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 café 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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