Complaints came piling in

A month ago, I announced my intention of using this column as a platform for people who need to vent their frustrations about how technology is failing them in the service industry. I also requested they provide a suggestion as to how technology could likewise be used to solve the problems with which they are faced.

I received a number of responses. Obviously the service industry is giving South Africans a lot to gripe about. I will forward this column, along with the original letter of complaint, to the various organisations that have come under fire, to see if they have the gumption to respond, or solve the problems they have created.

Cliff McKormick obviously had his conscience pricked by the particularly rancid advertising campaign offered up by those who would have us pay our TV licence fee. Wouldn`t it be nice if half the money that was thrown into that campaign was invested in making the payment systems work for the people who actually do pay?

One reader wrote in to suggest we implement a new type of insurance - Anti-Stuff-Up Insurance - that provides cover for all these unforeseen ridiculous costs with which we are confronted by the service industry.

Georgina Guedes, Editor, ITWeb Brainstorm

For some reason Cliff cannot fathom, the TV licence people refuse to use his PO box address, so he doesn`t receive a paper bill. They don`t answer their phone. This year, he decided to use their well-publicised Web site for payment instead. However, nowhere on the site is the actual cost of the TV licence revealed. Making use of the "Contact Us" button, he requested this information, but six weeks later, still hasn`t received a response.

He did finally get through to the telephone number, and managed to extract the information from someone who was only able to provide it in very broken English. He returned to the site to make the payment through the secure payment gateway. He is pretty sure this has happened, as evidenced by the amount having been deducted from his credit card, but has, to date, received no proof of payment, no licence, as he puts it, "nada".

He says: "The really sad thing is that the solution to this, which will be proposed by some really well-remunerated consultants, will be to put in a call centre to handle customer complaints and queries, which will add to the already over-burdened process, when the technology and infrastructure obviously already exists, but is not used. What I think is needed in these types of business (be it municipal, policing or whatever) is someone who has some ability to be practical and prepared to actually do more than just attend meetings to address the problems."

The second gripe is aimed at the banking industry. I guess it would be too much to hope it would escape fire.

Darryl Trimming was delighted to see Absa now offers proof of payment via e-mail, fax or SMS upon completion of an online transaction, either to himself or a beneficiary.

He is, however, outraged by the fact that the confirmation service is labelled as chargeable, in the context of confirming to him that the bank has carried out his transaction. He likens it to a shop trying to charge a separate fee for a till slip.

His suggestion: "I believe that any costs to provide myself with a proof of payment by e-mail, fax or SMS should be recovered from the monthly fees I pay; which are already bloated and should not be further expanded to cover what is not a service in this particular context, and ought to be a de facto and free element of a transaction that I carry out."

Graham Walker wrote in to complain about the fact that the municipality, whose billing system is in a mess, required he and his partner to settle erroneous bills before allowing a clearance certificate to be issued so they could sell their houses. He complained that neither he nor his partner had managed to obtain their refunds, months after the properties in question have been transferred. He wants to know what it is they are funding.

One reader wrote in to suggest we implement a new type of insurance - Anti-Stuff-Up Insurance - that provides cover for all these unforeseen ridiculous costs with which we are confronted by the service industry.

Another wrote in with the actual coding for alerting the municipality`s billing clerks when a bill is more than double its usual cost.

And finally, not even ITWeb Brainstorm is beyond reproach. In light of my column, Grant Corry, a Brainstorm subscriber, wrote in to query a refund he was expecting on an overcharge on his subscription to our magazine.

While we had every intention of refunding him, our technology had failed us, and a crash on one of our machines meant the instruction to refund him was lost. What followed was a bit of a runaround in locating the problem, the funds and then actually redoing the transfer in the next available batch, which resulted in a rather bitter Mr Corry. We officially extend him our sincerest apologies.