CUSTOMER SERVICE IN THE CALL CENTER - ECG

Good to have you all cherished readers in this month as well.
The journey continues still looking at customer service in our industries in Ghana. I am glad to let you know that our focus for the next few months would be call centers from various industries.
In this article, we will look at a utility provider and how they respond to us as customers whenever we reach out to them. Tell me, when was the last time you called a call center? How was your experience?
Today we look at a major service provider in our country Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG).
I believe there is a lot to be said about this company and everyone have their own share of history with them. Our focus is their call center in Accra.
So we’re being informed that there is no more “dum sor” but believe me what I experience is more than I did during those times. I called the ECG call center one fine morning because the situation was getting worse and that’s the experience I am sharing today. Hopefully you would share yours as well or relate to mine.
I had to call multiple times because the line always dropped upon connecting. The call that went through took close to 15 minutes in queue before reaching an Agent on the other side. I wanted to know what was wrong and when I would have power back and the wait was even annoying. I was told by the Agent when I asked that "the reason is too technical for me to understand" so I should be patient I will have my power back soon. It was a shocker so I decided to confirm just to know whether the Agent actually said what I heard and she was bold and confident to confirmed she said that. She sounded rude, sarcastic, sounded she's had enough of me already and did not even care that I made her aware of that. In her defense she said "I as a customer is the reason she is there so I should go ahead and talk. That is really what our customer service has become with no monitoring systems and no one to check. I was asked to wait since they do not know exactly when light would come back. I asked what happens whiles I wait and the light was still not back? The Agent said if after 3 hours they realize from their end (People still calling) that light is not back they will make a follow up. “Wow, it would take 3 extra hours after waiting all morning to have a customer service team make follow up on my complaint. I was not happy at all with the services and responses I was getting and they just recited their lines as usual and I hanged up to wait.
I called back after 2 hours and spoke to another Agent who attempted to calm me down. This Agent sounded friendly and sounded empathetic even though it was the norm, she made some effort. She explained to me the situation and informed me that information received before starting her shift which was (2 hours ago) was that there was planned works in my area and its environs but the end time had not been communicated. Then I remembered “too technical for me to understand” that is interesting, since when did planned ECG maintenance works become "too technical for customers to understand". I was grateful for her explanation and effort she put in assisting me even though it did not bring my light.
I asked some few questions of my own in all interactions including finding out when last the Agent's light went off but they both could not even remember because it hardly went off. Yet I have mine off at least 3 times in a day. 
We still go through this on daily basis and some customers have found solace in saying their areas go off regularly because they do not have any "Powerful person" in their communities and they have accepted it.

Well, some few things were clear in all the conversations. Let’s take a look and see which you can relate to.

  •             It takes a long time to reach call centers
  •       Agents do not have adequate training or they are just bad at their jobs
  •             Information is either not shared with them or they refuse to communicate as informed
  •       They do not have one voice
  •       Some of them are simply not cut out for the job
  •       Customer service ethics are not followed in most circumstances



I am Ivy Zelda A. Yeboah, a graduate with a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from UPSA and Social Media Marketing  from Northwestern University. I have lots of experiences in customer service, Marketing and Social media. I have a passion for Advertising and Branding and have studied around those areas. I am a manager in a contact center of a leading Telecommunication company in Ghana and I am currently looking forward to new challenges in the same field or other fields of interest. Feel free to contact me LinkedIn on http://bit.ly/2fVXNlY (Ivy Akosua Yeboah), Twitter handle @Zeldayeb (Ivy Akosua Yeboah) and Facebook - Zelda Yeboah

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

ONLINE SHOPPING, AN EXPERIENCE BUILT TO LAST OR A TOTAL SHAM

Image
So online shopping is becoming if not totally a craze in our part of the world. I’ll say it is part of social advancement which is a good thing. As much as it is a social advancement, I believe you my cherish reader can attest that there are some positives and negatives about it. I see you nodding to that. It makes life super easy if you get the right product or service you’re searching for, the right company to offer and deliver at the “nick of time”. Same way it can be quite frustrating if things do not go well. There are a couple of good online shops out there doing a good job and there are others that are super terrible at what they do. Sometimes not entirely their fault but there should be some measures put in place to manage the situations as they come. They do offer some great stuffs but they have “?” with some of their T&Cs and processes. A very recent experience was when I had challenges with payments after my purchase and needed to get to the team to rectify.
Read more

The Ghanaian and Customer Experience 102

Image
This blog is to recognize employees and employers effort to deliver good customer experience, encourage others to learn from them and do same as well as to keep the company(ies) in question on their toes and ensure the right things are done to deliver nothing short of the best. So early on this year we heard about Eddy’s Pizza and I promised that others would also be shared whether good or bad.  Well this visit was to a known restaurant in Atomic Junction just before Madina. I came to the point of believing that either customer are not demanding for what we deserve or that our service providers are just taking us for granted without “fear or favor”. In this second place, I had to wait for more than 5 minutes before I was approached by a waiter. He was courteous and did the normal “apology lines” as done always and requested to take my order after handing me a menu. Before we continue I would like to ask you this question. Have you been to a place where the menu is given and almo
Read more

The Ghanaian and Customer Experience 101

Image
This blog is to recognize an employee’s effort to deliver good customer experience, encourage others to learn from him and do same as well as to keep the company in question on their toes and ensure the right things are done to deliver nothing short of the best. The company in question today is Eddy’s Pizza and it would be yours tomorrow so I urge you to clean up your house so you are not BUSTED. Whiles customer service has evolved the word over, Ghana is still in the process of fully embracing and working with it to ensure growth and customer satisfaction for customers in the various industries. A year or two back some company names were consistently on the list of bad customer service but I must say that change is coming. We still have more to do and everyone must get involved. Today I share with you a good customer service experience from a lad in a known eat out in Ghana. Being nice to people should come natural to everyone as long as you are a person and
Read more