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I have just returned from an eleven year stint in the USA and am very happy to be back in SA except for one annoying aspect. Institutions, both Private and Governmental, have absolutely no respect for your time. The ladies/men behind the counter are generally extremely pleasant and knowledgeable but the policies and systems they have to work with are disastrous from a Customer Service point of view.
On my first visit to a bank I encountered the Take a Ticket system. It estimated my wait time would be 44 minutes but after 20 minutes not a single person had moved in the queue or at the booths, so I left.
Next I tried to pay for my car online – R100,000+ but my screen said I could pay up to R500,000 so no problem. Yes, problem. “You have exceeded your limit” said the message. But wait, it says I can change my limit so I tried that. “You cannot change your limit as we cannot verify your identity”. Hello. I am logged in with my secret password and alles. What more do you want and how do I verify my identity to change my limit online. I have a video facility but no instructions how to use that to help.
So off to the bank and the infernal queue. They provide chairs these days which is a testament to how little they care about my (your) time. Make yourself comfortable – it’s going to be a while. I get to the booth and again, a pleasant and helpful lady. Please help me transfer my money. Go through the whole process on the computer – no joy BUT she has a phone no. After half an hour the final verdict is you cannot transfer more than R100,000. (Remember the message on my screen- still there). Okay so how about a cahiers cheque. Yes, I know it will cost R110 but I need to pay for my car. Now the bank has me sitting there with a photo id, my fingerprints and my login credentials all verified. Still it takes another half an hour to get a cashiers cheque.
Next visit to the bank – another hour gone. All I wanted to do was pick up my new credit card (which was ready) and draw some cash. Oh why draw money? Well I tried transferring and it all went well except that it took one hour and forty minutes for the bank to send an OTP. I had long since shut my computer and left. I’m trying to run a business, Bank. In any event the screen would have expired before the OTP came through. And then a half hour wait at the single teller.
And so it goes. Opened a business account and am told that the Business credit Card will be at the branch with 4-5 days. On day 5 I get a sms saying my card has been cancelled. Trek to the bank to find out why. They cancelled it because “it is quicker to get a replacement card than to wait for a new one”.
Few days later get a strange sms that a courier company had my card. Strange because it was supposed to be delivered to the branch. Some courier company. Actually delivered my card 8 days later. I guess forked stick runners are still in vogue in SA.
And so it goes. Went to SARS. The queue outside the door was 60+ people. The line inside the lobby was 40+ and there were 100+ seated inside. Once again, the staff were surprisingly pleasant but the service stinks.
I’ve been waiting 4 weeks for a Telkom line. Apparently, the System needs to verify my address. Strange, because I gave you proof of address when I got my wifi and you’ve billed me for that already.
I hate to think what all this standing in line is doing for productivity. I felt really sorry for the people in line at SARS who probably had to take time off work and lose pay.
So, to all the institutions who waste money on surveys asking if you were greeted properly or if your problem was fully attended to. Try asking the questions that really piss people off. Like “Were you attended to promptly”? Or “Was your request processed in a reasonable time”? To management of these institutions. Get off your fat backsides occasionally and go down to the floor where your business is being conducted. See for yourself the waste of the country’s resources standing in line doing nothing.
We will not get this country back on track if we do not address basic fundamentals of stopping waste and time is the most precious of commodities – too precious to be wasted.
