Have you lately had the misfortune to have a telephone gone dead, or a breakdown in your TV broadcast, or a response that addresses questions you never asked from a government department whose officers do not understand your mail but answer in generalities which are sent to any petitioner? Recently I have had to face all three.
You call the Service Provider number: in government offices, but very often nobody picks up the phone. If someone does pick up the phone, the officer does not identify him/herself but insists on knowing your identity, listens to you, understands only half of what you say and gives you a ready-made irrelevant response.
In the private sector which boasts of its proverbial efficiency, you are put on hold on an automated voice menu, during which time you have to listen to all the firm’s publicity about itself. The waiting time is so frustrating that you give up and decide to call later. You might get lucky in getting your problem sorted out after a few calls.
The standard of [dis]service provided by Customer Care is at odds with the undertakings by all Service Providers. The hassles created do not affect the providers as they are PPE [permanent and pensionable] or are monopolies.
The light at the end of this dark tunnel comes from Mauritius Telecom though. When you dial 9802, you need to wait at times but in return you are treated to a soft voice who identifies him/herself, and who gives you the impression that you are MT’s only client, and you are served with a lot of empathy, care and patience. Your complaint is registered, recorded and messaged to you on your mobile phone. An MT technician will call you: if he/she cannot get hold of you, he/she will follow up with a second or third call. If you cannot be reached on the third attempt, another attempt will be made to reach you at a time convenient to you.
My latest experience with MT was when they introduced Showmax. A lady contacted me on a Saturday afternoon and offered to send MT technicians the following Monday to install the new equipment [which they did on schedule]. I had some changes to make to my television programming and dialed 8902; a voice, working from home it appeared, guided me with my remote control. Without using unnecessary IT jargons and step by step, I was guided to press the correct buttons and I am finally enjoying the new enriched programs. The programmer made sure that I had set my TV right and asked me to turn off and restart my TV, which I did successfully. He asked if I had any other queries and invited me to call Customer Service in case of even minor problems. Now, this is what you call service. If MT can do it, why not other service providers? Hopefully, the day of Chivalry hasn’t yet died in this former British colony.