Surviving Starcomms’ Service Delivery Maze

Dear Sola, as we discussed on Facebook, this is a full report of my transaction with Starcomms.

I have subscribed to the internet services and usually pay for the 100 hours option. My service ran out on Friday 26th June, 2009 and I made payment for a renewal on 30th June, 2009 at GT Bank with teller no (withheld). I immediately alerted Starcomms that I had made payment and was told that that the service would be restored within 24hrs. Alas 24hrs turned into 9 days despite the fact that I was always calling the customer service people. They always had the same story- "we are working on it"

Incidentally I work for NCC the telecom regulator and we have a bureau for consumer affairs but I didn’t want it to seem like I was flexing muscles (Nigerian style). However, when I was getting frustrated with the customer care people I decided to make a complaint on 7th July, 2009. After all I am first and foremost a subscriber notwithstanding where I work.

The service was not restored until today 9th July, 2009 and the excuse given was that there was a delay from GT Bank in notifying them of the payment I made. I find it rather difficult to believe that it would take GT Bank over a week to notify Starcomms that payment was made into their account.

I would really like that the issue of service provision by Starcomms be put in the public domain because people are definitely not getting value for the money paid and that should no longer be acceptable to consumers. Consumer X

My Own Story
I am a customer of Starcomms myself (since 2007 I think) and my numerous contacts with the brand’s service structure always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I have restrained from writing about it because as a diehard optimist, I hoped they will eventually get it right. Unfortunately it is either no one is smart enough to figure it out in the organisation or someone gets a kick from making customers go through such a tedious process repeatedly and with gross impunity too!
One of the hallmarks of service delivery is convenience to the consumer. A good service delivery structure must simplify its process continuously to minimize stress for consumers trying to access its service but from the structure Starcomms runs (especially on the internet service), I doubt if anyone copied them on that memo. Trying to buy a new Starcomms internet service is harrowing enough but once you are eventually signed on, staying subscribed graduates to being a nightmare!
To acquire internet facility, a customer has to bring their passport, utility bill (? Why this is required beats me. Has anyone considered the fact that most Nigerians are tenants or squatters who do not have a utility registered directly to them? If this was to verify my legitimacy, the fact that I can bring just any utility bill as long as it is registered to the address I give, has defeated that purpose. It is definitely not proof that I am the legal tenant there and since no one bothers to investigate, all the paperwork is just additional junk for the telecoms service provider. (Yes, I know it’s an NCC directive but how accurate is the data such a flawed process will produce?
The Payment Maze
Back to the service delivery maze at Starcomms customer service centers. (I use the Ikeja office on Toyin Street). There are at least 5 queues you must navigate through before you can complete the payment process: (1) You get on one for the service agent to write you a teller (2) you move to another queue to pay the bank cashier at a different window (3) join the third one to log in your teller details in a master book (4) then you move to the next one to register your teller so your internet service can be switched on (within 24 hours they always claim though 72 hours is the average you can get it switched on). If for some reason, you missed any of these queues, your payment gets lost in the maze and so does your connection. The last time it happened to me, I went back up to 4 times before we could locate the payment. Valuable time no one is paying for.
The fifth queue is reserved for you if you are unlucky enough to need some clarifications or issues with the process! Every time I have had the misfortune of going to renew my subscription, it has never taken less than an hour! Just to pay subscription! What happened to giving consumers an online payment choice? After all, this is an internet service so why not make payment easy for them?
Chaotic and Unhygienic Environment
Ambience at the Ikeja Service center is claustrophobic and chaotic. The place is usually crawling with touts and middle men who run the errand of navigating the Starcomms maze at a fee for wiser customers than me who are either too busy or just can’t endure the mentally and physically tasking process .The stench of human sweat mixed with various degrees of body odour in a poorly ventilated room with inadequate air conditioning is enough to discourage you from attempting it yourself. It hits you from the minute the door is opened. One wonders how much of the massive profits Starcomms is raking home is needed to at least make the environment conducive for their customers. (Maybe they don’t know about industrial air freshening process. If you are a professional in this area, please send a proposal to Starcomms with a copy of this article attached. Tell them I sent you! ) Oh! Did I mention the noise level? It’s like a market place.
The “Mystery” Subscription
This part of the maze borders on lack of transparency and accountability in the contract between the subscriber and Starcomms. As mentioned above, you have options of buying by hours or time. Whichever you choose, there is a termination point for instance, the 100 hrs expires in 30 days, whichever comes first. So if you don’t use up the 100 hours, you lose the balance after 30 days; no roll over to the next month.
My grouse with the Starcomms service is that once I am switched on, only Starcomms determines when my subscription expires! I have no means of accessing my account to check my balance hours or days to the end of my subscription. I only get to know that my time is up when my connection is cut off; which could be in the middle of the night, working on a proposal that must be sent by e mail before the next morning! They sometimes send e-mail alerts which are not consistent. For some inexplicable reason, their payment system cannot ensure seamless continuity so even if you pay a few days to expiration, the system automatically switches you off and then you wait another 48 hours to get reconnected. I have attempted it often, it just does not happen.
What does it take for Starcomms to write access to my account into their program so I can be in control of my own time (which I have already paid for by the way) or automatic recognition of payment so service is seamless? I have had to request a transaction history once and the document they emailed me was another puzzle. Somehow, I always feel I am being shortchanged because I cannot follow my usage myself. Does the Starcomms management have a problem with being transparent in their transactions with customers?
No Guarantee to deliver Service
Then there is the issue of guarantees in these service transactions. The only party protected is the service provider as he demands payment for a promised service before delivering the service. It is unacceptable that the consumer has no safety net if the provider defaults which they almost always do. For one, my Starcomms connection is usually weak and cannot stream videos so I can’t access any video clips sent to me, yet it is 3G (I have EV-DO).
Secondly, I lost count of days when I am logged on but cannot even open a web page yet the timer is counting down. I have had to wait for the connection for hours without any success yet Starcomms records my log in and out notwithstanding the single bar connection they deliver. I am so frustrated, I am about to switch to any other service that can at least ensure when I am logged on, I can access the internet. (My friends swear by IPNX or something. I am about to try them out…hope they are not just another flash in the pan because they all seem to be fast until their subscription base expands…then they start crawling.)
Conclusion: The Telecom “419” Racket
If the definition of fraud is to collect payment and not deliver the product or service paid for, then the telecom industry is probably Nigeria’s biggest 419 racket! It is the only industry that seems to have legalized ‘fraud’ because service providers are never mandated to deliver on the service they are paid for. As it is in voice, so it is in data. Drop calls and low bandwidths are never accounted for nor does NCC ensure that consumers get make good for services not rendered. The easiest way is to mandate compulsory additional airtime on every purchase so I have extra minutes free to compensate for the ones which I may not use but was charged for.
The fact that service providers in Nigeria don’t seem to have a clue about delivering the very service they set up shop for has become standard. Almost everywhere you turn, the DNA of what we term ‘service’ violates the very definition of the word. As consumers, we have become so cynical, many of us just don’t bother to expect any better anymore; we just make the best of a bad situation and keep keeping on.
While I understand the sentiments, it is obvious that the only way we can ever change the situation is to keep insisting on the basics until someone takes it serious enough to change the status quo. I believe the Nigerian consumer deserves a safe, wholesome and transparent trade environment to thrive and we can no longer settle for less. Starcomms, it’s time to raise the stakes and truly “speak our language “by improving your service delivery. The magic word is SIMPLIFY!