Culture of poor customer treatment by Utility companies
Dear Editor,
My letter is to highlight the poor and distressful level of service experienced by customers of the various utility companies, be it GWI, GPL or GTT, it’s the same level of abuse and neglect experienced.
Ask any customer of these companies and you are bound to hear about the run-arounds, long waits and the rude/irresponsive staff. Many times the customer is tasked with taking time off work and undertaking significant transportation expense, repeatedly, to resolve a problem. It seems like the staff of these companies cannot be bothered to take a look at your problem. They display such a strong readiness to rebuff you. You either need to see another staff member (who is conveniently on holiday), or need to take a trip to another office.
Speaking from my own experience, a trip to the New Amsterdam GPL office a few days ago, after seeing a staff member on the ground floor, I was referred to another on the second floor who promptly referred me back to the ground floor who then referred me to the branch office. This was all experienced while trying to get electricity for my new residence. (I am not going into detail about having applied for electricity since April and having paid $73,000.00 “capital contribution” since June and still without service) At the GTT office on the same day, my significant other asked for an application form to get phone service, a request for which she was rebuked by the female staff member, “I don’t have any forms”. Without a word of WHERE or WHO FROM a form could obtained the woman continued working on her computer without looking up. Thankfully, another staff member overheard and produced the form.
I would think it would be in the best interest of any commercial enterprise to gain new customers. From the behaviour of these companies it would seem the opposite. It seems while we the customers are paying more than ever for their services, we are treated like we are begging for a handout.
This culture of unresponsive and authoritarian customer service must be rooted out from these places. Too often these people act as gate keepers instead of being there to assist their paying public. There are many qualified and motivated young people coming out of high school and university looking for work. Inject young blood into these companies to provide professional services instead of tolerating the lackluster, demoralizing culture of ineptitude.
Yogistra Anderson