adminEdmore Ndudzo
There is a wise and age-old English adage that says a “customer is king”. But, it seems, this has been turned on its head in Zimbabwe, especially after dollarisation in 2009.
Implicitly, the expression simply meant that a company or individual service providers that feted their customers with dignity or respect — befitting that accorded to royalty — was likely to earn or enjoy the goodwill of customers, who, in turn, would naturally exercise unquestionable loyalty.
The word customer broadly refers to clients.
Brand loyalty usually guarantees companies or entities a ready market for their goods and services.
It, therefore, guarantees them of their status as going concerns.
Of course, issues of customer satisfaction depend on the quality of products, standard of service, including strict observance, practice and adherence to professional ethics.
Renowned international brands such as Coca Cola, for example, have been in existence for more than 100 years; thanks in part to their commitment to customers.
Enduring institutions such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants, which last year celebrated over 100 years of existence, are shaped by their ability to sacredly observe the interests of their clients.
However, all this has since changed.
Customers are now being abused left, right and centre.
And the abuse is in various forms, shapes and sizes.
Extortionate Prices
The most prevalent form of abuse, which is demonstrably blatant and obvious, is the steep price for goods and services that customers have had to endure.
Historically and traditionally, businesses and entrepreneurs would factor the costs that were inherently involved in retailing their goods and services in order to come up with just retail prices.
The process also involved pricing-in direct and indirect costs, including the relevant overheads, to which a margin (profit) was eventually added.
However, the margin was meant to ensure sustenance of the business and guarantee a fair and reasonable return for shareholders.
Erich Bloch, the late economist and former Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe (RBZ) advisor, once called out local businesses for profiteering.
In an article in March 2007, he said: “Since the beginning of February 2007, much of commerce and industry has been pursuing their operations in a manner that can only hasten Zimbabwe’s economic collapse.
“Captains of industry are apparently now driven to pursue self-destruction or, in other words, to commit hara-kiri, but to do so with the same philosophy as suicide bombers — being to destroy not only themselves, but also all others . . . “Instead, they have now resorted to calculations of selling prices based on the anticipated replacement costs, plus a forecast, inflation-adjusted profit margin.”
Customers have naturally been on the receiving end as retailers get obscene profit margins.
Multi-Tier Pricing
A fairly recent and unwelcome development has been the tendency by predatory retailers to add a variable premium to the selling price of a good or service depending on the mode of payment.
The multi-tier pricing that is currently obtaining on the market, where different payment methods — Real-Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), EcoCash, Telecash and OneWallet — attract different premiums, is untenable.
Most worryingly, payments using bond notes or coins have now become the most expensive mode of payment to use or apply.
However, it is the most vulnerable customers such as farmers who are prejudiced the most.
Just to add insult to injury, in some cases, retailers and merchandisers are so arrogant to the extent of telling the customers to either unquestionably take the product at the pre-determined price or get lost.
In other instances, especially for scarce or hard-to-come-by goods, desperate customers are forced to include on their shopping list goods they never intended to buy in the first place.
Put simply, the customer is no longer king, but an object of incessant attacks — vicious and savage attacks — from retailers.
The intermittent supply of goods to the market under the current circumstances is making it increasingly difficult for the customer.
Panic-buying has become prevalent and is often fanned by market rumour of potential future shortages.
Such damaging gossip is usually shared through social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook etcetera.
The effect of this cannot be underestimated, especially in the fuel sector where supplies are usually delicate.
A run on the commodity and hoarding will almost always result in artificial shortages.
Harassment
A customer or consumer is likely to be a casualty, especially in circumstances where there is a dislocation in the market.
Where transport becomes a challenge, the interest or rights of commuters are put on the backburner by commuter omnibus crews.
In fact, for private businesses in the transport sector, customer care no longer exists.
Customers are routinely verbally or physically abused.
It is also not uncommon for commuters to be transported to wrong destinations and forced to stump up the fare nonetheless.
It never used to be the case.
Farmers Bear Brunt
Farmers have also not been spared either due to fledgling agricultural markets.
For instance, most of them find themselves being forced to sell their season’s crop or produce for a song by devious characters called middlemen or “makoronyera”.
Almost daily, farmers at Mbare Musika and various tobacco auction floors are falling victim.
We cannot have a situation where hardworking farmers are prejudiced by middlemen who reap where they did not sow by leeching off farmers’ produce.
It is time we put our act together and restore the quintessential values of customer care, which are invaluable for business enterprises.
Edmore Ndudzo was the first black treasurer of Harare City Council. He was the lead consultant in crafting and compiling the Public Finance Management Act, which was enacted in 2009. He writes in his private capacity and in the national interest.
Online Reporter