Rob Harris | WhaleTales Blog by Chris von Ulmenstein

The Sweet Service Award goes to the Western Cape Government, and its Minister of Finance, Economic Development, and Tourism, Alan Winde, for promising to relook the new provincial Liquor Act, and how the red tape in its implementation can be reduced. Particularly welcome is the promise that ‘we have agreed to review the section of the Act which requires citizens to request approval to store more than 150 litres of liquor on a premises. This section was originally inserted to give police the power to prosecute illegal outlet owners who claim that the liquor on their premises is for private use’, according to a media statement which the Minister issued yesterday. While the exact nature of the ‘review’ is not clear, it would appear that it may be removed!

The Sour Service Award goes to SASSA (South African Social Security Agency), and is nominated by Rob Harris: “To SASSA: not to them in principle for what they do, but for 2 things (1) the rollout of the new SASSA chip ‘n pin card that some hidden snags – the biggest being that any funds on a card will be blocked from the 20th till the end of each month – according to their service provider, CPS ( a division of Grindrod Bank) this is so they can reconcile the SASSA payments with the CPS. One would have thought that with sophisticated banking systems and a verified database of grant recipients, this would be the same as a debit order run on the last day of the month and not needing 10 days to implement and (2) for the unacceptable delays in holding on for a telephone call to be answered. My call took 45 minutes before someone answered – when they did eventually speak to me they were efficient, polite and knowledgeable … but if I hadn’t been using a landline, and didn’t have the time what then? I have spoken to many people who have had all their airtime drained to zero while they held on for the next available operator! With so many people on the SASSA system who are eligible to receive the various grants, you would have thought the least they could have done was be more transparent about the time funds are inaccessible, also have a better communication system, and chosen a service provider that was better organised. It would be interesting to hear what Grindrod’s Chairman has to say, because if you CAN get through to any department of Grindrod, you get the stock answer – phone the “helpline” which is in itself, an oxymoron!’

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 info@whalecottage.com. Past winners of the Sweet and Sour Service Awards can be read on the Friday posts of this blog, and in the WhaleTales newsletters on the www.whalecottage.com website.

The Sweet Service Award goes to TELKOM, and is nominated by Rob Harris from Napier. He wrote: “…everytime I have had problems with my ADSL or Telkom connection I have called the support numbers and even though the wait has sometime been as long as 20 minutes, BUT when my call has been answered the operators have taken as long as it was necessary to deal with my problem and solve it. I have never been told that “they will get back to me” … they know what they are doing and even with complex issues, have managed to get me going. This week our ADSL stopped working and I couldn’t connect to the internet – I called Telkom and they tried to solve the problem remotely but conceded there was an ADSL breakdown – they logged the fault and within an hour was contacted by the Telkom technician, he asked some questions and told me he’d get back to me … an hour later he arrived at my house, checked my line, it was faulty … he rushed off to the exchange, came back 20 minutes later and tested again. The line worked perfectly but the ADSL couldn’t connect … he concluded there was an ADSL problem elsewhere. He went off promising to look into it. He phoned me an hour later to report the ADSL microwave link was down and was being sorted out (I subsequently heard that the whole of Napier’s ADSL was out) … 2 hours later the ADSL was restored! Yesterday, the technician phoned me at 07h00 to ask me personally whether it was performing ok. I call Telkom’s service GREAT! I know lot’s of people have issues with them, but I am a satisfied customer and have been for years and will stay with them”.

The Sour Service Award goes to Execuline insurance, the AA, and Coleman’s Towing Services. About 2 weeks ago my car broke down in Franschhoek, and was deemed by Mercedes Benz to not be safe to drive back to Cape Town. Following the instructions of the car insurance company Execuline, a tow-away service had to be booked via them. Not clear initially was that this booking was done by the Automobile Association (AA), and the service was impressive initially. The collection of the car was confirmed for 8h00 the following morning. Payment by cheque was refused, but a credit card payment was agreed to, for which details would be provided when the car was collected, it was agreed with the AA contact person the evening before. However, at 7h00 on the morning of collection, I received a call from the AA, requesting credit card details, contrary to our arrangement the day before. The AA agent said that the towing company could not leave Cape Town until the credit card payment had been made. This had an immediate impact on the arrival time of the towing company, and therefore it arrived one hour late! There was no apology from the AA nor Execuline, nor pro-active communication about the delay in arrival time. I had to drive to Cape Town in the Coleman’s towing truck, and was horrified about the condition of the (unbranded) truck, which I was told by the staff was brand new – however, when I questioned why there was no speedometer needle, they said that the truck was a second-hand one, and that this fault still has to be fixed! There were no safety belts in the truck! We had to stop twice on our journey to Cape Town, to check why there was a rattle on the truck, and to check if my car was securely tied-down on the truck. On the way to Cape Town, the driver constantly took and made calls on his cellphone! Despite reporting my dissatisfaction with this experience to my insurance broker, no one from the AA and Execuline has called!