and not the value for money that I had previously perceived the breakfast at Tintswalo Waterfall to be.

I realise that, this being after the matter, there’s nothing that can be done now.  But I would very much like it if you would take into consideration that the breakfast at Tintswalo Waterfall is an all-encompassing experience and you really shouldn’t take that away from the people (particularly non-residents who bring repeat business) when they have come to expect rock star treatment all the time.

Thanks for listening,

Nicolas Callegari

 

……….and the response:

From: Francois Botha [mailto:francois@tintswalo.com]
Sent: 17 July 2009 12:45 PM
To: nicolasc@tribecapr.co.za
Cc: ‘Edward Woudberg’
Subject: Rockstar Horror!!!

Hi Nicolas.

I think I remember you, were you not the gentleman that we struggled to get the bill to because of the power failure. I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the bumpy ride you had to encounter with us. As you are well aware we had trouble with the power and our Genny did not kick in, so we were really running to try get it up and running but to no avail. We were also having trouble with our till system and that is why the issue of getting you a printed bill occurred.

This is still no excuse for the experience you had and I wish I can alter what went on but can’t. I can however still give your dad the Rock star treatment that he deserves and would like to invite you back for a meal on me at his nearest convenience. I know that the reason you brought this to our attention is not for the purpose of a free meal, But I do want you to know that we do appreciate constructive criticism when it is due and in your case it definitely is due. Thanks for letting me know and not just leaving this and never coming back.

Please phone me personally or send me a mail and give me the opportunity to Re-Rockstar  your dad. I will make sure that Myself and Wayne who is our Food and beverage manager will look after you personally and hopefully we can mend the bridge we have damaged.

Kind regards and thanks,

Francois Botha

The state of customer service in SA…SHOCKING!

The standard of customer service in South Africa has dropped significantly in recent years.

We can all speculate as to the reasons why but my opinion is that the levels of service are directly linked to a combination of incompetence, laziness and a total lack of respect for existing customers.

What ever happened to “the customer is king”? And, if the customer IS king, why does nobody listen to them?

Case in point:

My wife traded her Kia Sportage in on a Peugeot 307 last November to help save some money on insurance and the cost of fuel.

(Ed’s note: The identity of the particular dealership and people we dealt with will be hidden, for now…)

Imagine our surprise when we received a speeding fine in the post in January for the same Kia we traded in, over a month before. R500 for doing 132km/h in a 100km/h zone…in COLESBERG!

Turns out that a company bought the vehicle but the change of ownership was not registered properly and the car was still registered in my wife’s name – making her legally liable for any fines incurred.

We approached the particular Peugeot dealership on the 7^th of January with a request that the used car manager sort this problem out as a matter of urgency.

After nearly three weeks of being pushed from pillar to post and not so much as even receiving a phone call or e-mail updating us on the situation, we literally had to escalate the issue to the dealership’s top management before anything was done.

At this stage we had two days to get the fine paid; or face being issued with a summons to appear in court and additional fines.

It’s paid, apparently. We have a copy of a deposit slip but I’m not holding my breath until we’ve re-faxed it to the traffic department ourselves..

I have lost count how many times I’ve lost my temper with a number of organisations in the last couple of years because of a lack of respect for proper customer service.

Banks, insurance companies, cellphone companies, auto dealerships, home appliance vendors and the infamous state departments all deserve to be sent straight back to first grade in “customer service school”.

All too often, it’s the irresistible need to sign up new customers or push sales to reach targets that result in customers being left dead and bloodied along the way in their mission to get any form of customer service.

The cellphone service providers are a prime example of where the sheer number of “new” customers is overwhelming these organisations’ ability to deliver acceptable levels of customer service.

You’re just a number to them, nothing else. And even after eight or ten years of loyalty, you’re still just a number to them. You still wait ten to thirty minutes to have your call answered and you experience an increase in the number of dropped calls.

But they’re all meeting customer number targets and earning their millions in bonuses.

I always thought that if you look after your current customers, you’re securing your business’s future and the new customers will come.

Maybe I missed something here

Corporate South Africa puts far too much greed-driven pressure on people to deliver results on unrealistic targets and it is these companies who are guilty of cutting costs in their customer service departments when this is where they really should be spending most of their money.

Cost cutting = incompetent staff = irritated customers. It’s THAT simple.

I just think it’s sad that you continually have to lose your temper and threaten all sorts of legal action and bad media coverage before anything gets done.

There’s nothing I disrespect more than a company that’s all willing to take my money for a product or service and then leave me in the dark when I need support.

South Africans also to blame

I also blame South Africans for being too soft and just accepting mediocre service. We don’t complain enough, which has resulted in us being forced to accept bad service by corporate South Africa.

We are at the mercy of service organisations, but this can quickly be turned around as and when people begin to put their feet down.

In an ideal world maybe. But change has to start somewhere.