Adrian Gibson
First published in The Tribune on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 under the byline, Young Man's View.
HANDS down, the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) finishes in the top three as one of the worst service providers in the Bahamas—public or private. No, it does not appear that BTC is hearing the cries of its many customers—neither loudly nor clearly—and its services are far from ever qualifying as second-rate.
Why is it that customers, particularly those seeking new services or transferring services from one location to another (eg, myself), are held to ransom for weeks before receiving services?
Frankly, I’m sick and tired of being fleeced as BTC continues to charge ridiculous fees for lousy services. Just last week, while speaking to a Cabinet minister via cell phone, our conversation was abruptly interrupted at least three times by dropped calls. Over the years, if I added up the charges for text messages that were sent but never arrived to the intended recipient, BTC would have reimbursement cheque for me and thousands of other cell phone customers.
Last Thursday, I contacted BTC and was made to hold on for more than an hour while being forced to listen to automated machines and annoying records of people singing BTC’s promotional ads. Who exactly are they competing against to justify the glut of annoying advertisements and where are the living customer service operators? Which market is BTC competing for, since we all must use their services since they hold a telephony monopoly? It was so dreadful that after calling many of the available numbers, I finally spoke to someone who admitted that she couldn’t reach BTC’s customer care representatives herself—and she is a company insider! Luckily for me, she did provide the direct contacts of a few representatives, one of whom—Ms Zina Dillet (JFK)—was most accommodating.
BTC is an overstaffed company with a labour force some of whom appear to be too lazy to even answer the telephone. Any serious suitors seeking to purchase an interest in the corporation should seek to provide better quality services by offloading the company’s freeloaders in restructuring exercises.
BTC must know that throngs of customers are displeased with its exorbitant charges and poor service quality.
Recently, the company unceremoniously cancelled the “free” voice mailing feature—which allowed customers to place “voicemail calls” if they had “no minutes”—under the premise that it was clearing up the voice channels to prevent call failures/drops. Since the company took that stance, there is no evidence of improvement.
Of late, BTC’s Vice President of Marketing Sales and Business Development Marlon Johnson wrote on the company’s EZ Top-up website:
“Dear Customer, Please note that the EZ Top-Up platform has been taken down temporarily in order for BTC to enhance the security features and make the feature more customer friendly. We anticipate that the new and improved EZ Top-Up feature will be back on-line on August 3, 2009.”
The EZ Top-up feature did not return on August 3rd and today it remains unavailable to those prepaid customers seeking to recharge phone cards or load minutes on to their cell phones.
So, contrary to BTC’s self-serving ads, EZ Top-up is the company’s latest innovation that does not work and, contradictory to the company’s claims, is far from putting “connection at the fingertips” of Bahamians.
If BTC’s services do not improve, the moment they are privatized and other companies offering better services set-up, for me and thousands of other Bahamians, it will be “bush crack, man gone!”
NO HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
I would be the first one in my car, honking my horn about Nassau’s streets of Miss Bahamas Universe, Kiara Sherman, is crowned Miss Universe on August 23rd.
However, after seeing many of the world’s mind-blowing beauties that have graced New Providence’s landscape recently, not only has my interest for the pageant peaked at the sight of the gorgeous ladies the Miss Universe tidal wave has brought in, but I’m also acutely aware that Ms Sherman’s road to the top is filled with well-prepared, international beauties who will make the local pageant seem like a cake walk.
While many Bahamian males (and some females) are gawking at the queens representing 80-plus countries, I encourage Ms Sherman to strive for excellence and not to become intimidated or complacent, as the journey will be rough and, quite honestly, there is no home court advantage.
TAKING EMPLOYEES FINGERPRINTS
With all the in-fighting and squabbling seen in unions of late, it is patently obvious that unions have lost their purpose and are no longer relevant or as resolute as they once were.
In recent years, it appears that some unions are electing grubby little ingrates, position seekers, and tunnel-vision headline hunters to front office positions.
There appears to be little interest in the members, as these so-called leaders are not seeking solutions to labour issues but instead are contributing to the ongoing mêlée consuming so many unions.
Frankly, the unions ought to support employers who should seek to have the Employment Act amended to allow for biometric fingerprint recognition of employees, which would no doubt save businesses thousands of dollars, mitigate against productivity losses, deter workers from fraudulently using time cards, reduce thefts and prevent clocking in scams.
Presently, the Employment Act of 2001 outlaws the use of fingerprints by Bahamian employers, except for those in the casino industry.
I understand that biometric machines do not store fingerprints but instead match the shape of hands, fingers, eye vessels and retinas to a mathematical algorithm. In these gloomy economic times, the unions should have no problems with biometric fingerprinting, as it would undoubtedly save jobs via a reduction in losses associated with thefts and also improve employee productivity.
Besides, Bahamians happily allow US Custom agents to take their fingerprints and scan their retinas as they gleefully skip to Miami/Fort Lauderdale every few weeks!
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