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That’s right, people of South Africa, don’t complain.
Definitely don’t complain if you don’t want:
- better service
- better value for money
- to get what you pay for
- to stop being ripped off
- safe and secure products and services
- to stop receiving pesky sales calls at all hours from pushy sales people
- tourists to return to our beautiful country and to tell all their friends to book holidays here
- to educate your children on how to effectively demand better service
- to make a change
I’d like to challenge the notion that South Africa is a nation of whingers. We’ll grumble into our glass of wine at the bar on Friday night, and mutter into our beers over our Sunday braai about poor service and how we are ripped off. But how often do we take deliberate action to improve the situation? From complaining effectively and following complaints through to resolution, to promoting a ground swell of public opinion that stops supporting poor performing suppliers and starts holding them accountable for their lack of service delivery.
Inspired by the recent US election campaign urging the American public to “Don’t vote” if they didn’t want change, SA Rocks, in conjunction with getclosure, the online complaints management and consumer affairs portal, today launched an initiative to motivate South Africans to become conscious consumers, and to educate them on how to complain effectively.
The campaign aims to help consumers to affect and effect positive change. This includes:
- Getting better service and value for money.
- Holding South African companies accountable for what they promise and what they agree to give in return for your money.
- Preventing others and yourself from being ripped off.
- Helping make South Africa a holiday destination with world-class service, as well as natural beauty.
With less than a year to the start of the FIFA World Cup, the clock is ticking for South African businesses to prepare for the anticipated estimate of in excess of 500,000 visitors, all of whom we want to return home having had positive experiences.
By not complaining though, South African business will continue to deliver the same level of service – service which is very often sub-standard.
HOW TO COMPLAIN
That’s all very well, but what is the best way to go about complaining about poor service? Once you have established that you do indeed have a legitimate complaint, here are a few handy hints about tackling shoddy customer service without losing your cool, and still arriving at a satisfactory outcome. Read more…
HOW DO I GET INVOLVED IN THE DON’T COMPLAIN CAMPAIGN?
Firstly, complain and encourage others to do the same. If you experience poor customer service, speak up. If you need a hand, the getclosure site is a quick, easy and effective way to have your complaint delivered to the organisation. On the flipside, if you experience spectacular service, make an effort to compliment the organisation involved. You can do this via getclosure as well.
Visit our Don’t Complain page and download one of the badges to help spread the word. Add the badge to your website, blog, Facebook page or Twitter stream.
Most importantly, be cognisant of service levels in South Africa. Understand why they are important, and hold people and companies accountable for their performance. It’s your hard-earned cash being spent, after all.
Watch this space for more news, tips and events.
Similar Posts:
- How to complain
- Add some muscle to your customer service complaints
- 10 reasons to encourage your customers to complain
- Don’t Complain … compliment!
- Don’t Complain… compliment… some more!
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October 16th, 2009 at 11:43 am
Couldn’t agree more!! Saffers need to stop whinging … and start complaining – constructively and helpfully. Time’s running out guys. Gotta polish up our act to impress for 2010 – AND before and after!!
October 16th, 2009 at 11:50 am
http://www.eu2hell.blogspot.com
Re: SA rocks; Complaints or no complaints
Another example how SA rocks: For the third time within a year a major industry project from foreign investments had to be scrapped because of incompetence, insufficiencies and drastic shortcomings of South Africa. This time the damage is over $3 billion, and will prevent up to 3,300 South Africans from finding work and livelihood.
The $3.25 billion (R24bn) aluminium smelter planned by Rio Tinto for the Coega industrial development zone (IDZ) has been scrapped due to the shortage of electricity. Rob Davies, the Minister of Trade and Industry, said yesterday that the reality was that the energy system in the country did not make it viable to move ahead with the smelter.
October 16th, 2009 at 11:57 am
What’s so funny about this call for complaining is that it comes on this website, and is written by Nick.
To date, this website has solely looked through pinky glasses to describe South Africa, ignoring everything that heaps hardship on taxpayers in the country and portraying the country exclusively with delusional and irrational praise.
I try hard to balance this navel-gazing exercise with a healthy dose of realism.
October 17th, 2009 at 10:25 am
I totally agree! I would love to see South Africans start lodging meaningful complaints. Too often after a small bitching session about the poor service we politely smile at the manager as he comes around and tell him everything is fine.
October 21st, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Alison and Chris thank you for comments. You are speaking our language – I like it.
I have been involved at http://www.getclosure.co.za for a little over 2 years. In this time I have found that consumers who submit real, legitimate complaints often end up with a positive outcome. Here is some data to demonstrate this:
All consumers that use getclosure to complain are encouraged to give us feedback at the end of the complaint process. One of the questions asked is “How satisfied are you with the outcome of your complaint?” Here is an overview of the responses received in 2009 for 7 major brands (each selected randomly from a different industry):
Satisfaction with the outcome of the complaint:
• 15% elated (76 consumers)
• 28% pleased (144 consumers)
• 37% satisfied (190 consumers)
• 20% disappointed (101) consumers
An impressive 80% (410 out of 511 consumers) stated that they were satisfied or better with the outcome of their complaint.
There is some inspiration for you – if you have a complaint it really is worth letting the offending company know about it.
October 28th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Since Isabel Jones died, I though I was the only person in the country taking up the baton on behalf of SA Consumers against high prices (profiteering by retailers). I am SO pleased to find this group now. How do I join?