They are quick to respond to our readers’ queries. They have resolved our readers’ complaints. Now they deserved to be named. Who are they?
These are the companies who have processed and investigated our reader complaints from July to December 2012. They give due importance to their customers’ feedback and find a resolution to satisfy their customers.
The top spot goes to RAK Bank for promptly responding to our readers’ queries and for being fully transparent with their investigation in dealing with each complaint. Mashreq and Barclays grabbed the second and third positions respectively for handling the complaints in an effective and efficient manner.
We had a tough time evaluating and deciding who should be in the top 10 companies, as the organisations have been constantly improving their services and processes in satisfying their customers. We have ranked them based on their speed of redressal, transparency of process, satisfaction with the solutions, cooperation on the complaint process and attitude towards consumers.
We interviewed the top three companies to know more of their best practices in customer service.
Gulf News: What is the maximum amount of time your company allows to respond to a consumer and resolve their issue?
Graham Honeybill, chief executive officer of RAKBANK: RAKBANK ensures that our customers are acknowledged within one working day in response to any issue raised. The time taken to resolve the issues would depend on the nature and gravity of the complaint and hence the Bank ensures the customer is regularly updated on the status.
Ambar Brahmachary, head of marketing and customer experience, Mashreq: Genuine, effective resolution of the complaint is fundamental, the time taken varies bases on the nature of the problem. First Point Resolution (FPR) is the ideal option - if the issue can be resolved immediately at the branch or on the phone. In more than 50 per cent of the cases, it does get resolved in this way. For the ones that don’t get resolved at FPR, once we fully understand the customer’s complaint, we estimate the time it will require realistically to resolve and give the customer a Promise Turn Around Time (TAT) and then do everything possible to deliver within that promised TAT. This varies from: end-of-day to a week, depending on the nature of the root cause of the complaint. We have a strict escalation mechanism during this process (extending to the highest levels of the management) to ensure that all issues are either resolved in the customer’s favour or we have explained the Bank’s position clearly so that the customer understands the issues fully and is satisfied with our explanation.
Venkatesh Srikantan, head of UAE retail and business banking, Barclays: Barclays has its clients and customers at the centre of all its operations. In our journey to becoming the ‘Go-to’ bank, client and customer feedback is considered the leading factor in our continued development and improvement of our service excellence.
With this in mind, as an issue arises, our customer care division addresses reception of the query within less than 24 hours and immediately forwards the query to the concerned department. The concerned department contacts our customer to evaluate the query and address the requirements. The customer care department follows up with the concerned department to close the outstanding issue. If the issue takes longer than the anticipated time to resolve, we keep our customer informed of the progress every 48 hours with an elaborate reasoning for the delay.
How do you evaluate a complaint and find a resolution?
Honeybill, RAKBANK: The Bank ensures that all complaints that cannot be resolved immediately are passed to a specialist department. The key to a successful resolution is to listen carefully and understand the customer’s perspective, which allows the complaint to be fully evaluated and a solution found.
Brahmachary, Mashreq: Complaints resolution is centrally managed by our very qualified team of service associates. We have internally designed a complaint resolution process where we categorise the issues by product, by channel, by segment and by urgency/severity. The course thereafter differs according to the nature of the complaint. Our team is well trained on the whole product range and all the bank wide systems so that they can find the best fit resolution in the shortest time. Also they are adequately empowered to transact any reversals, if need be.
Srikantan, Barclays: At Barclays, we are committed to providing a high standard of services to all our customers. In order to ensure an efficient turnaround time that lives up to our clients’ expectations, we have developed a systematic root-cause analysis that addresses customer queries and invested significant resources in enhancing client-focused technology platforms.
What is your process for dealing with claims of misinformation or not being transparent?
Honeybill, RAKBANK: Our process of handling all complaints is the same. We evaluate the customer’s claims and investigate them with efforts to provide a fair resolution.
Brahmachary, Mashreq: Being transparent and fair is one of Mashreq’s core values. We are ever vigilant on this front. Clear and sustained communication with our customers is key. We need to be constantly vigilant that all changes in policies, pricing and product features are brought to the notice of all our valued customers, that they are well informed, well in time, so that they are not taken by surprise when reviewing their statements. Furthermore, we communicate through various channels of communication — through the schedule of charges prominently placed in the branches, through SMS, email, letters and the website so that they are equipped with all the product information, and in a timely manner. Therefore we rarely face complaints based on misinformation. But when they come to our notice, we will do everything to provide restitution and comfort to our customers. And we make sure the staff, responsible for any misinformation realises how seriously we treat such acts of omission and commission.
Srikantan, Barclays: We at Barclays believe in 100 per cent transparency in every aspect of our operations. We take any allegation of misinformation very seriously and ensure that adequate resources are deployed to investigate the matter internally. Barclays undertakes the following measures to ensure full disclosure to our customers:
• Ensure that every detail, term and condition is explicitly stated on the application form as well as updated on our communication channels including our website, welcome packs, emails, and SMS. This is applied for every product and service we offer.
• Ensure that 100 per cent of our sales and front-end teams are well trained and certified prior to offering Barclays products and services.
• Once a customer expresses desire to subscribe for a product or service, we ensure that the application is documented and signed off by the customer post confirming that all terms and conditions are read and understood.
Companies overall ranking
1 RAK Bank
2 Mashreq
3 Barclays
4 Citibank
4 Dubai First
4 Dunia
4 Emirates NBD
4 Etihad Airways
4 First Gulf Bank
4 Najm JCB
4 NBAD
4 Standard Chartered
5 Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank
5 Delta Airlines
6 Etisalat
6 FlyDubai
7 HSBC
7 Air Arabia
8 ADCB
8 Air India
8 Du
9 Dubai Islamic Bank
10 Qatar Airways
