Is Ghana a country where the customer is always wrong?
Is our country to accept notoriety as a land where the customer is always wrong? Sometimes it looks, and feels, that way! Even when one has been badly treated by staff of a service organization, usually there is no one to complain to; or one complains but there is little or no satisfaction.
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Minister of Trade and Industries, Mr Alan Kyerematen, did hint during his vetting by Parliament earlier this year that a consumer protection policy was “in the pipeline”. But of course it’s still early days.
In some countries, one of the first things a new employee is taught is that even when the client is wrong, because he or she is paying for a service, or buying something, that person is to be humoured to ensure that they will return. The importance attached to customer goodwill is summed up in the well-known expression ‘the customer is always right’, which staff are taught to have as their guiding light.
Equally importantly, a happy client is likely to recommend that service-provider to others. Therefore, a complaint about poor service instantly generates an apology.
A few weeks ago, in the April 24 issue of the Daily Graphic, a terse reader’s letter indicated the anger of the frustrated residents of Ashiyie, a suburb of Accra, whose power had been off for five days and nights. Evidently the salt in their wound was their inability to make contact with ECG because calls to the ECG reportedly never got any response.
I, too, echoed their concerns in this column on April 28 (An era of ‘call-dodgers’!). Yet, as far as I’m aware, there has still been no ECG reaction to the Ashiyie letter.
This is why I’m beginning to wonder whether the Electricity Company of Ghana still has a public relations department. Even if the problem was solved the very day of the publication, the ECG should still have responded in the paper to enable the public know that they had taken corrective action.
Also, earlier this week, in the May 15 issue of the Graphic, there was a letter from another irate ECG customer, which follows. Its headline was ‘Who is in charge of Roman Ridge ECG?’
He wrote: “I went to the Roman Ridge Branch of the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) on Saturday, March 25, 2017, to have a phone number changed in an account. I was told I had to write an official letter before it could be done.
“I wrote the letter and presented it that same day. I was then told by the officer that his boss had to stamp the letter before the change could be made and the boss did not work on Saturdays. He assured me it was going to be done on Monday.
“It has been over a month and the change has not been done. I called the ECG helpline and they gave me the following telephone numbers to the Roman Ridge office: 0302 767 499 and 0285 55 67 61.
“I called the landline 10 times but there was no response. For the second number, I was told it was non-existent when I dialled it, and I’m wondering why the ECG will still give the number out to their customers to call when it is no longer operational.
“I logged on to http://ecgonline.info and filled out a complaint form and submitted that too. It has been two weeks and nothing has been done about it. I called the 0302 767 499 again four times on April 28, and again no one picked up even though the phone rang, and I’m wondering where we are heading as a country with such attitude.
“Who is in charge of ECG Roman Ridge office? What do the staff there do at all? Why put up a complaint form on your website when you know you are never going to attend to customers?”
The letter was signed, “Sadiq”.
It’s interesting that for all the hassle that ‘Sadiq’ has reportedly been subjected to, he only needed a telephone number changed! That is all!
What I’m also thinking is that if the ECG work on Saturdays, presumably it is not only about collecting payments from customers, but also to take care of the other needs of people who can’t come there on week days.
Why then should some of the services, or some of the senior staff, not be available on Saturdays for clients who can’t come there on week days?
Could it be that the PR staff of the ECG no longer read newspapers? Or the ECG management is operating a policy of ‘don’t-respond-to-media-complaints’? Or maybe the ECG PR department has been disbanded?
And evidently the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission doesn’t see such matters as its business, hence its silence.
But, as I see it, the issue is that consumers have no dedicated body to champion their rights.
Service-providers should keep it in mind that these days finding the money to pay for services is not easy, so they require customer-friendly staff – and customer-friendly practices.
Clearly Ghana urgently needs a specific establishment to take charge of Consumer Rights and issues.
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A question for Agogo College of Education
In the May 17 issue of the Graphic, I came across an advertisement for the ‘9th Congregation Ceremony’ of the Agogo Presbyterian College of Education (Agogo, Asante Akyem North), scheduled for Saturday, June 3, 2017.
What especially intrigued me was the theme: “The Role of Female Teachers in the Development of our Country: 60 Years of Independence and Beyond”.
Another point of interest was that President Nana Akufo-Addo will be the Special Guest of Honour.
Other dignitaries listed were: Guest Speaker – Prof Joseph Ghartey-Ampiah (Vice chancellor of UCC); Guest of Honour – Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh (Minister of Education); Prof Frederick Ocansey (Director, Institute of Education, UCC) and Rev Prof Cephas Omenyo (Moderator, Presbyterian Church of Ghana).
Also, Rev Dr Samuel Ayete-Nyampong (Clerk of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church of Ghana) and Lawyer Andy Appiah Kubi (MP for Asante Akyem North).
Curiously, I didn’t see a single female name among the listed VIPs.
So I pose this question to the Agogo College: At the 9th Congregation, who will be giving the PERSPECTIVE OF FEMALE TEACHERS IN RELATION TO THE THEME?