On 19/07/2011, warigia bowman <
warigia@aucegypt.edu> wrote:
> Dear colleagues
>
> I had a really bad experience with MPESA tonight. Not sure if the problem
> was the dealer, or Safaricom in general.
>
> I was at Fone Directs, at Yaya Center, on the ground floor. My goal was to
> register my phone with MPESA, and send 1000 shillings to my sister in Nyeri.
>
>
> Let me start with three big constructive suggestions, and then I will tell
> my story.
>
> 1) If a client stands patiently in line for over 30 minutes without making
> noise, and without complaining, please serve her first, and resolve her
> concern, before you deal with the people standing behind her. Safaricom/Fone
> Direct, please train your employees in customer service.
>
> 2) If you are in the customer service industry, your job is to resolve the
> problem, and complete the transaction, if at all possible. It is not helpful
> to tell the client that "I have finished my part of the transaction. The
> rest of it must be dealt with by customer care.": In my business, safaris,
> my job is to make the client happy, not to "finish my part of the
> transaction." Safaricom, please do a better job of training your employees.
>
> 3) Fone Direct, *please* get a second person to handle MPESA activity at
> your Yaya branch. I was trapped in your store for over an hour and the
> entire time, the line snaked out the door. It is a simple principle of
> qeueing theory and operations research that having more lines prevents
> traffic jams. Hence, Nakumatt has several lines for customer checkout.
> Unaelewa? FYI, the workers told me that they have asked several times for a
> second person, and that management has not acted. Not fair to customers, and
> not fair to workers.
>
> Okay, there you go on the constructive advice.
>
> Now, for the story. I arrived at Fone Directs at Yaya at 4:00 p.m today. I
> had a simple transaction in mind. Register my phone for MPESA, and send my
> sister 1000 shillings. Simple, right? I had my passport, and I had my phone.
> I have never had an MPESA account before.
>
> I stood in line quietly and patiently for 40 minutes. I did not complain,
> and I did not berate the girl at the counter. I just waited my turn in line.
> This is because I went to Kindergarten in the US. We take standing in line
> very seriously in the US. Cutting in line is a hanging offense.
>
> When I got to the head of the line, I asked the girl to set up an MPESA
> account for me. Her name was ANN. ANN at Fone Direct. *To her credit, she
> remained calm throughout*. She took my passport, and tried to set up my
> account, but when we attempted to enter the code that MPESA sent, the
> Safaricom system would not accept it. We tried a few times to no avail. At
> that point, Ann told me I had to call customer care. I told her "no, I am in
> a big Safaricom store. This is your job. Please do it. You call customer
> care." She did call customer care.
>
> At that point, she began handling the transactions of the people behind me.
> This got on my nerves, because I had waited patiently behind 5 people, and
> not tried to get my transaction handled ahead of people who are ahead of me.
> This is simply bad manners on the part of both the people in line, and the
> customer service agent. I complained, but I can see the situation from her
> perspective.She was in a bad situation, with a line snaking out the
> door. *Management,
> get this girl some help. *
>
> She did call customer care, and they tried to work on the situation. At that
> point, they said they would send me an MPESA menu. I waited for twenty
> minutes, while Ann continued to serve the people behind me. After twenty
> minutes, (It was 4:55 at this point) I asked her what was going on. She said
> that we were waiting for the menu. She then said, "I have completed my part
> of the transaction, I am only waiting on customer care. The rest of this is
> their job." I told her that her job is not to do her part of the
> transaction. Her job is to serve her customer, so why did she not call
> customer care? I also told her that I am in the industry, and that I suggest
> she serve me, since it was my turn. She did that, and lo and behold, they
> sent the menu right away!!! Amazing! After I complained three times, they
> did their job promptly!
>
> So at 5:15, after an hour and a quarter of waiting, and a lot of negotiating
> with the staff to get them to fulfil their duties, Ann was able to assist me
> to send my 1000 shillings. I told her I would ask for help for her. Hence, I
> am writing this email.
>
> Thoughts? Other than I am very kali?
>
> Yours, Rigia
>