Secret shoppers reveal ‘discrepancies’ in customer service in Abu Dhabi

The programme involves undercover inspectors conducting intensive visits and filing periodic reviews of the quality of services they were provided by Abu Dhabi government offices.

ABU DHABI // The first phase of a "secret shopper" programme designed to evaluate the quality of customer services offered by Abu Dhabi government entities has underlined some areas that need improvement.

The initiative has so far involved 31 government agencies in Abu Dhabi City, Al Ain and Al Gharbia.

Launched by the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi in May, the programme involves undercover inspectors conducting intensive visits and filing periodic reports about the quality of the services delivered by the Abu Dhabi government to the public, said Yasir Ahmad Al Naqbi, director of the Abu Dhabi Excellence Programme at the General Secretariat of the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi.

Concentrating on entities that operate in five sectors – economic development, government excellence, community development, infrastructure and the environment, and human development – the inspectors noted “discrepancies” in how government employees dealt with customers and how efficient they were in responding to requests, the Executive Council said on Tuesday.

In some instances the secret shoppers noted that some services were not properly advertised or generally not made easy enough to obtain, while some email addresses were not working and some websites were hard to navigate.

The inspectors also noted that some employees lacked precise information about certain fees and timetables, while some of the information posted on the websites of certain entities was either not updated or conflicted with information circulated via another medium.

The goal is to identify areas that need further improvement as well as to encourage high-performing entities so that government services evolve in line with Abu Dhabi’s priorities, explained Mr Al Naqbi.

The regional and international prestige of Abu Dhabi, Mr Al Naqbi added, makes developing the area of customer service a matter of priority.

Sultan Karrani, an Abu Dhabi ambassador and official tour guide in the emirate, said the programme was an excellent idea, especially as Abu Dhabi was a city of international importance and competing with others across the world.

“One of the main things is the customer satisfaction,” he said, and it was important to really understand people’s likes and dislikes.

“Not knowing these auditors, or these people who are looking to the departments, will give excellent results in the long term,” said Mr Karrani, an Emirati who lives in Abu Dhabi.

“The services should be equal to or above the services around the world.”

At the launch of the programme, Mr Al Naqbi said it would be a “qualitative addition” to an existing customer experience assessment project involving 49 government agencies across the emirate.

In the intial project, about 45,000 government employees and more than 18,400 customers have been interviewed via questionnaire about their views on 97 government services.

The Abu Dhabi Government Secret Shopper Programme, which is “the most important stage” in the customer experience assessment project, will allow a deeper understanding of customer expectations, opinions and satisfaction factors through the appraisal of 70 core government services, Mr Al Naqbi said.

Shoppers were encouraged to find out more about their rights as part of a nationwide campaign in March this year.