Sultan Muhammad Al-Malik
SO many companies and government agencies do not know how to deal with a customer when a problem crops up. They never apologize to a customer publicly or, so to speak, properly and in a way that satisfies a customer. The examples are countless and I am sure many of us have had this bitter experience before. I had one last week.
I was at the airport and the flight was called. When we all got on the airplane and we were ready to fly, as we thought, the captain apologized and announced that the flight would be 15 minutes late. After the 15 minutes, he said the flight would be delayed for another 40 minutes. Why? Because the flight papers had not been sent by the Airport Operations Department. What kind of an excuse is that if not flimsy? I do not think anyone on that plane bought it.
Nobody said anything. After all, we did not have any option but to put up with the situation and wait. We had to bear the consequences of this delay. An hour later, the plane took off and this time the captain did not apologize for the delay. Using my own methods, I asked here and there and found that the airline decided to merge two flights into one.
An airplane that was supposed to take off before ours had been delayed. This is not something new in the world of airports. Things like this happen without taking into consideration the interests of passengers.
Look at the Kingdom’s hospitals and you will see a lot of examples of patients going to see the doctor at the exact appointment time, but never being able to see the doctor on time. They have to wait for some time. Nobody apologizes to them, and it is always the same excuse: the doctor is busy with another patient.
Look at car dealerships all over the country and the service centers. They will let you wait for a long time before they attend to your needs, and no one will apologize to you. I do not understand this.
All I know is that a customer is the one who pays for a service that should be rendered to him properly and without delay. We should respect customers more and apologize to them when a mistake is made.
Why do we not follow the example of Japan, which treats customers with great respect and looks at them as a top priority?
