Arena: Living the fallacy e-life

getting closer to e-governance (whatever that means), one would think that we are making progress.
But, are we? Are we ready to live e-lives, where things are supposed to be a lot easier?
Isn’t it a misnomer that for those who think that they are living e-lives on the Internet, they find it easy to speak with people from around the globe, but do not have the decency to greet their neighbours, let alone caring about their problems, such as attending funerals in the neighbourhood?
Strange isn’t it? Maybe this is what technology is supposed to make us do – turn us into impersonal and uncaring beings.
What has also remained a mystery is why the majority of service providers are lagging behind this e-world that promises wonders, and is happy to do things the old way, with some shop owners thinking that the counter should barricade customers.
In this eighty-plus issue, I revisit customer care and service delivery, which was among the first issues soon after The Arena started.
Most people I know love shopping. Even though some would jokingly say, they would shop until they drop dead, the truth of the matter is that when the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh get hold of some of us, we would want to buy anything and everything that our eyes set upon.
When I wrote the piece, “Customer care vital in business” in December 2009, and my hope was that by now things would be better, because by now Zimbabwe is out of the doldrums it was in then.
We saw a lot of retail shops opening, especially in Harare, but a visit to most of these shops will reveal the pathetic service delivery and customer care that is endemic in most of them.
What has made things worse is the limited shopping space with most of these shops now christened “tuckshops”.
In most of these places you find shop assistants who would rather talk on end instead of assisting customers.
And then, listen to the subject and the language.
In a number of cases you wonder whether it is worth the while that as someone intending to spend money, you are reduced to nothing.
As you ask about the goods and services they offer, you realise that they would want to get rid of you as soon as they can, and/or that they will delay you because they will serve you while talking to colleagues.
If they are not talking to colleagues, they will delay you because they are would want to answer their mobile phones first, instead of serving customers.
They are also not worried about the type of stories they share in front of customers. Someone said, “All these places have been reduced to hair salons where gossiping is the order of the day.”
In some shops, customers have to shout for assistance because the shop assistant has earphones listening to whatever it is they are listening to.
In other instances, they look at customers as potential shop lifters; therefore instead of serving them, eyes would be following customers.
You then wonder: where is the supervisor? Where is the shop owner?
Are these people trained at all, or people are starting businesses to get super profits, while offering shoddy services?
I have also asked myself, when people offer this kind of service, what will happen to them when the rug is pulled off from under their feet, and customers will be offered efficient service from the comforts of their home?
People are already getting goods through catalogues.
These are realities that businesses have to face.
The Internet was unthinkable for all and sundry, but today’s landscape is telling a different story.
It used to be in offices and/or Internet cafes, but it’s now on our palm tops, 24 hours a day. Isn’t it that they say, “If you snooze, you lose”?
This problem is also found in what we think are top of the range retail shops.
If it’s not countless queues, then it’s the till operators.
I will give a few examples. Due to the change problem, some supermarkets introduced credit notes.
If change is available, the customer is never asked whether they want their change or not.
But in some shops, till operators deny customers change when they have it.
However, when there are no coins, instead of giving the customer options, you are normally told, “Pachenji yasara tokupai chii?” (What should we give you from the remaining change?)
You actually have to tell the operator to give you a credit note, although he or she knows that there is such a service.
To most of them, it is as if whatever remaining change must be spent on sweets or chocolate.
There was panic when plastic carrier bags were briefly banned.
But, when the service was restored at a cost of course, most till operators in big supermarkets ask after the customer has already paid for the other goods, “Should I add a plastic bag?”
Then, the transaction starts all over again, and with the change issue arising, consumers wait longer than necessary.
Whoever said that “there is no hurry in Africa” or that “time in Africa is like elastic, it stretches far and wide”, must revisit this because this laissez faire attitude will make it very difficult for us to compete on the international market.
The bar coding system is good, but how many times have you as a consumer taken an item to the till only to be told that there is no code, go back and get another one?
All this delays the whole process, and it makes it look like shopping is the only thing that you are doing that day.
A number of times I have also had the mishap of getting an item, only to be told that they do not have the price because the item has not been entered into the system, although it has been on the shelf for days.
After this, you begin to understand the root cause of these shopping woes.
Nobody cares! This is why when in other parts of the world, millions of defective goods are recalled, and you find shops in Zimbabwe packed with sub-standard goods that attract customers with nothing but colour – “bling, bling”.
Who also has the time to wait in such a competitive environment?
I said it last time, but it is worthy repeating.
Much as the private security companies are assisting a lot in terms of employment creation, the question is, what is it that these people are employed to do are looking for at customers’ receipts as they leave the shop?
People just give the security details the receipts because they have to.
But is what they are doing feasible and productive, especially when we turn into a real consumer society?
This is not to say that there are no shop lifters.
But how do shop owners justify the presence of security details when they put items on the shelves that are not yet in the inventory?
At some shops, you are forced to leave valuables at the parcel counter where there is a note that “goods left at owner’s risk”!
We have taken rank marshals and kombi owners to the cleaners – with their uncouth language and lack of customer care, but what most people do not realise is that such attitudes (lack of professionalism) are all over.
If they are prevalent in the transport sector and shops, how are other areas also faring?
Are they any better than these?
How often have you gone to some offices only to be greeted with loud music coming from computers?
How often have you had to call for attention when people are either busy speaking on their mobile phones and/or listening to music?
With these few examples, are we ready for e-commerce, or these are just by-words?
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