By Ayeni Adekunle
I’m a very easy customer to please. Because I run a service business that has its own challenges, I understand that sometimes, certain demons may make it difficult or impossible to deliver the kind of excellent, never-seen-before, out of this world results you (and your clients/customers) so badly desire.
Yes, suppliers will disappoint, banks will misbehave, airlines will mess up, printers will frustrate you, and a lot of people who should make life smooth and easy, will occasionally make you want to leap off third mainland bridge. It is acceptable, as long as it’s occasional.
It’s okay for me to want to slit my wrists because you cancelled my flight last minute and made me miss my wedding; it’s okay for me to want to jump off third mainland bridge because you reneged on a contract just when it was all about to come together and change my life for the better. What is not okay is for you to supply me with the knife and take a walk; for you to push me off the bridge and drive my car away, whistling a happy tune as you speed off.
The above is exactly what Arik Air did to me in April. It’s what the Yorubas call ‘won so si’ni l’enu, won bu’yo si. Iso re e, ko se’n ponla, iyo si re, ko se’n tu danu. (In Nigerian English, that would mean, insult upon injury. Thank me later.)
I’ll tell you the story.
I cheated in April.
If you’ve ever been unfaithful in a relationship, you’ll understand how I felt as I checked in at the Arik desk on Friday April 20. Married to Virgin Atlantic, and faithful to her, I had cause to stray a day earlier when I had to book a return ticket to London, and no miracle would make my beloved Virgin available.
It was a few days to The NET’s second anniversary. I was supposed to see D’banj in London the night of Friday April 20, leave London with Arik on Saturday night, arrive in Lagos on Sunday morning, host our anniversary press conference Sunday evening, and settle down for final preparations for our British Council and Industry Nite events on Wednesday.
Yes, Arik took me to London. But it failed to bring me back on April 21. I checked in, spent all my leftover pounds at duty free, waited for the gates to open, entered the gates, and was ready to board. Initially, it seemed the flight would be delayed. Over one hour after departure time, we were told the flight may have to be cancelled due to engine problems. The flight was eventually cancelled, with no apologies. We were simply told food and accommodation would be provided.
After midnight, we were still outside the airport, waiting to be conveyed to the hotel. Elderly women, little children, helpless men (such as myself, of course). There was no priority for the old, the handicapped, little kids or premium passengers. The chaos got to some and many got into fights with on ground staff.
We would spend another two hours plus at the hotel, queuing to get room keys and pizza.
It was almost 4am before I got into my room at The Radisson. Because we had been told check out was for 10am, so we could make our flight, which, according to Arik, had been rescheduled for 12 noon, I could barely sleep.
We got to the hotel lobby at 10, only to realize it was most likely a ploy to make sure the airline did not pay for more than one night at the hotel. All packed in the lobby like refugees, we waited desperately for good news from Arik.
By this time, I’d already called the office to cancel the press conference. These things happen, and we should actually be grateful the airline didn’t risk flying us with a faulty engine, I told my colleagues. I was not at all upset.
My zen moment lasted until we got to the airport on Sunday afternoon, to realize our suffering would still continue. We were instructed to obtain meal tickets with our boarding passes, while we waited for further instructions. Hours would pass by and there’d be no word from anyone.
When a lady attendant came down later to address us, she was, understandably, swarmed. She left, and returned with almost a dozen policemen, wielding guns and intimidating dogs.
Instead of apologies and explanations, we were humiliated, intimidated and subtly threatened. And when we were finally addressed, it was simply to inform us that engine had been fixed, and that we would be told when it was time to board.
We made the boarding gate our home – sleeping on the floor and making new acquaintances, while the restless among us walked back to the duty free area to window shop.
We were lifted that night, and even though I swore never to fly Arik again, I knew within me that if the airline had a smart PR team, they could still come out looking good and retain at least most of us as customers.
Five months after, I’m convinced that that airline is peopled by a bunch of clueless men and women, who, if dragged to the court of customer service, would be sentenced to death by hanging. I had refused to publicly share my horrible experience, hoping the airline would reach out to all passengers on that flight, offering unreserved apologies from the chairman and entire management and staff, and offering some sort of compensation, if only to seduce us and get us to fly Arik again. I hoped for far too much. As I’ve been told, my April experience is just one of many for the airline. So, is it that they’re tired of apologizing and compensating? No problems. In that case, could they please consider shutting down?
I was following the twitter ‘discussions’ around Japhet Omojuwa and Ohimai Amaeze’s problems with Arik last week, and as I contemplated whether to add my voice or not, I had an experience that made me conclude that good customer service is still possible here, even in the midst of all the chaos.
I called a Diamond Bank customer care line to request my Visa credit card activation. Pardon me for being a bush Ondo (Oka-Akoko, to be precise) man. But when the machine told me I could choose what language I desired to be served in, I was pleasantly surprised. I smiled as I chose the Yoruba option. As the lady, Rachael took me through, the line disconnected because I ran out of credit. And she actually called back. She called back!
I finished that conversation beaming with pride. Pride in my bank, pride in whoever approved that policy, pride in Nigeria and all the possibilities that very tiny gesture showed. As if that was not enough, one of our staff, whose salary had just been domiciled with the bank, mentioned casually that a customer care rep called her to ask if she found it easy withdrawing money, whether the staff were nice, and if she had any queries. I’ve been banking in Nigeria for almost two decades and I’ve never received such call.
Such small steps from one department, yet a giant leap, as far as I’m concerned, for a bank that needs all the good image points it can get.
So, Not-so-dear Arik Air, why don’t you enroll in the Diamond Bank school of customer care? Don’t worry, I’ll ask them to do it pro bono, so you can focus on settling all those debts everyone’s talking about. Thank me later…
5 comments
Well detailed. I have also heard about Diamond Bank. Ecobank is the worst! I think the spirit of the old Oceanic bank is following them. They need to see ‘alfa sule’ and ‘awo jigini’ to help them out with the demonic attack of archaic banking. As for Arik, i think they should work on their customer care service so that they wont go the way of Air Nigeria.
Ayeni, once again, thank you for your wonderful articles and a bigger thanks to Chris for keeping you on your toes in this regard.
Customer service is one issue that i am very passionate about. I will state a conclusion before even going into details; until customers decide to stand up against poor customer service and vote with their feet while announcing poor acts of customer service, poor service will remain the norm.
I will give four testimonies;
1. recently closed Kalahari.net
2. Sweet Sensation, Adeola Odeku
3. http://www.upscalecollections.com/
4. Diamond Bank, Aba Road, Port Harcourt
It is past midnight now, permit me to elaborate on each of these testimonies while also detailing an act of poor service from thenetng.com, in the morning.
Very true!
I had a bitter encounter with Arik in Accra enroute Lagos in May.
I had a life changing experience with Diamond bank in June.
Salary4life Promo…..it is realllllll
I have never flown Arik Air but with all the bad press that has come from their corner this past year,I’m afraid I wouldn’t even bother. As for DiamondBank,I have always enjoyed their services except this one time which I guess is allowed once in a very blue moon. They have the most courteous,respectful n customer centric staff I have come across in the Nigerian banking industry. Kudos to them!
Arik is a mess, I blame their management for the abysmall performance of their customer care units