The Sweet Service Award goes to the Stellenbosch Municipality, and its new Free Wifi service in Franschhoek. While it is not sure how far its reach is, it was a pleasant surprise in getting something back from the municipality. One suspects that the core router is in the municipal offices next to the Town Hall.
The Sour Service Award goes to ABSA Franschhoek and its branch manager Nazreem Langeveldt. A simple request for a three-month statement to be printed for SARS took 25 minutes for staff member Nadine initially, even with Nazreem’s ‘help’, everyone having to ask everyone else how to print the statement on an ABSA letterhead. I received a statement covering less than 3 months. When I expressed my dissatisfaction to Nazreem for the poor and slow service, she became rude, pointed her finger at me, told me that she must be treated with ‘respek’, and that she would have no hesitation to ‘throw me out’ of the bank if I did not ‘respek’ her! In error the bank charged a fee for printing the statement four times, and Nazreem highlighted this to me before I left. She promised to reverse three of these charges, but four days later this still had not been done. She called me after I had left the bank, but I could not speak to her as I was in the Post Office, so I told her I would call back. She did not wait for me to do so, and called back 10 minutes later, highly agitated and shouting into the phone, hurling abuse at me, and telling me again that she would have no hesitation to ‘throw me out‘, saying ‘you are pathetic’ to me, and then putting down the phone! I received a call from Nazreem, and once again she went on the attack when I asked her why she had not reversed the overcharge four working days later. She told me that she had been far too busy to have done it earlier! It is clear to see the application of ‘tomorrow‘ in the ABSA pay-off line by the Franschhoek branch, where mañana and shocking service rules! We reported Nazreem’s poor service to the mother branch ABSA Stellenbosch, whose Branch Manager Logan September was sympathetic and apologised for Nazreem’s behaviour on behalf of the bank, and organised the full refund of the fees charged.
The WhaleTales Sweet & Sour Service Awards are presented every Friday on the WhaleTales blog. Nominations for the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be sent to Chris von Ulmenstein at whalecot@iafrica.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog. FOR THE DURATION OF MASTERCHEF SA SEASON 3 WE ARE MOVING THE SWEET & SOUR SERVICE AWARDS TO SATURDAYS. Next week The Sweet & Sour Service Awards return to Fridays.
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Tel (021) 433-2100, Twitter:@WhaleCottage Facebook: click here
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