Quality of service

Someone sent to me a letter written by a 86 year woman complaining about the impersonal treatment provided by her bank. The sender asked for my comments.

I visited London, Paris and Canterbury recently and observed that the quality of service is generally better than Singapore. The situation is rather bad in Singapore due to the following:

a) Strong emphasis on keeping cost low, leading to overworked and highly stressed staff
b) Employment of foreign workers who are not familiar with the local setting
c) Low wages leading to high turnover and lack of accumulated experience
d) Complaints by customers are generally ignored

This observation applies to the business sectors and to the public service. There are some examples of excellent service in Singapore, but they tend to be occasional rather than systemic.

I dislike the automated system adopted in most large organisations in Singapore. They waste a lot of time for customers and makes it difficult for the customer to speak to a person. It does not reduce the cost for the organisation, as most customers need to speak to a person anyway, rather than get the reply from the pre-programmed automated responses. The people who designed these automated systems do not think about the needs of the customers. They only want to introduce expensive technology to "look good".

The quality of service can only improve if there is general respect for the customer or the public. Sadly, this lack of respect is quite systemic in Singapore, due to the elitist culture promoted by our leaders.

Tan Kin Lian