Bad customer service blamed on high rate of turnover

While service sector is tops in the region, its constant churn of new, inexperienced staff can create chaos, industry professionals say.

Call centres are starting to focus on sales rather than service, one bank official says.

The nation's service sector may be the highest rated in the GCC, but the diverse and transient population leaves businesses struggling to keep customers happy, according to industry professionals. The high turnover rate means many front-line staff lack adequate training, said participants at the Customer Service Week Forum in Abu Dhabi that ended yesterday. Companies also struggle to keep up with the needs of a constantly changing client base.

"Some people are here a year, or two years, or three years, and then they go and a new group of people come in with different expectations," said Robert Keay, the managing director of Ethos Consultancy, which organised the event. A YouGov study for The National last year found that, while better than elsewhere in the region, customer service in the UAE lagged behind Europe and North America. "People coming in from the West, they are traumatised by it," said Mr Keay. "Its all of those peripheral things that as residents we have to encounter every day that we still need vast improvement on."

While tourism does well, local firms, telephone and internet companies, estate agents, taxis, insurance companies and municipal service centres have the worst customer service, the survey found. For Lutfi Al Shukaili, the head of service quality and performance development for Dubai Bank, catering to different nationalities is the key to good customer service. Companies that fail to adjust their services are going to struggle, he said.

"The moment you land in the UAE, there is a different perception in what makes good service from people who've moved from the US or UK versus someone from Pakistan or the Philippines or from the region," he said. "What the US defines as good service, other places wouldn't." The bank's approach even changes based on the emirate. "How you sell to customers in Ras al Khaimah is completely different than Dubai," he said.

"The guy in RAK will only want to see one person - and that's the branch manager." The YouGov survey found that while staff are often perceived as polite, they are also seen as unknowledgeable and in need of training. For many at this week's forum, recruitment is a major problem. "The talent available is limited," said DS Ravikumar, the vice president and head of service quality at Emirates NBD bank, "and that's a big challenge for the banks."

He added: "One of the biggest concerns was that the staff has the necessary product knowledge and can communicate the information that the customer is looking for." Call centres remain an often frustrating experience. According to panellists, giving staff the leeway to address clients' complaints immediately would improve service and save money. "Lodging a complaint and sending it to the back office, then returning to the customer at a later date is a higher cost than just allowing staff to make a decision to cut Dh50 from the bill," said Mr Lutfi.

Part of the problem is that call centre staff are expected to cross-sell products, while increasing the number of calls they take. "Call centres have recently started concentrating on sales rather than service," said Faran Niaz, head of service quality at Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank. ADIB does not allow its call centres to cross-sell aggressively. "Centres that have 3,000 customers contacting them a day, and I've seen centres where there's a queue and the agent is told to shorten the call to meet monthly targets."

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