Saturday 14 July 2012

No More Blow Jobs; Insist On The Real Thing


This is a story of companies & individuals that offer poor services but have excellent PR to counter the complaints and negative feedback they receive. The sad thing with this scenario is most of these entities continue investing more in their PR efforts rather than improve on their service delivery. However as Kenyans we also seem to be okay with this, when we send our complaints we get automated responses and brands promise us to 'look into' the issue and get back to us which doesn't happen. Forgive me for the dirty headline but it simply captures my disappointments, pain and agony as a Kenyan consumer who has been shortchanged. 
NIC Bank Story
So finally here comes the part 2 of the story of NIC Bank. After highlighting the customer complaints on this blog on NIC bank moved in quickly and acted. They of course made a lot of calls to ‘investigate’ the issue and basically that was it. My client 'ABC ltd' was served and he is very happy as at now, (They had a meeting at NIC head office) in Upper hill and their pleas were sorted out by ‘very senior people’.
This left me with a few questions and thoughts; why did NIC bank take that long;from March to June to respond to a customer complaint? Yet ABC ltd had made frantic efforts to call all their land lines, send emails that to no success? To a point when I had to do a blog post on them to swing into action? Well someone was sleeping on their job but thank God they’re now awake and working very hard to retain a client!What amazed me is how they 'talked nicely' pleading with me to edit some bits in story (PR) yet they could have invested in excellent customer service to avoid the embarrassment. Those smartly dressed underpaid guys (tellers & customer service reps) you see in banking halls really annoy me. Some of these guys are a traumatized lot! How does it feel handling millions day in day out and then take home 30K a month? At Equity bank for example they have seen 'dirty men & women' with little or no formal education with huge accounts and I bet that's why some of these frustrated bankers choose not to support hardworking Kenyans who want to take their businesses to the next level with credit facilities. All in all my point is, seek answers should you feel you have been shortchanged, do not join the premium banking club to access services that are supposed to be offered to you at no extra charge, seek to know why the bank deducts certain figures from your account monthly or annually because some of these hidden charges eat into our hard earned savings. Basically insist on the REAL DEAL!
The Breakfast show on Classic 105
I have complained about that morning show on Classic 105 hosted by Maina Kageni & Mwalimu King’angi on the dirt that is discussed. The show has really good ratings in the media thanks to its wide reach and affinity however if 14 passengers can listen to that damn show just because the driver of the matatu loves the show why should statistics from KARF show Kenyans love the show? Everyone who does something in terms of business, work or anything to build chances are you’ll be on a Matatu traveling at around 8am when the dirt begins! The advertisers love the numbers (Audience) which as figures show cuts across LSM’s (Living Standard Measurements) meaning the poor & rich, Young and old all listen to this show! Good stuff but then at the end of the day breaks our families. Its time CCK handled this issue, NO MORE BLOWJOBS!
TPF 5- No standards, no growing talents
I can write for days about Tusker project fame however just to summarize my story in a few words let me just say that Tusker never cares about the contestants that much, what they do after the competition and where their career turns to. TPF5 isn’t something I want to watch, I only know Doreen who has become so popular, the show lacks the talk ability, it’s no longer what it used to be. Tusker may claim that its turning ordinary Kenyans to superstars but seriously since its inception how many winners or contestants have become superstars? All Tusker cares about is the numbers (audience) watching the show which is good for the brand. It’s a perfect case of a brand blow jobbing Kenyans rather than giving us the real thing. This show has been used by Tusker to enter/penetrate new markets in the East African region as they recruit talent in these countries. Maybe it’s time Tusker thought of doing something else and giving up TPF to start something else. They let go the sponsorship of rugby sevens and TPF is turning into a failed project.
The Government-Corruption
The corruption in the government stinks, the dirty deals that happen in the corridors of power are huge but what happens after their cover is blown is just one thing; set up a commission of inquiry to investigate the issues and that’s the last thing we hear about the issue. KACC has been there for a while but it’s a toothless bull dog that cannot bite, when someone tries to touch the big fish he/she is axed for lack of competence. NTV is running “In the Footsteps of Kabuga” on how the genocide financier has been given a safe haven in Kenya by the high and mighty; this is one of those things that really show a few people in government are misusing their offices and power to help fugitives. Wasn’t it the same thing with the Artur brothers? All the sagas from Youth Fund Scandal, NHIF, NSSF etc etc are all being investigated but shall we hear anything from them? Justice Kalpana Rawal is leading a team to investigate the plane crash that killed Hon George Saitoti & Orwa Ojode but shall we get a report? What if we get a report can people linked to their deaths is brought to book? NO! The post election suspects at The Hague have been traveling around Kenya doing prayer meetings to sanitize what they did, they claim ‘wanaonewa’ but is it what we really want to hear? As a Kenyan I want justice for all those victims who died, not blow jobs from government, I want the real deal!
Our politicians are not accountable to the Kenyans; they promise us one thing during the campaigns and deliver the exact opposite. As Kenyans we seem contented about whatever happens, we are OKAY with just anything that they do! As the electorate we’ve got the power to get rid of all these non performers in the government today using our voter’s card, however we don’t vote and thus we the bad guys get into parliament and the cycle of complaining begins again. Lecturers in public universities do not attend all lectures, the students seem okay with it because they enjoy the free time, extra hours in bed watching a movie but we forget that we’ve paid for all the classes we miss.
I can go on and on landlords tend to hike rent we pay whenever they feel like, Matatu industry ‘ni wanne wanne’ during rush hours, worse still we are overcharged yet we are so squeezed. This overloading, overlapping & all the craziness on our roads is what has led to the increasing incidents of road carnage. Yet we all seem to be okay with it, it’s not the work of the government to crackdown on un roadworthy vehicles, arrest drunk drivers it’s our duty as citizens to ensure we do the right thing. Whenever you let your buddy over speed on Mombasa road just because it’s cool or it’s a new Subaru just know you could all land in a ditch in split seconds. Should we really do all this madness just to feel nice about it? Just because the car is insured? Yet whenever there are these major accidents in the country our politicians steal the show just to get some PR coverage promising Kenyans that the police will be on the lookout? Why do we fall for such ‘blowjobs’ yet it’s our duty to ensure our safety on the roads? Are we that cool to not even belt up on the roads?
Bottom-line I think it’s time we all insisted on the real deal; a cafĂ© should serve hot coffee not a hot mug from the microwave, Coca-Cola should come out clean and tell the world what the secret formula we’ve been consuming for centuries is, next time you complain about bad leadership don’t tweet about it, do something. Seek answers! Don’t board a matatu that is full, when its driven recklessly ask to alight or tell the driver to slow down, when you receive a bad service, buy a faulty product always seek answers and a refund. Let’s stop this insanity! Kenya is ours, why all the craze in going to middle east or Europe to search for jobs or business opportunities yet the world is all eyeing Africa?  As Kenyans we should stick around and solve our problems, when you complain about corruption just think about it, why should we pay a bribe, tip or pay a facilitation fee for a service that we deserve in government offices? If we don’t pay bribes and ask for superior service then we can get rid of corruption. When that matatu conductor pays a bribe to the cop just because the Matatu is overloaded just think about it! If we don’t board full matatus the conductors have no reason to pay bribes, if our ma threes are serviced well, fully insured, ply the right route and in good condition then they don’t have to pay bribes! What’s cheaper? Pay bribes daily or have a matatu that’s fully compliant to the traffic laws? Do the math!Always insist on the real deal, we need that for a better Kenya! No More BLOWJOBS!  Follow me @KenyanMarketer and leave your comments and opinions on my handle. Lets have a chat.




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