Today we are featuring some letters from others, telling of their experiences with customer service.  See, da na only me who experiences bad customer service oh!  See for yourself.  And if you have an OUTSTANDING (not just good) customer service experience please do tell it right here.

Bill Paid, They Still Cut My Service

Dear Ma Hawa,

Thank you for giving some of us a place to voice our frustration and in some cases, our joy. I read the last couple of your articles and felt a sense of relief in sharing my experience. I recently had a terrible experience at “a certain electricity company.” No Name, No Blame, right? When I shared this experience with some friends of mine and they were not surprised. In fact, a couple of my friends laughed at me and told me, “you geh, you will stay long inside.” My adventure began after returning home at 9pm from a long day at work. I left my house in the morning with paid electricity running freely. When I returned home around 9pm, the house was pitch black. I asked the Security “Did the current go?” He handed a piece of paper to me and told me, “de pepo na turn ur light off ohhh, old ma.” The piece of paper was a disconnection notice.

I was outraged and a little confused. I had paid my bill about two weeks ago, a day after receiving the bill.  In fact, my previous bills were always paid a day after receiving it.  The last bill was no different.  Not only did I go the bank and pay the bill, I also took the receipt to the company so they can recall the payment.  This is how I always paid my bills.  Apparently, this wasn’t good enough for “a certain electricity company”.  The disconnection notice left at my house didn’t show a previous past due balance; only the account due from the last bill I had paid.  The disconnection notice was dated two weeks after my last payment.  I spent the night angrily in darkness.  The next day I visited “a certain electricity company” around 12 noon.  I showed them the disconnection notice as well as the receipt.  “A certain electricity company’s” customer service representative told me that my lights would be reconnected by the end of the day.  I left their office and returned to work.  Big mistake!  When I returned home, my lights were still off!  I slept in darkness for another day.  Due to an emergency the next morning I wasn’t able to return to “a certain electricity company” until 2pm, thinking I could catch someone before they leave their offices at 5pm.  Another big mistake! As I approached the customer service office, I was informed by the security that no one was there.  I asked for a manager and was told the manager was “on the field.”  I went past the security to see if anyone else could help me, but unfortunately, all the doors on the ground floor were locked.  The security came after me and informed me that no one was there to help.  He said everyone was “on the field.”  He told me it would be best for me to come back the next day.   I returned home and slept in darkness again.  The next morning I paid another visit to “a certain electricity company” around 10 am and requested to speak with a manager.  After angrily voicing my frustration, he then promised me my lights would be turned on immediately.  I had to continuously call home every hour to verify if my lights were on.  By 3pm, the security called and informed me that my lights were on.

What I can’t seem to understand is that some of these utility companies are making unprofessionalism a habit.   They treat us, the customers, like trash and don’t even think twice about apologizing when they are wrong.  This company made me feel like I should be happy I even have light.  They don’t realize that it is customers like me who paid their bills on time that keeps them in business.  I don’t know what else we, the customers, need to do to ensure we are treated fairly and respectfully.

I hope you will share my story in your next issue.  Thanks again for giving us a stage to voice our opinion.

Yours Truly

A New Fan of Ma Hawa

He Had the Nerve To Tell Me…!

Dear Ma Hawa,

It is such a good thing that you have created this forum for us to discuss the desperate imperatives of good and proper customer service. I think many of us will start with our most frustrating experiences – those ones are usually the most memorable – and, as the conversation evolves, there will be more success stories to add to the mix. So here is mine – a letter long overdue – and mind you, I have many other “memorable” experiences to add to this growing anthology.

I was feeling romantic one evening and decided to treat my girlfriend to nice dinner at a restaurant at a hotel in Mamba Point.  (No Name No Blame, not so?)

So we climbed onto the balcony and took our seats, waiting to be served.  Of course, for an up-scale restaurant at an up-scale hotel in Mamba Point (no name no blame) you would expect up-scale (first class) service, won’t you?  It took FORTY MINUTES for a waiter to finally acknowledge us and then another ten minutes for him to bring the menu.  Meanwhile, he was busy joking and keeping conversation with a non-African guest who clearly wasn’t eating, but leisurely smoking and catching cool breeze.  And the only reason we decided to wait that long was out of a wonderful curiosity that suddenly developed and compelled us to scrutinize the scene in light of exactly what we are discussing here:  the quality of customer service in the Liberian business environment.

So I called the waiter’s attention and asked him if he was waiting for the Supreme Court to hand down a ruling before he could serve us.  He gave some excuse that couldn’t possibly save his life and sluggishly strolled over to our table.  He finally took our order and the food came some 20 minutes later.  By this time, my girlfriend had lost her appetite and the only thing that kept us there now was the curious assignment we had just discovered.  So I ate my meal and had hers packed to go.

As we called for the bill, I decided to give this waiter a test of my own to see the extent and gravity of this lack of customer service, which we detected in him and his colleagues.  After all, this wasn’t my first time coming to the restaurant of the hotel in Mamba Point (no name no blame), and it surely wasn’t my first time having to pull teeth to get served.  So here’s what I did: I called for the bill and when he brought it, I decided to pay it in Liberian dollars.  (Yes, I also had enough US dollars on me.)  I counted several crisp one hundred Liberian dollar notes equivalent to the US dollar figure on the bill and placed them on the saucer in which the bill came.  When the waiter came to collect the money and saw that I was paying in local currency, he paused for a moment; his mouth dropped.

“What’s the problem,” I asked, quite interested in how far down his throat he was about to shove his own foot.

He hesitated.  And then, turning in the direction of the cashier, he said, “Let me ask if they would accept this.”

“You say WHAT?” I asked, now visibly and audibly annoyed as my girlfriend tried to calm me down.

At that moment, I knew I had all the answers I needed.  First of all, it became clear to me that the hotel in Mamba Point (no name, no blame) was only interested in foreign guests and not local guests, when the Liberian waiter ignored a Liberian customer only to keep casual conversation with a non-African guest.

Second, I had come to realize that there are certain business people who feel they are above the law and can get away – pretty much – with murder.  And if a waiter in my own country has to ask permission from his boss-man to accept local currency, then that boss-man at the hotel in Mamba Point must think of himself as more powerful than the President herself!

Third and most personally, the hotel in Mamba Point spoiled my date.  My girlfriend and I did not go there as under-cover investigators of customer service; we went there as customers needing quality service commensurate with the caliber of which the hotel in Mamba Point (no name, no blame) portrays itself.  Sadly we were treated as though we didn’t even deserve to be there.

Ma Hawa Around Town, thank so much for listening.  Sharing these experiences with you and others, I feel the burden being lifted off my chest.  Like I said, I have plenty, plenty other stories.  In my next letter, I will tell you about a life-threatening incident that happened on April 30th this year.  Many people will relate.  But it will be bad news for the establishment if they are named.  Ay yah.  Just lucky for them, we have to remember Ma Hawa Around Town’s Golden Rule: “No name, no blame!”

Sincerely,

Hewnfromtherock

If you have had a good or bad experience at any business in Monrovia (bank, restaurant, government agency, airline, cook-shop etc) please send your experience to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or join me on Facebook (Ma Hawa Around Town). At your request, your name can be kept anonymous. No name, no blame.

Disclaimer: The views expressed by Ma Hawa to any specific corporation, firm, product, or service, or the use of any trade, firm or corporation name is for the information and convenience of the public, does not constitute endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Daily Observer and their staff.

Customer Service is now under a new watchful eye.  Some people call me Monrovia’s professional che-che-poly.  I don’t mind the name because da my area.  You can add “Ma Hawa, to the title of Monrovia’s Professional Che-che-poly.” I decided to take on the role of criticizing and complimenting businesses around the Monrovia area simply because no one else has the guts to do so.