Telecomm services: Is customer still the king?

It is not a new mantra to say that ‘Customer is the King’ of every business and in provision of telecommunications and related services in the country, this mantra has not changed.

It was not startling, therefore to note that every other day, customers are daunted with one programme or another, especially initiated for their sake and enjoyment as long as their purse keep exhuming the hard earned Naira notes to make the customers so called the king to depreciate in wallet size.

One thing nobody can definitely take away from the telecommunications regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is the pioneering status of its Telecom Consumer Parliament under the oversight function of its Consumer Affairs Bureau (CAB).

So, through the CAB, the regulator realized that information and education are the best instruments for protecting consumers of telecom products and services in the country. CAB also said it’s concerned with giving consumers the skills, information and confidence they need to get the best deal possible from the market place.

CAB currently led by Mrs. Mary Uduma, noted that generally, consumers need to be equipped to be able to shop around, know where to go to obtain comparative information on products and services.

Even though it seems possible to rely on the market to provide consumers with the necessary information and advice they need, experiences with the Communications market in Nigeria, CAB pointed out, showed that this has not always been the case.

Consumer Affairs Bureau beliefs that more often than not operating companies are not keen in providing adequate information about their products and services and even where they do, the employees tasked with such responsibility could be over-whelmed at the point of customers’ need.

This necessitated NCC to consistently devote significant time and resources to information and education of telecom consumers nationwide, stressing that with adequate information and education, consumers would not only able to make informed choices from the surplus products and services already flooding the market, but they would be able know where and how to seek redress.

Some of the essential issues consumers are educated on, CAB said, include consumer rights and obligations; methods of seeking redress; encouraging consumers to ask questions before they buy a telecom product or sign a contract; giving confidence to consumers to read and understand the fine prints; read all contracts before they sign them and keep copies in a safe place; consumers to read advertisements carefully, both large and small print in addition, consumers are enjoined to ask about extra charges or hidden limitations as the case may be.

Further, CAB’s mandate covers the encouragement of consumers to always ask about refunds and/or exchange policies and warranties before they purchase a product; watch out for fraudsters who always come out with mouth-watering offers or promos to entice them; advice to consumers to always remember that if the price or promo sounds too good to be true, warning that it probably could be a scam.

Equally, the chief executive officer of NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah had noted recently in his maiden media parley in Lagos, said that of the salient issues that confronted him on assumption of office, was the fact that of Quality of Service (QoS). This, he said, motivated his setting a Task Force promptly soon after to focus on the matter, which also formed part of the theme for his first encounter with the CEOs of operating telecom companies on October 8, 2010.

Key achievement of that task force, he said, was the fast tracking of the regulation on QoS which has been longstanding.

“With this regulation, every service provider will now be held properly accountable by telecom consumers and the regulator,” he said.

Although NCC have received both local and international accolades for its contribution in making the consumer to be properly positioned to assume the kingship in the telecommunications, the same may not be said of the Consumer Protection Council (CPC) of Nigeria, presently being steered by Mrs. Ify Umenyi.

The CPC operates under the Consumer Protection Council Act No. 66 of 1992 which provides for the holistic protection of the consumer in line with the United Nations Guidelines for Consumer Protection of 1985. Though CPC said it’s dedicated to leading change in the society … towards a population of knowledgeable, vigilant, assertive and discriminating consumers.

CPC, thus, is the apex consumer protection agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria established to promote and protect consumers’ interests in all areas of products and services, provide speedy redress to their complaints, inform, educate and empower them – consumers; to act as discerning and discriminating consumers in the market place.

However, CPC notes that there is disparity in the ‘power relations’ between consumers and producers of goods and services. But due to consumers’ lack of knowledge of the characteristics and technical components of goods and services, the superior bargaining power of the supplier of goods or services over the consumer, and the fact that producers of products and services are much more endowed in terms of resources, the consumer is considered as the weaker of the two in this power relations.

This, CPC said, makes it imperative for the existence of a third party, especially a government agency that would assist in balancing the power relations between consumers and producers thereby supporting the former in their dealings with the latter.

For the above reason, CPC in Nigeria exists as the third party that protects the consumer in dealings with producers of products and services.

Yet, as far as telecom consumers are concerned, CPC may not be in existence, mostly as it involves those who subscribe to data services, who are usually neglected when it comes to compensation. This fact has been a re-occurring fact that could make Nigerians to have a different view of CPC, when it decides to wake up to the challenges on the table.

Nevertheless, investigation across the mobile telecom operators who have assumed the back and front-bone of the nation’s ICT industry showed that each operator has a nickname for its customers. From all about you to the most valuable assets various service providers have coined name for their customers, which industry observers described as part of marketing strategy.

For instance, for the acclaimed largest mobile operator in the country, MTN Nigeria, the customers is the first. For them at MTN Customer Care, the mantra here is ‘all about you.’ Thus, the mobile operator went on to create various customer care services including ‘MyCustomer’ insisting that they are committed to providing customers with best in class service aimed at enriching their lives.

To get MTN Nigeria Customer Care also known as Friendship Centres, for specific needs, subscribers are advised to dial 180 or by sending an email to customercare@mtnnigeria.net, even as they can log their queries via the Customer Feedback Form, asserting that its customers provides them the guts to promise to serve, backed up with central customer care center in Ojota, Lagos.

For the second national operator, Customers are the most valuable assets; hence, the company value each and every customer, describing subscribers as more than just a number.

According to Glo customer care representatives the above assertion forms the reason the operator invested such a lot of time and resource into its customer care department, urging anyone on their service “if there's anything we can help you with, be in touch.”

Globacom apart from having two dedicated lines for its customers’ interface; that is 121 for prepaid and 200 for postpaid, Glo also enjoins customers to send an electronic mail (email) to customercare@gloworld.com.

Glo says it’s Customer Care centers functions 24 by 7, which is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, with determination to answer all questions on the phone, claiming a specialized Call Centres for Glo Business and BlackBerry Customers in addition to a special help desk division for government and major corporate entities.

Also, Glo says its Call Centres ensure that customers are attended to and issues resolved promptly as well as efficiently, from information and enquiries, to requests or complaints.

With the belief in ‘customer delight,’ Gloworld shops, which manages the customer care centres of Globacom said it has strong presence in the marketplace with extensive chain of retail and service outlets, reflecting Glo’s mission to deliver a world-class service experience to its customers.

Promising that at the Gloworld shops customers are bound to find all the products and value-added features that Glo offers in addition to a highly motivated and knowledgeable Gloworld attendants are always on hand to assist with advice on packages, information on technologies and applications, guidance on usage and billing, and resolution of complaints.

Etisalat which rolled-out over two years, now has over 20 Standard Experience Centres, equivalent of customer care centre apart from the Mini Experience Centres across the state capitals.

By dialing 200 from any Etisalat line, consumers on the ‘Eti-Naija’ network as some Nigerians fondly call Etisalat, has options of also using 200 from Etisalat line on 0809-0000200 from any mobile or fixed line, while those subscriber who may have traveled abroad and needed helping hand at the Experience Centre, +234-809-0000200 is available from any international line.

Equally of note is that on 19 December, 2005, NCC and CPC entered an agreement for collaboration. While NCC prides itself as the sector specific regulator in the telecommunications industry with a statutory mandate to protect consumers as well as operators in that sector; CPC is the apex agency of the federal government with a statutory mandate to seek redress for and protect consumers in all sectors of the economy including the telecommunications industry.

Interestingly, the bottom line of the collaboration is to avoid regulatory overlaps and create regulatory certainty for the benefit of all stakeholders in the telecommunications sector; the parties recognize a need for collaboration in the discharge of their functions as it relates to consumer protection in the aforesaid telecommunications sector.

It’s a dream of every telecom consumer in the country to see the implementation of this collaboration to the letter. Until then, ensure you exhaust the opportunity offered by customer care centres across all telecom network operators among other value added service providers before reaching out to NCC and CPC as second layer of report when not satisfied, that is the only way to really know as a customer if you are still the king of your service provider or is it a lip service?

REMMY NWEKE
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