Tuesday, June 16, 2015
Sola Salako 555: Throwing a Shoe at the "Rebranding Nigeria" Project
Sola Salako 555: Throwing a Shoe at the "Rebranding Nigeria" Project Rummaging through my archives...stumbled on this piece written when late Prof Dora Akunyili tried her hands at rebranding Nigeria..."Good People, Great Nation" remember? Fast forward to present day...the issues are still the same...after billions of naira has gone down the drain...is Nigeria a chronic case of never ending musical chairs? I pray not...please read
Sunday, July 17, 2011
Arik Air and the Burden of Customer Care
Arik Air has become notorious for delays, rudeness, high handedness, broken down processes and annoying management haughtiness...all ingredients of brand suicide.
I am constantly regaled with various levels of consumer complaints about Arik Air...from multiple hour delays and schedule inconsistencies to rude ground staff, smelly cabins...even outright flight cancellations without any notice to checked in passengers (that last one happened to ME! I still have a boarding pass issued by Arik which they did not honor...the flight left without me though I was on the tarmac! Arik Air denied me boarding because they claimed the 1st flight on which I was checked in was actually the 3rd flight o so... the second flight for the day was moved to the 1st position (Arik logic)...kinda confused sha but typical of Arik's operations in recent times.
As if that was not enough, Arik's management added salt to injury. When, in response to the Director General of Consumer Protection Council's admonition to them to improve their service delivery,Arik took out a full page advert in most national dailies (I read the one in The Nation)to vilify her person and question her authority to evaluate their service delivery, my heart sunk as "another Nigerian brand bit the dust". Below are excerpts of Arik's offensive publication:
" As a public servant and a Director General, we expect Mrs. Umenyi to choose and calibrate her statements more judiciously. Sadly, this was not the case. We would have been obliged to ignore her regrettable and unfortunate comments, but as a responsible corporate citizen we are constrained to set the records straight in the interest of our traveling guests and the general public.
Arik Airline operates between 136 and 146 flights daily carrying no fewer that 4,000 passengers on both its local and international routes. Of course we aspire to provide excellent services to all our traveling guests, but it would be irresponsible to judge our services by “speaking with a few customers”, as the Director General has done.
It is bad enough that the Director General based her disparaging comments on her discussions with “a few” nameless and faceless customers. It is worse that she saved her venom until she had a personal axe to grind with the airline and she obviously thought the best way to get even was to use her office to incite the public....".
What irked me most was the reference to its customers as "a 'few' faceless and nameless customers"! Even if only one customer complained, the least Arik owed us all was to listen, show empathy and try to rectify the issue. But obviously, we are mere cash cows to the Arik management... not individuals who trusted them enough to give our hard earned naira in exchange for good service.
Well, I take exception to such a derogatory and insulting label from a brand I chose to patronize! No sir! I am neither faceless nor nameless... my name is Olusola Ibileye Sarah Salako and I deplore Arik Air's customer service delivery as substandard; unprofessional; high handed; confused and unacceptable!
Maybe other Nigerians (and foreign tourists here on business or pleasure... yes, there is a lot of pleasure tourism going down in Naija) don't mind to be referred to as 'nameless or faceless' but I do!! That is why I am writing this blog... so my protest is documented and referenced.
If you feel just as strongly about Arik Air's unacceptable behavior, do something about it too...post it on all social networks, bb and all the messengers etc. Make your voice heard...or live with crappy service for life...from uncaring and insensitive brands like Arik Air!
I am constantly regaled with various levels of consumer complaints about Arik Air...from multiple hour delays and schedule inconsistencies to rude ground staff, smelly cabins...even outright flight cancellations without any notice to checked in passengers (that last one happened to ME! I still have a boarding pass issued by Arik which they did not honor...the flight left without me though I was on the tarmac! Arik Air denied me boarding because they claimed the 1st flight on which I was checked in was actually the 3rd flight o so... the second flight for the day was moved to the 1st position (Arik logic)...kinda confused sha but typical of Arik's operations in recent times.
As if that was not enough, Arik's management added salt to injury. When, in response to the Director General of Consumer Protection Council's admonition to them to improve their service delivery,Arik took out a full page advert in most national dailies (I read the one in The Nation)to vilify her person and question her authority to evaluate their service delivery, my heart sunk as "another Nigerian brand bit the dust". Below are excerpts of Arik's offensive publication:
" As a public servant and a Director General, we expect Mrs. Umenyi to choose and calibrate her statements more judiciously. Sadly, this was not the case. We would have been obliged to ignore her regrettable and unfortunate comments, but as a responsible corporate citizen we are constrained to set the records straight in the interest of our traveling guests and the general public.
Arik Airline operates between 136 and 146 flights daily carrying no fewer that 4,000 passengers on both its local and international routes. Of course we aspire to provide excellent services to all our traveling guests, but it would be irresponsible to judge our services by “speaking with a few customers”, as the Director General has done.
It is bad enough that the Director General based her disparaging comments on her discussions with “a few” nameless and faceless customers. It is worse that she saved her venom until she had a personal axe to grind with the airline and she obviously thought the best way to get even was to use her office to incite the public....".
What irked me most was the reference to its customers as "a 'few' faceless and nameless customers"! Even if only one customer complained, the least Arik owed us all was to listen, show empathy and try to rectify the issue. But obviously, we are mere cash cows to the Arik management... not individuals who trusted them enough to give our hard earned naira in exchange for good service.
Well, I take exception to such a derogatory and insulting label from a brand I chose to patronize! No sir! I am neither faceless nor nameless... my name is Olusola Ibileye Sarah Salako and I deplore Arik Air's customer service delivery as substandard; unprofessional; high handed; confused and unacceptable!
Maybe other Nigerians (and foreign tourists here on business or pleasure... yes, there is a lot of pleasure tourism going down in Naija) don't mind to be referred to as 'nameless or faceless' but I do!! That is why I am writing this blog... so my protest is documented and referenced.
If you feel just as strongly about Arik Air's unacceptable behavior, do something about it too...post it on all social networks, bb and all the messengers etc. Make your voice heard...or live with crappy service for life...from uncaring and insensitive brands like Arik Air!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
My Experience with AirTran (more like AirTrash)
what I experienced yesterday was a failure of customer service period. The people just could not get themselves together due to the crisis caused by weather. The test of great customer service is in a crisis and AirTran failed woefully. Only one guy at gate C8 was composed enough to think (Bolton White is his name. He should get promoted to Manager cos he recognised peculiar situations and tried to fix each on its merit.
If I had gotten him earlier, we would have avoided the situation. Everyone in customer care Thursday Mar 11 were unhelpful, robotised and sometimes downright rude! One caucasian buffoon shouted me down and insisted I joined a queue of about 50 people with less urgent issues than mine. They wouldn't even listen. After waiting for about an hour, I finally got to talk to another who was more preoccupied in blaming me for choosing to fly out of 2 airports!
The Atlanta-DC flight was going to Reagan DCA to arrive at 11.54 am. my flight to London was at Dulles for 6.55pm so I had enough turnaround time if they had kept their end of the bargain. The trouble started when the connecting flight from Atlanta-DC left earlier than scheduled. We could not land in Atlanta on time cos it rained. by the time we got to the gate of our connecting flight to DC at 10am, there was no plane! ... See More
It was scheduled to leave at 10am but when over 40 of us got to the gate at 9.58am, the plane had left and there was no staff at the gate! AirTran could have held that flight when they knew the connecting flight was delayed. In fact, it took 20mins for AirTran to provide us with a parking gate! So the delay was all their fault. I guess they didnt want to incur late fees so they passed the inconvenience to their customers!
Every attempt I made to get them to think outside the box just didnt yeild. They were like progamed morons! "you missed the flight, we put you on the next one period"! The next flight was at 1.45pm so I waited for 4hrs. About 1pm, AirTrash! announced that this flight was delayed from New Orleans due to mechanical fault and would now leave at 3pm! my flight to London was at Dulles for 6.55pm and I still needed to go through security. Not to mention DC rush hour traffic from Reagan Memorial to Dulles
About Security; my Nigerian passport earned me instant 'suspected terrorist' status cos I was taken aside, frisked and every item in my possession was checked for radioactive radiation - from my makeup, purse, phone, ipod, pc, shoes, bags, EVERYTHING! even my hands! that takes about 25 minutes and a lot of embarrassment. No thanks to Mutallab for this humiliation but what can one do? Na me come their country. Abi?
Anyway, back to AirTrash! Bolton White was the ONLY one who recognised my urgency and took it up with the manager before they got me a business class seat on the earlier Atlanta-Baltimore BWI for 1.45pm. We arrived at 4pm and luggage took 30mins Its 1hr no traffice from BWI to Dulles so I would have arrived at 5.30pm and Virgin gate closes at 6pm.
All the way from Atlanta, I had been on the phone with the Virgin Atlantic customer service and they were excellent. I called Virgin 4 times and each representative was empathetic, helped me through possible options, even put a note on my reservation to alert check in staff of my predicament. When it was obvious I could not make the flight, they called the airport to offload me cos I already checked in online and advised me on the cheapest options i had.
Since I had no plans to stay in DC, I had no one to pick me. All my contacts in the area were not available. 1 was in BWI for 4 hrs before locating my dear cousin (thank God for family) A shuttle to her house, (saved hotel) back to Dulles to try for a seat today, etc
Planned my itinerary to get to Lagos Saturday morning to make Bimbo-Sola Connect and the burial of my aunty. AirTrash trashed all that. I can only hope for a connecting flight to Lagos so I get in in time to speak at World Consumer Rights Day Summit in Abuja on Monday. All because AirTran Customer Service Staff didnt get the memo on thinking outside the box in resolving customer issues!
If I had gotten him earlier, we would have avoided the situation. Everyone in customer care Thursday Mar 11 were unhelpful, robotised and sometimes downright rude! One caucasian buffoon shouted me down and insisted I joined a queue of about 50 people with less urgent issues than mine. They wouldn't even listen. After waiting for about an hour, I finally got to talk to another who was more preoccupied in blaming me for choosing to fly out of 2 airports!
The Atlanta-DC flight was going to Reagan DCA to arrive at 11.54 am. my flight to London was at Dulles for 6.55pm so I had enough turnaround time if they had kept their end of the bargain. The trouble started when the connecting flight from Atlanta-DC left earlier than scheduled. We could not land in Atlanta on time cos it rained. by the time we got to the gate of our connecting flight to DC at 10am, there was no plane! ... See More
It was scheduled to leave at 10am but when over 40 of us got to the gate at 9.58am, the plane had left and there was no staff at the gate! AirTran could have held that flight when they knew the connecting flight was delayed. In fact, it took 20mins for AirTran to provide us with a parking gate! So the delay was all their fault. I guess they didnt want to incur late fees so they passed the inconvenience to their customers!
Every attempt I made to get them to think outside the box just didnt yeild. They were like progamed morons! "you missed the flight, we put you on the next one period"! The next flight was at 1.45pm so I waited for 4hrs. About 1pm, AirTrash! announced that this flight was delayed from New Orleans due to mechanical fault and would now leave at 3pm! my flight to London was at Dulles for 6.55pm and I still needed to go through security. Not to mention DC rush hour traffic from Reagan Memorial to Dulles
About Security; my Nigerian passport earned me instant 'suspected terrorist' status cos I was taken aside, frisked and every item in my possession was checked for radioactive radiation - from my makeup, purse, phone, ipod, pc, shoes, bags, EVERYTHING! even my hands! that takes about 25 minutes and a lot of embarrassment. No thanks to Mutallab for this humiliation but what can one do? Na me come their country. Abi?
Anyway, back to AirTrash! Bolton White was the ONLY one who recognised my urgency and took it up with the manager before they got me a business class seat on the earlier Atlanta-Baltimore BWI for 1.45pm. We arrived at 4pm and luggage took 30mins Its 1hr no traffice from BWI to Dulles so I would have arrived at 5.30pm and Virgin gate closes at 6pm.
All the way from Atlanta, I had been on the phone with the Virgin Atlantic customer service and they were excellent. I called Virgin 4 times and each representative was empathetic, helped me through possible options, even put a note on my reservation to alert check in staff of my predicament. When it was obvious I could not make the flight, they called the airport to offload me cos I already checked in online and advised me on the cheapest options i had.
Since I had no plans to stay in DC, I had no one to pick me. All my contacts in the area were not available. 1 was in BWI for 4 hrs before locating my dear cousin (thank God for family) A shuttle to her house, (saved hotel) back to Dulles to try for a seat today, etc
Planned my itinerary to get to Lagos Saturday morning to make Bimbo-Sola Connect and the burial of my aunty. AirTrash trashed all that. I can only hope for a connecting flight to Lagos so I get in in time to speak at World Consumer Rights Day Summit in Abuja on Monday. All because AirTran Customer Service Staff didnt get the memo on thinking outside the box in resolving customer issues!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
My Toyota Experience: Good Thinking, Bad Product?
I bought a Toyota Rav 4 in August 2006 from Elizade Motors. Since it was my first ever brand new car and I had an old car then, I only drove it on special occasions. My first reaction after the purchase was that contrary to the perception I had of the brand, the car was a little too lightweight than I expected. Initially, I thought my disappointment was buyer dissonance but when I had the opportunity to drive the American Specs of the same car, I could confirm that my Nigerian Specs was significantly different. The only way to describe it is ‘pangolo’ (empty tin) compared to the American version.
About the 1st service, I noticed that when I step on the brakes, it made this peculiar sound like it was struggling to catch. I mentioned my observation to the service personnel at Elizade Service Center in Ogba and was told they checked and nothing was wrong. I however don’t remember if I insisted my complaints must be included in the job sheet. It was a brand new car with just over 5000 kilometers so I didn’t make any fuss once they reassured me.
The next thing I noticed was that my steering wheel made clicking noises when turning to the right side as if the car had a shaft problem. However, when you make the full turn of the steering wheel, there was no clicking sound. I also mentioned this sounds each time we went to service the car and the usual response was there was no problem. I remember one of the staff explaining to me that it was normal with Rav 4. Since this was my first Toyota car, I had nothing to compare notes with and they were the experts. By August 2009 when my 3 year warranty was to expire, my car which had less than 30,000 kilometers on it was driving like an over flogged jalopy! Getting into potholes on Lagos roads was a nightmare as the car seemed like it had no shock absorbers.
I notice the difference because whenever I drove other vehicles which were older than mine over the same stretch of roads, my experience was distinctly different. Two weeks before my warranty expired, I decided to seek a second opinion and asked Mr Kunle Osinaike, Automobile Engineer and Producer of Automedics on Radio Continental to test drive the car. The minute he turned the steering and stepped on the brakes he confirmed that there definitely was an issue with the vehicle. Elizade serviced the vehicle for 3 years and gave it a clean bill of health in spite of my constant complaints about these sounds. Uncle Kunle advised me to take it back (we just serviced less than a month or so) and even offered to go with me in case they still disputed the fault.
I took it in just about 2 weeks before my 3 year warranty expired and met a really nice officer Idowu, who impressed me with his service delivery so much I wrote about my experience. He took the car in and confirmed that there was something wrong with the steering which had affected the shock absorber on the right side. He informed me that since it was still under warranty, they would fix the steering wheel and replace the two shocks though only the right side was affected. We scheduled an appointment and I went home a happy customer not knowing my ordeal had just begun.
Elizade had the car for about a week and when I was getting restive and sent my driver over, they told him we had to take our turn as they were working on other cars before ours. My driver caught a glimpse of the workshop and told me he saw other Rav 4 all jacked up like mine. I thought it was strange then to have so many cars of the same brand in warranty repairs at the same time. That was when I suspected it was a factory fault but since they took responsibility, I didn’t want to make a fuss.
A few days later, they called that they had changed the shock absorbers but the part to fix the steering wheel had to come in from Japan. We were advised to take the car and they would call us when the part was in. I asked about the brake sound and another irritating sound from the back of the car and was told all was fine. It took a few months for Elizade to call that the part was ready, by which time; the clicking sound was now constant on the right front wheel area. Even after fixing the steering wheel, they returned the car without checking the right wheel click.
I immediately protested and was then informed that there was some rubber issue. When I pointed out that this sound had been for years, the Warranty Officer told me they noticed it but since they had already requested for more than 3 parts for my car on warranty, they could not accept liability for it anymore, more so my warranty had since expired by now. This is without any consideration for the fact that the repairs were briefed in under warranty and were never fully concluded because Elizade and Toyota just didn’t have the complete parts to finish the job at any given time.
After establishing that fact, I offered to pay for the part so it won’t cause further damage but refused to pay for repairs but Elizade insisted it was my full responsibility. They promised to order the part, and called a few weeks ago to ask us to bring the car as the part was in their office. We took it in and after two days, I was told to come pick up my car. My driver got there only to call me that the car was not fixed after 2 days in their workshop because they just discovered that the wrong part was sent from Toyota Nigeria. After two days!
Due to Elizade’s sloppy after sales service delivery, the car is still with these defects which might be affecting other parts of the vehicle. While still trying to find an alternative solution to this, I discovered that my car’s chassis was within the range listed by Toyota Nigeria for ‘check up’ appointment! So my brake pedal issue could have been a factory fault all these years and I was falsely reassured until it started to affect other parts of the car.
While I am grossly aggrieved at Elizade and Toyota Nigeria for endangering my life and taking advantage of my vulnerability as a woman to pass off a defective product as superior quality and falsely reassure me to avoid culpability, I cannot but wonder if there are any standards for vehicles imported into Nigeria in the first instance.
I am aware that nations specify the minimum standard of products that can be imported into their country but it seems the Nigerian government was not copied on that memo. As a consumer rights and protection advocate, I have raised the alarm that with porous regulations and zero enforcements, Nigeria is sitting duck for substandard products. While my experience with Toyota could be an isolated case as the brand is not substandard, thousands of products flood our markets without any way for consumers to verify their quality.
Where is Standards Organisation of Nigeria in this global Toyota recall? Who do I report my experience and suspicion of a factory defect in the Rav 4 2006 edition so they can investigate to ensure that consumers like me are not endangered by our purchase? The case in the automobile industry is particularly critical because Nigerian lives are on the line. How are we sure that many of the accidents that we attribute to bad roads, reckless driving and carelessness are not actually caused by some minor defect in the vehicle? Who is saddled with the responsibility to investigate accidents to determine their causes so we can avoid such in future?
I have checked with the Consumer Protection Council and was assured the DG had directed that a letter requesting for Toyota to state the accurate exposure of the Nigerian consumer to this identified faults be dispatched last week. However, the CPC must speak up for the Nigerian consumer and engage the SON on the issues that affect our purchase choices.
What are the Nigerian specifications for approved vehicles? One would expect that given the state of our national road network, extra fortified shocks would be a standard requirement for any vehicle intended for the Nigerian market. Also, with the inability to get the fuel equation right, a less sensitive fuel injection system would also make that list to fortify our vehicles from adulterated fuel accessioned by the embarrassment of scarcity.
The only advantage I have as a Nigerian consumer is the ability and opportunity to speak and be heard through the media. Millions of Nigerians like me suffer in silence because there is no voice to echo their pains. Even I may have to bear my burdens after venting because there is no one to hold Elizade and Toyota Nigeria to fulfill their contractual obligations to fix my car of a recurring defect complained about under warranty.
My issue is too minute in the face of gargantuan national ‘issues’ of a sick President; an Acting President trying to manage his loyalty to terrestrial powers while attempting to steer a rudderless nation; a National Assembly totally engulfed in the politics of remaining relevant mixed with our national demons of fuel scarcity, scanty electricity and massive ATM scams, exploitation of ignorant consumers and this sudden unprecedented heat scourge!
This is one of those times I wish I had a President like Obama who published a Consumer Handbook of guidelines on practically every purchase decision with a personal note reassuring his citizens of his commitment to their protection and how they can seek redress. I wonder if Acting President Goodluck Jonathan spares us a thought as consumers in his overloaded 12 hour schedule.
If he does, maybe he will recognize the crucial role of consumer protection and strengthen the structures like SON, CPC, NERC and CBN enough for them to do more than bark. Nigerian consumers desperately want them to bite too!
Meanwhile, I have formally complained to Elizade and waiting for their response. An official apology for their insincerity with me during the warranty period on my vehicle and full responsibility for returning my car to perfect condition or a replacement of the car is what I expect or else, I will seek legal redress. It is time to test the structures that should protect consumers.
About the 1st service, I noticed that when I step on the brakes, it made this peculiar sound like it was struggling to catch. I mentioned my observation to the service personnel at Elizade Service Center in Ogba and was told they checked and nothing was wrong. I however don’t remember if I insisted my complaints must be included in the job sheet. It was a brand new car with just over 5000 kilometers so I didn’t make any fuss once they reassured me.
The next thing I noticed was that my steering wheel made clicking noises when turning to the right side as if the car had a shaft problem. However, when you make the full turn of the steering wheel, there was no clicking sound. I also mentioned this sounds each time we went to service the car and the usual response was there was no problem. I remember one of the staff explaining to me that it was normal with Rav 4. Since this was my first Toyota car, I had nothing to compare notes with and they were the experts. By August 2009 when my 3 year warranty was to expire, my car which had less than 30,000 kilometers on it was driving like an over flogged jalopy! Getting into potholes on Lagos roads was a nightmare as the car seemed like it had no shock absorbers.
I notice the difference because whenever I drove other vehicles which were older than mine over the same stretch of roads, my experience was distinctly different. Two weeks before my warranty expired, I decided to seek a second opinion and asked Mr Kunle Osinaike, Automobile Engineer and Producer of Automedics on Radio Continental to test drive the car. The minute he turned the steering and stepped on the brakes he confirmed that there definitely was an issue with the vehicle. Elizade serviced the vehicle for 3 years and gave it a clean bill of health in spite of my constant complaints about these sounds. Uncle Kunle advised me to take it back (we just serviced less than a month or so) and even offered to go with me in case they still disputed the fault.
I took it in just about 2 weeks before my 3 year warranty expired and met a really nice officer Idowu, who impressed me with his service delivery so much I wrote about my experience. He took the car in and confirmed that there was something wrong with the steering which had affected the shock absorber on the right side. He informed me that since it was still under warranty, they would fix the steering wheel and replace the two shocks though only the right side was affected. We scheduled an appointment and I went home a happy customer not knowing my ordeal had just begun.
Elizade had the car for about a week and when I was getting restive and sent my driver over, they told him we had to take our turn as they were working on other cars before ours. My driver caught a glimpse of the workshop and told me he saw other Rav 4 all jacked up like mine. I thought it was strange then to have so many cars of the same brand in warranty repairs at the same time. That was when I suspected it was a factory fault but since they took responsibility, I didn’t want to make a fuss.
A few days later, they called that they had changed the shock absorbers but the part to fix the steering wheel had to come in from Japan. We were advised to take the car and they would call us when the part was in. I asked about the brake sound and another irritating sound from the back of the car and was told all was fine. It took a few months for Elizade to call that the part was ready, by which time; the clicking sound was now constant on the right front wheel area. Even after fixing the steering wheel, they returned the car without checking the right wheel click.
I immediately protested and was then informed that there was some rubber issue. When I pointed out that this sound had been for years, the Warranty Officer told me they noticed it but since they had already requested for more than 3 parts for my car on warranty, they could not accept liability for it anymore, more so my warranty had since expired by now. This is without any consideration for the fact that the repairs were briefed in under warranty and were never fully concluded because Elizade and Toyota just didn’t have the complete parts to finish the job at any given time.
After establishing that fact, I offered to pay for the part so it won’t cause further damage but refused to pay for repairs but Elizade insisted it was my full responsibility. They promised to order the part, and called a few weeks ago to ask us to bring the car as the part was in their office. We took it in and after two days, I was told to come pick up my car. My driver got there only to call me that the car was not fixed after 2 days in their workshop because they just discovered that the wrong part was sent from Toyota Nigeria. After two days!
Due to Elizade’s sloppy after sales service delivery, the car is still with these defects which might be affecting other parts of the vehicle. While still trying to find an alternative solution to this, I discovered that my car’s chassis was within the range listed by Toyota Nigeria for ‘check up’ appointment! So my brake pedal issue could have been a factory fault all these years and I was falsely reassured until it started to affect other parts of the car.
While I am grossly aggrieved at Elizade and Toyota Nigeria for endangering my life and taking advantage of my vulnerability as a woman to pass off a defective product as superior quality and falsely reassure me to avoid culpability, I cannot but wonder if there are any standards for vehicles imported into Nigeria in the first instance.
I am aware that nations specify the minimum standard of products that can be imported into their country but it seems the Nigerian government was not copied on that memo. As a consumer rights and protection advocate, I have raised the alarm that with porous regulations and zero enforcements, Nigeria is sitting duck for substandard products. While my experience with Toyota could be an isolated case as the brand is not substandard, thousands of products flood our markets without any way for consumers to verify their quality.
Where is Standards Organisation of Nigeria in this global Toyota recall? Who do I report my experience and suspicion of a factory defect in the Rav 4 2006 edition so they can investigate to ensure that consumers like me are not endangered by our purchase? The case in the automobile industry is particularly critical because Nigerian lives are on the line. How are we sure that many of the accidents that we attribute to bad roads, reckless driving and carelessness are not actually caused by some minor defect in the vehicle? Who is saddled with the responsibility to investigate accidents to determine their causes so we can avoid such in future?
I have checked with the Consumer Protection Council and was assured the DG had directed that a letter requesting for Toyota to state the accurate exposure of the Nigerian consumer to this identified faults be dispatched last week. However, the CPC must speak up for the Nigerian consumer and engage the SON on the issues that affect our purchase choices.
What are the Nigerian specifications for approved vehicles? One would expect that given the state of our national road network, extra fortified shocks would be a standard requirement for any vehicle intended for the Nigerian market. Also, with the inability to get the fuel equation right, a less sensitive fuel injection system would also make that list to fortify our vehicles from adulterated fuel accessioned by the embarrassment of scarcity.
The only advantage I have as a Nigerian consumer is the ability and opportunity to speak and be heard through the media. Millions of Nigerians like me suffer in silence because there is no voice to echo their pains. Even I may have to bear my burdens after venting because there is no one to hold Elizade and Toyota Nigeria to fulfill their contractual obligations to fix my car of a recurring defect complained about under warranty.
My issue is too minute in the face of gargantuan national ‘issues’ of a sick President; an Acting President trying to manage his loyalty to terrestrial powers while attempting to steer a rudderless nation; a National Assembly totally engulfed in the politics of remaining relevant mixed with our national demons of fuel scarcity, scanty electricity and massive ATM scams, exploitation of ignorant consumers and this sudden unprecedented heat scourge!
This is one of those times I wish I had a President like Obama who published a Consumer Handbook of guidelines on practically every purchase decision with a personal note reassuring his citizens of his commitment to their protection and how they can seek redress. I wonder if Acting President Goodluck Jonathan spares us a thought as consumers in his overloaded 12 hour schedule.
If he does, maybe he will recognize the crucial role of consumer protection and strengthen the structures like SON, CPC, NERC and CBN enough for them to do more than bark. Nigerian consumers desperately want them to bite too!
Meanwhile, I have formally complained to Elizade and waiting for their response. An official apology for their insincerity with me during the warranty period on my vehicle and full responsibility for returning my car to perfect condition or a replacement of the car is what I expect or else, I will seek legal redress. It is time to test the structures that should protect consumers.
Monday, February 8, 2010
iPetitions: Start a free online petition / Edit petition information
iPetitions: Start a free online petition / Edit petition information: "Nigerian Consumers Against PHCN Meter Maintenance Charges"
Friday, January 1, 2010
Profiling the Nigerian for Terrorism
Farouk Mutallab by his misguided and deplorable attempt to blow up an airline on Christmas Day in the US, thrust all 140 million Nigerians onto the global stage for scrutiny once again for another socially unacceptable behaviour.
That Nigeria has a bad image on the global scene is no longer news. Before him, the 419 scam generation had succeeded in earning us the shameful label of the Scam Mecca of the world. Then there is our unfortunate political evolution that has entrenched corruption and bad governance as synonymous with Nigeria.
Sick display of ill-gotten wealth by military dictators and supposedly democratic politicians further confirmed us as a nation of questionable values. Throw in the Niger Delta militancy, incessant religious crisis and gross bribery scandals spanning three continents and some mega conglomerates and you could safely conclude that the Nigerian nation is a safe harbor for all anti- social behaviour.
Surprisingly however, such a conclusion could not be farther from the truth. In spite of the seemingly endless list of criminal and anti-social characteristics of Nigerians, one of the most definable traits of a Nigerian is a passionate love for life. This trait transcends ethnic, religious and cultural divides and can safely be assumed to be written in the Nigerian DNA.
By nature, a Nigerian abhors death because our cultural orientation presents death as a defeat of destinies. If a Nigerian dies at less than 70 years old, it is a family and communal tragedy. Young deaths are believed to be untimely and thus a stigma that could affect the status of such a family as other families avoids any relational interaction with the one who loses its members untimely.
The Nigerian by nature does not commit suicide. Suicidal tendencies are immediately concluded to be demonic or extraterrestrial influences on such persons. Suicide is not a psychological imbalance to the Nigerian society. It is a satanic oppression which is dealt with by prayers and other spiritual antidotes.
Depression is not a mental state in the Nigerian context. It is a spiritual attack that only God can overcome; not anti-depressants. A Nigerian who attempts or commits suicide stigmatizes his family and generations for life. Nigerians don’t marry into a family with a suicide or mental depression case as it is assumed that the tendency could be hereditary.
That is why, as the world tries to unravel the Farouk Mutallab phenomenon, it would do well to search for his motive in everything else but his Nigerian lineage. It just did not come from there because it does not exist there.
It would also be an error to profile the Nigerian along terrorist parameters as it would be a sad waste of time and resources as the Nigerian lacks the moral fibre to hold ideological or religious beliefs at the expense of his life.
Simply put, the Nigerian could cause others harm as long as it does not affect himself or his family but to blow up a plane with him as one of the victims is definitely not Nigerian.
The Nigerian’s aggression only goes as far as his life is not threatened. The minute any resistance or activity becomes life threatening, the Nigerian backs off and prefers to live with the injustice than lose his life.
This is what is responsible for the continued oppression of the masses by the political class. The politicians know this trait and capitalize on it to keep holding on to power in corruption, election rigging and bad governance. If the Nigerian valued life a little less, maybe a sustained resistance would have rid us of the incessant politicians whose primary aim is to loot the treasury.But the Nigerian’s passion for life has become his stumbling block for progress as he would rather live in oppression than die for principle.
That is why Farouk Mutallab may be Nigerian by birth but definitely not Nigerian by orientation.
The Nigerian culture has high social and communal collateral. In Nigeria, no man is an island. It is absolutely essential to the Nigerian that he be accepted within his social circle. It is this need for acceptance that is the root motivation for scams and criminal activities. The influence of peer status is very heavy on the average Nigerian mind. If a peer is affluent, there is unspoken pressure on his contemporaries to rise to the challenge; thus the trend to cheat, steal or scam to gain social status and acceptance.
In the converse, it is this same social collateral that keeps majority of Nigerians morally upright as it is a stigma for you or your children to be morally corrupt. That is what informed Farouk’s father to act proactively by reporting his son’s questionable lifestyle even before he did anything wrong.
Even the obviously corrupt do everything to hide their real activity thus the tendency to have cover-up businesses or live abroad and only come home sparingly so no one can scrutinize their activities.
The Nigerian spirit is one of resilience not revolution. The Nigerian spirit is self preservation and not sacrificial. It is the trait that condemns us to our present state of underdevelopment in spite of abundant resources. Nigerians don’t sacrifice anything for a common good or goal, especially not our lives. No Nigerian runs towards death in ideological oblivion. It is not in our character.
The natural emergence of supposed ‘experts’ on the global scene claiming to understand and profile the Nigerian due to Mutallab’s botched attempt at terrorism could mislead the world into chasing shadows like Bush misled Americans to chase non-existent weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Looking for an Al-Qaeda base in Nigeria will be an exercise in futility as the cultural environment is too hostile to their ideological motivation.
The world will do well therefore to concentrate its efforts at defeating terrorism on nationals with enough moral fibre to hold ideological views enough to die for it.
We Nigerians don’t die for anything or anyone. If the Lord Jesus Christ was a Nigerian, the world would never be saved from sin.
Nigerians would rather live than die for anything. The less than one percent with questionable character may find smart ways to defraud the world but even they want to live to enjoy their loot.
Simply put, Farouk Mutallab does not represent the spirit of Nigeria because Nigerians don’t die for anything.
Monday, September 21, 2009
NCC Phone Blacklisting Service: Matters Arising
A few weeks ago, I had raised some questions on the compulsory 40kobo monthly surcharge NCC had approved for Netvisa, a licensed service provider to manage the CEIR phone blacklisting service. For those who might not be aware, the phone blacklisting service is one of the strategies NCC plans to help curb phone theft which was estimated at 2 million phones annually.
For this, NCC in agreement with some stakeholders in the industry approved a compulsory surcharge of 40kobo per subscriber every month to provide the service. While the service is laudable and timely, my reservations bordered on the compulsory status of the surcharge, especially when there were claims that the service providers offered to provide the same service at no cost. While 40kobo is negligible to each subscriber, the cumulative total over more than 60million subscribers would tally up to over 300million every year!
Legitimate questions about NCC’s logic for opting for a third party to provide a service that was already available on individual networks and might only require a directive for all networks to interconnect in order to share the information, however was seen as a malicious plan to sabotage the project by some people at NCC and surprising enough, quite a few consumers.
Almost all the comments posted on CAFON’s social network site http://cafonnigeria.ning.com accused me of colluding with phone thieves or defending interests other than the consumer’s. It appeared that the issue had polarized Nigeria’s consumer base as so many other consumers were insistent on NCC either providing the service for free or at least at lower costs and definitely not compulsorily.
An evaluation of the two opposing views revealed that consumers took a position based on their level of enlightenment as majority of the nays spoke only from the need perspective while the yeas were more concerned with the strategic relevance and long term sustainability of the service.
It was very enlightening because it allowed me to see the difference awareness, information and enlightenment makes in dealing with consumer issues. One consumer actually asked me why I was so concerned about what happens 2 years up the road. Why can’t I wait until then? Exactly the sentiments of the regulators.
Does one need to wonder why nothing appears sustainable in Nigeria when it seems we are comfortable with making short term plans on long term issues?
Phone theft has been for over 7years now and will probably be a problem 7 years down the road but our desire and strategy is to solve the immediate now and deal with the future when it shows up.
Why not plan to solve it for at least 10 years instead of 2? Knowing the Nigerian economic equation, chances that the cost would decrease over the years is slim. So after 2 years, we might end up paying a naira or two for the same service with no added value.
It is worth noting that the Minister of Information and Communication was reported to havedirected a freeze on the execution of the project to review the package. That is a welcome development.
One however hopes that the Minister will vigorously pursue this review to either get the service free for the consumer or at least reduce the initial cost to the consumer.
It would be even better if the service can be available to consumers on as needs basis or if an additional benefit of insurance can be worked into the deal.
One common recurring reason why the nay consumers seemed to want the NCC option was because they didn’t trust the service providers to faithfully implement the service because of the fact that they make money on Welcome Back packs.
Whenever a consumer loses his phone, he pays from N300 to N800 to retrieve the SIM depending on the provider. According to the nay consumers, this income stream might influence the efficacy of the service because the providers want to keep selling Welcome Back packs.
The issue raised more questions for me on the regime of charges NCC endorsed for these networks. With the level of vibrancy in the sector, one would think that certain practices would have been abolished because they are unsustainable.
It puzzles me that consumers are still paying for the SIM card separate for the network service. In the first instance, the SIM card is the property of the network as stated in the contracts attached to the packs. It just happens to be the means through which I get access to the product I want to buy i.e. airtime. If the Network decides, it can withdraw my SIM at will because it is their property.
How come Nigerian consumers are being made to pay for an item that they can never own? It’s like the doctor charging you for the syringe separate from the injection! Shouldn’t it be part of the cost since you can’t get the injection without the syringe anyway? SIM cards all over the world are considered part of the cost of service not treated as a separate product.
I remember buying a Lebara pay-as-you-go pack at Victoria Station in London recently. The hawker charged 5 pounds for the pack and when I activated the number, my initial credit was exactly 5pounds; not 4 pounds fifty after deducting 50p for the SIM pack! I recall paying N40, 000 for my SIM card in 2001! No airtime was even included then! N40,000!
Thank God for the competitiveness of Glo mobile that crashed the price to 200, forcing other networks to reduce their prices too. If something that once cost 40,000 could come to cost as little as 200 in a 5 year cycle, one does not need a calculus to determine that some exploitation was definitely going on somewhere.
Yes, we could sing the early adopter song in the marketing cycle but the disparity is too great and in the economies of scale, the cost of producing the SIM pack should be negligible enough by now that it can be absorbed as part of running costs. But will the networks, which are in business to make money, willingly let go of this additional income stream without prompting?
Probably not, so NCC needs to rigorously engage them with a view to constantly minimize cost of service to the consumer. Or what do you think?\
It is bad enough that we pay for the tool needed to get the service but it becomes questionable when the service provider seems to be profiting from a consumer’s misfortune by charging a premium to restore a service that already caused great loss to the consumer (phone, other personal items if it was a case of armed robbery, valuable information, etc).
No wonder the nay consumers would rather pitch their fortune with NCC’s compulsory 40kobo monthly surcharge than take the free offer from the service provider. Who wants to take a chance with anyone who appears to profit from one’s misfortune?
While NCC is at this issue of Phone Blacklisting Surcharge, can they review this practice of paying to retrieve a stolen line too? After all, the service providers cannot charge for it without NCC’s consent and approval and I want to believe that the regulator’s primary responsibility is to look out for the consumer while ensuring a competitive business environment for the service provider.
In fact, Nigerian consumers should no longer pay for acquiring a SIM card either for a new line or replacing a lost one. Whatever value is placed on the SIM pack should be loaded in full on the line as airtime. If we pay N300 for a new SIM, the airtime on that line must be N300 in full, no less.
For the service providers, it makes good business sense to seize the moment and display some consumer sensitivity on this matter before it becomes a directive from NCC. And please, let no one chant the “cost of business in Nigeria is too high” mantra at me.
After all, as “harsh” as the Nigerian business clime is reputed to be, profit margins here sometimes are quite juicy ( I recall reading about one GSM network declaring over 400billion profit before tax in a half year cycle a few years back!) The supposed harsh costs are borne by the consumer anyway so let us share in the benefit too.
Another argument in favor of free SIM card is also the fact that all networks still have loads of technical issues that result in consumers being charged for services not delivered e.g. drop calls, bad connection while the counter is running, etc.
That is like making money for nothing. Since we must endure this until their facilities are functioning better, they could at least pass some of that free money back to us by giving us a break on the SIM card end.
It is also just and fair that no consumer should pay for something which will never belong to him. We are interested in airtime… not the tool to get it!
For this, NCC in agreement with some stakeholders in the industry approved a compulsory surcharge of 40kobo per subscriber every month to provide the service. While the service is laudable and timely, my reservations bordered on the compulsory status of the surcharge, especially when there were claims that the service providers offered to provide the same service at no cost. While 40kobo is negligible to each subscriber, the cumulative total over more than 60million subscribers would tally up to over 300million every year!
Legitimate questions about NCC’s logic for opting for a third party to provide a service that was already available on individual networks and might only require a directive for all networks to interconnect in order to share the information, however was seen as a malicious plan to sabotage the project by some people at NCC and surprising enough, quite a few consumers.
Almost all the comments posted on CAFON’s social network site http://cafonnigeria.ning.com accused me of colluding with phone thieves or defending interests other than the consumer’s. It appeared that the issue had polarized Nigeria’s consumer base as so many other consumers were insistent on NCC either providing the service for free or at least at lower costs and definitely not compulsorily.
An evaluation of the two opposing views revealed that consumers took a position based on their level of enlightenment as majority of the nays spoke only from the need perspective while the yeas were more concerned with the strategic relevance and long term sustainability of the service.
It was very enlightening because it allowed me to see the difference awareness, information and enlightenment makes in dealing with consumer issues. One consumer actually asked me why I was so concerned about what happens 2 years up the road. Why can’t I wait until then? Exactly the sentiments of the regulators.
Does one need to wonder why nothing appears sustainable in Nigeria when it seems we are comfortable with making short term plans on long term issues?
Phone theft has been for over 7years now and will probably be a problem 7 years down the road but our desire and strategy is to solve the immediate now and deal with the future when it shows up.
Why not plan to solve it for at least 10 years instead of 2? Knowing the Nigerian economic equation, chances that the cost would decrease over the years is slim. So after 2 years, we might end up paying a naira or two for the same service with no added value.
It is worth noting that the Minister of Information and Communication was reported to havedirected a freeze on the execution of the project to review the package. That is a welcome development.
One however hopes that the Minister will vigorously pursue this review to either get the service free for the consumer or at least reduce the initial cost to the consumer.
It would be even better if the service can be available to consumers on as needs basis or if an additional benefit of insurance can be worked into the deal.
One common recurring reason why the nay consumers seemed to want the NCC option was because they didn’t trust the service providers to faithfully implement the service because of the fact that they make money on Welcome Back packs.
Whenever a consumer loses his phone, he pays from N300 to N800 to retrieve the SIM depending on the provider. According to the nay consumers, this income stream might influence the efficacy of the service because the providers want to keep selling Welcome Back packs.
The issue raised more questions for me on the regime of charges NCC endorsed for these networks. With the level of vibrancy in the sector, one would think that certain practices would have been abolished because they are unsustainable.
It puzzles me that consumers are still paying for the SIM card separate for the network service. In the first instance, the SIM card is the property of the network as stated in the contracts attached to the packs. It just happens to be the means through which I get access to the product I want to buy i.e. airtime. If the Network decides, it can withdraw my SIM at will because it is their property.
How come Nigerian consumers are being made to pay for an item that they can never own? It’s like the doctor charging you for the syringe separate from the injection! Shouldn’t it be part of the cost since you can’t get the injection without the syringe anyway? SIM cards all over the world are considered part of the cost of service not treated as a separate product.
I remember buying a Lebara pay-as-you-go pack at Victoria Station in London recently. The hawker charged 5 pounds for the pack and when I activated the number, my initial credit was exactly 5pounds; not 4 pounds fifty after deducting 50p for the SIM pack! I recall paying N40, 000 for my SIM card in 2001! No airtime was even included then! N40,000!
Thank God for the competitiveness of Glo mobile that crashed the price to 200, forcing other networks to reduce their prices too. If something that once cost 40,000 could come to cost as little as 200 in a 5 year cycle, one does not need a calculus to determine that some exploitation was definitely going on somewhere.
Yes, we could sing the early adopter song in the marketing cycle but the disparity is too great and in the economies of scale, the cost of producing the SIM pack should be negligible enough by now that it can be absorbed as part of running costs. But will the networks, which are in business to make money, willingly let go of this additional income stream without prompting?
Probably not, so NCC needs to rigorously engage them with a view to constantly minimize cost of service to the consumer. Or what do you think?\
It is bad enough that we pay for the tool needed to get the service but it becomes questionable when the service provider seems to be profiting from a consumer’s misfortune by charging a premium to restore a service that already caused great loss to the consumer (phone, other personal items if it was a case of armed robbery, valuable information, etc).
No wonder the nay consumers would rather pitch their fortune with NCC’s compulsory 40kobo monthly surcharge than take the free offer from the service provider. Who wants to take a chance with anyone who appears to profit from one’s misfortune?
While NCC is at this issue of Phone Blacklisting Surcharge, can they review this practice of paying to retrieve a stolen line too? After all, the service providers cannot charge for it without NCC’s consent and approval and I want to believe that the regulator’s primary responsibility is to look out for the consumer while ensuring a competitive business environment for the service provider.
In fact, Nigerian consumers should no longer pay for acquiring a SIM card either for a new line or replacing a lost one. Whatever value is placed on the SIM pack should be loaded in full on the line as airtime. If we pay N300 for a new SIM, the airtime on that line must be N300 in full, no less.
For the service providers, it makes good business sense to seize the moment and display some consumer sensitivity on this matter before it becomes a directive from NCC. And please, let no one chant the “cost of business in Nigeria is too high” mantra at me.
After all, as “harsh” as the Nigerian business clime is reputed to be, profit margins here sometimes are quite juicy ( I recall reading about one GSM network declaring over 400billion profit before tax in a half year cycle a few years back!) The supposed harsh costs are borne by the consumer anyway so let us share in the benefit too.
Another argument in favor of free SIM card is also the fact that all networks still have loads of technical issues that result in consumers being charged for services not delivered e.g. drop calls, bad connection while the counter is running, etc.
That is like making money for nothing. Since we must endure this until their facilities are functioning better, they could at least pass some of that free money back to us by giving us a break on the SIM card end.
It is also just and fair that no consumer should pay for something which will never belong to him. We are interested in airtime… not the tool to get it!
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Re: NCC’s Blacklisting Service Surcharge
This thread of e mails happened sequel to last week’s article. I decided to publish so consumers can understand the issues and form their own opinions.
Emma Eze’s e-mail to NCC
I have read the newspaper features on ThisDay Newspaper of Friday, August 28, 2009 wherein one Sola Salako was castigating the laudable initiative and was mobilizing consumers of GSM products against it
I want to seize this opportunity to apprise you that I identify with this noble initiative and wants to ascertain how to actualize it and activate it on my phone
The cost of N4.80 annually is really very insignificant considering the enormous benefits that are accruable through the Project.
I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks and best regards
Engr. Emmanuel Eze
Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources
Abuja.
NCC’s Reply
Hello Emma,
My name is Reuben Muoka and I am the Head, Public Affairs of NCC. Thank you for your understanding.
You are not actually going to pay. The NCC is paying. Sola's concern is that the operators will eventually charge the subscribers and as you have pointed out, N4.80k for a year is almost insignificant.
What Sola did not also understand is that the company will manage the data base of all phones being used in Nigeria for the benefit of NCC which is paying for the service. So, you need not worry about the deliberate efforts to insinuate that the subscribers will pay. If you operator hooks to the system, you are automatically protected.
The Commission will embark on some enlightenment campaign about how to maximize the full benefits of this programme. Thank you for this mail and I am copying Sola for her information about what people are saying and there are several others like you who are commending this initiative..
Reuben
My Response
Dear Reuben,
Thanks for your mail. I am glad my article is helping Nigerian consumers engage in this process. Your explanation to Emma is simplistic enough. However, it is important to clarify a few things:
1. At no point did I 'castigate' the initiative. As I have maintained, it is a good initiative and one that is timely because of the high incidence of phone theft in Nigeria at present.
My questions, as you know, are based on the following
(a) You told Emma the consumer will not need to pay. You however forgot to mention that NCC is 'paying' for the first 2yrs only. After 2 years, who pays; the service provider or the subscriber? Whichever, the consumer ultimately pays because the service provider will pass that cost back to us once NCC is no longer 'subsidizing' it.
While on this topic, may I ask how NCC intends to 'pay' NETVISA for this ‘service’? From the tax payers money I presume. Has NCC gotten legislative approval to deduct the whooping N300m or so monthly from its income for this project? After all, that income is ultimately the Nigerian people's held in trust by the government which NCC represents.
So contrary to what you clearly stated, the Nigerian citizen IS paying though indirectly. Let me ask Emma whom I have copied in this mail, 'Sir, if the Federal Internal Revenue Service FIRS made a directive that all subscribers should pay 40k monthly indefinitely as special tax, would you be this receptive to it?
Now imagine that FIRS decides to pay a private company 40kobo monthly to keep your personal data in a database on their behalf in case they need it. Would you pay 40k monthly for such a 'service' or would you encourage FIRS to spend tax payer's money on such a project?
That is what NCC is proposing to do.
(b)Why can’t NCC direct the Networks to provide this service and interconnect so we don’t need to pay a third party? Can the networks do it for free? If not, can they provide the service on request instead of charging all of us for it whether we require it or not? Those are the real issues, Reuben and though consumer Emma may not be very aware of these details, they are important in protecting consumers from exploitation, irrespective of whether the consumer is aware or not. That is my job as a consumer advocate.
If countries like South Africa offer the same service at no extra cost, why can’t Nigerian consumers get it without costing us or our government a kobo?
2. To Consumer Emma, 40k a month and N4.80 a year is insignificant. I agree. It is pretty insignificant to me too. But Emma and I are not the only consumers on the network; if my checks are accurate, there are about 60million of us. When you calculate the total, 40 kobo becomes billions in a year (2billion or so)...little drops of water makes the mighty ocean as the saying goes.
That 40k NCC is willing to 'pay' to NETVISA for simply saving the information of our phones on a computer server can be used to build more roads, hospital or allocated to Emma's office to enable more farmers grow more food to arrest the issue of food shortage. Nigeria can use that money for better and more productive things; especially because the service can be delivered in other ways.
Finally, is this charge insurance? It is only insurance that allows the risks to be spread over a large number of people who pay minimum premiums to cover them. Why doesn’t NCC negotiate with the insurance companies to provide this service as well as added insurance so if your phone is stolen, it can be shut down and the insurance can replace the phone. At 40k per subscriber per month, that is a better service than what NETVISA is proposing. Or will NETVISA take on that added risk too? If they will, then I will be glad to encourage consumers to take the offer. If not, what they are offering is not worth our collective investment of 40k per month! NO SIR!
In fact, I was discussing this with the Consumer Protection Council officials during the week and they kept pointing out to me that the decision to charge compulsorily is a violation of the consumer's right to choose. So even if it is insurance, every consumer still has a right to take the offer or decline it. NCC, with this package has taken that right away from the Nigerian consumer. That is not acceptable.
As laudable as the initiative is, and as needful as it is, NCC should please do a thorough job to ensure that the consumer is not vulnerable to exploitation by the structures it puts in place to offer us any service. Yes, we are needy now so the charge seems insignificant but what happens in 5 years when the incidence of phone theft has been reduced. Will we be paying this charge for eternity?
I would want to know if the Senate and House Committees on Telecommunications as well as the Honorable Minister of Information and Communications, Prof Dora Akunyili all approved this project with this structure. Has the Hon David Salako (we share the same surname; who knows, maybe we are from the same stock...smile) committee in the House of Representatives presented this project on the floor of the House or even the Senate Committee, and the National Assembly approved that NCC can pay this 40k charge on behalf of the Nigerian subscriber? Is this how public funds are expended on projects that could be reworked to give better value? I really hope not.
Reuben, please give the Nigerian Consumer the full details of this initiative. It is laudable, a good initiative and it should help to minimize incidences of phone theft and threats to life and property (though it will not eliminate it).
By all means, NCC must execute this project. But please, if it is possible to get it done at no extra cost to us, let us explore that option. If it is not, can the consumer get better value like phone replacement in case of loss? If not, can the service be optional so I only get it on request and pay at that point. I am sure one or all these options are possible if NCC would explore them.
But the way it is now, it appears like a clear case of collective exploitation of unsuspecting consumers and as a Consumer Advocate, it is my responsibility to identify such and raise the alarm. I am only doing my job.
Thank you.
Sola Salako
President
Consumer Advocacy Forum
p.s For your information, in 2007, I lost 4 phones at gun point in a salon in Ikeja Lagos. So I know the dangers of our situation. I repeat, I am NOT against this project. It is laudable, needful and timely. But please, let us make it sustainable, convenient and affordable for the consumer in the long term. That is my request.
I have copied the DG Consumer Protection Council for her information and I intend to publish this chain for Nigerian consumers to know what the real issues are.
Emma Eze’s e-mail to NCC
I have read the newspaper features on ThisDay Newspaper of Friday, August 28, 2009 wherein one Sola Salako was castigating the laudable initiative and was mobilizing consumers of GSM products against it
I want to seize this opportunity to apprise you that I identify with this noble initiative and wants to ascertain how to actualize it and activate it on my phone
The cost of N4.80 annually is really very insignificant considering the enormous benefits that are accruable through the Project.
I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks and best regards
Engr. Emmanuel Eze
Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources
Abuja.
NCC’s Reply
Hello Emma,
My name is Reuben Muoka and I am the Head, Public Affairs of NCC. Thank you for your understanding.
You are not actually going to pay. The NCC is paying. Sola's concern is that the operators will eventually charge the subscribers and as you have pointed out, N4.80k for a year is almost insignificant.
What Sola did not also understand is that the company will manage the data base of all phones being used in Nigeria for the benefit of NCC which is paying for the service. So, you need not worry about the deliberate efforts to insinuate that the subscribers will pay. If you operator hooks to the system, you are automatically protected.
The Commission will embark on some enlightenment campaign about how to maximize the full benefits of this programme. Thank you for this mail and I am copying Sola for her information about what people are saying and there are several others like you who are commending this initiative..
Reuben
My Response
Dear Reuben,
Thanks for your mail. I am glad my article is helping Nigerian consumers engage in this process. Your explanation to Emma is simplistic enough. However, it is important to clarify a few things:
1. At no point did I 'castigate' the initiative. As I have maintained, it is a good initiative and one that is timely because of the high incidence of phone theft in Nigeria at present.
My questions, as you know, are based on the following
(a) You told Emma the consumer will not need to pay. You however forgot to mention that NCC is 'paying' for the first 2yrs only. After 2 years, who pays; the service provider or the subscriber? Whichever, the consumer ultimately pays because the service provider will pass that cost back to us once NCC is no longer 'subsidizing' it.
While on this topic, may I ask how NCC intends to 'pay' NETVISA for this ‘service’? From the tax payers money I presume. Has NCC gotten legislative approval to deduct the whooping N300m or so monthly from its income for this project? After all, that income is ultimately the Nigerian people's held in trust by the government which NCC represents.
So contrary to what you clearly stated, the Nigerian citizen IS paying though indirectly. Let me ask Emma whom I have copied in this mail, 'Sir, if the Federal Internal Revenue Service FIRS made a directive that all subscribers should pay 40k monthly indefinitely as special tax, would you be this receptive to it?
Now imagine that FIRS decides to pay a private company 40kobo monthly to keep your personal data in a database on their behalf in case they need it. Would you pay 40k monthly for such a 'service' or would you encourage FIRS to spend tax payer's money on such a project?
That is what NCC is proposing to do.
(b)Why can’t NCC direct the Networks to provide this service and interconnect so we don’t need to pay a third party? Can the networks do it for free? If not, can they provide the service on request instead of charging all of us for it whether we require it or not? Those are the real issues, Reuben and though consumer Emma may not be very aware of these details, they are important in protecting consumers from exploitation, irrespective of whether the consumer is aware or not. That is my job as a consumer advocate.
If countries like South Africa offer the same service at no extra cost, why can’t Nigerian consumers get it without costing us or our government a kobo?
2. To Consumer Emma, 40k a month and N4.80 a year is insignificant. I agree. It is pretty insignificant to me too. But Emma and I are not the only consumers on the network; if my checks are accurate, there are about 60million of us. When you calculate the total, 40 kobo becomes billions in a year (2billion or so)...little drops of water makes the mighty ocean as the saying goes.
That 40k NCC is willing to 'pay' to NETVISA for simply saving the information of our phones on a computer server can be used to build more roads, hospital or allocated to Emma's office to enable more farmers grow more food to arrest the issue of food shortage. Nigeria can use that money for better and more productive things; especially because the service can be delivered in other ways.
Finally, is this charge insurance? It is only insurance that allows the risks to be spread over a large number of people who pay minimum premiums to cover them. Why doesn’t NCC negotiate with the insurance companies to provide this service as well as added insurance so if your phone is stolen, it can be shut down and the insurance can replace the phone. At 40k per subscriber per month, that is a better service than what NETVISA is proposing. Or will NETVISA take on that added risk too? If they will, then I will be glad to encourage consumers to take the offer. If not, what they are offering is not worth our collective investment of 40k per month! NO SIR!
In fact, I was discussing this with the Consumer Protection Council officials during the week and they kept pointing out to me that the decision to charge compulsorily is a violation of the consumer's right to choose. So even if it is insurance, every consumer still has a right to take the offer or decline it. NCC, with this package has taken that right away from the Nigerian consumer. That is not acceptable.
As laudable as the initiative is, and as needful as it is, NCC should please do a thorough job to ensure that the consumer is not vulnerable to exploitation by the structures it puts in place to offer us any service. Yes, we are needy now so the charge seems insignificant but what happens in 5 years when the incidence of phone theft has been reduced. Will we be paying this charge for eternity?
I would want to know if the Senate and House Committees on Telecommunications as well as the Honorable Minister of Information and Communications, Prof Dora Akunyili all approved this project with this structure. Has the Hon David Salako (we share the same surname; who knows, maybe we are from the same stock...smile) committee in the House of Representatives presented this project on the floor of the House or even the Senate Committee, and the National Assembly approved that NCC can pay this 40k charge on behalf of the Nigerian subscriber? Is this how public funds are expended on projects that could be reworked to give better value? I really hope not.
Reuben, please give the Nigerian Consumer the full details of this initiative. It is laudable, a good initiative and it should help to minimize incidences of phone theft and threats to life and property (though it will not eliminate it).
By all means, NCC must execute this project. But please, if it is possible to get it done at no extra cost to us, let us explore that option. If it is not, can the consumer get better value like phone replacement in case of loss? If not, can the service be optional so I only get it on request and pay at that point. I am sure one or all these options are possible if NCC would explore them.
But the way it is now, it appears like a clear case of collective exploitation of unsuspecting consumers and as a Consumer Advocate, it is my responsibility to identify such and raise the alarm. I am only doing my job.
Thank you.
Sola Salako
President
Consumer Advocacy Forum
p.s For your information, in 2007, I lost 4 phones at gun point in a salon in Ikeja Lagos. So I know the dangers of our situation. I repeat, I am NOT against this project. It is laudable, needful and timely. But please, let us make it sustainable, convenient and affordable for the consumer in the long term. That is my request.
I have copied the DG Consumer Protection Council for her information and I intend to publish this chain for Nigerian consumers to know what the real issues are.
Friday, August 28, 2009
NCC and the Controversial surcharge for Phone Blacklisting
If you use a GSM phone in Nigeria, you soon have to pay 40 kobo every month to a company called NETVISA so they can list your phone on a data base in case it is stolen.
NCC licensed NETVISA to provide a blacklisting service to switch off your phone when you report it stolen. That way, the phone will be unusable on any network in Nigeria thus defeating the purpose of stealing it in the first place.
A similar service is already available with your service provider once you can prove the phone to be yours but they only switch off the SIM card. However, for some reason, NCC curiously insists on giving the same responsibility to a new company who will charge you 40kobo EVERY month directly deducted from your phone credit irrespective of whether you use the service or not!
That means we will all be forced to pay this NETVISA Company N4.80 every year for as long as we use a GSM line! Seems insignificant... until you add it up and multiply with at least 50 million subscribers and you get a whooping N240m!!
Nigerians will be paying NETVISA at least N240million EVERY year for doing something that MTN, GLO and Zain have the capacity to do without charging a dime!!
MTN and Zain have already connected with NETVISA as at press time. Glo Mobile and Etisalat are yet to comply with the NCC directive. What consumers need to know at this time is, whose interest is NCC serving in this matter; the Nigerian Consumer, the Nigerian Government or NETVISA? Who on earth is NETVISA?
What was the process by which they were chosen to provide this supposed "service"? Has NCC explored other ways in achieving this objective without additional charges? Nigeria pays one of the highest charges for telephony services already; why is NCC trying to add to that burden?
According to the current agreement, the GSM networks will pay the charges to NETVISA which will be deducted from their remittance to NCC for the first 2 years. Subsequently, the charges will be deducted from subscriber funds. The question is why will the government pay for this service at all?
Who is NCC trying to deceive by absorbing the cost for the first two years? Whichever way you look at it, the Nigerian consumer will pay either indirectly through government funds for two years or directly after.
Why is this service being made compulsory anyway? Is it insurance? If so, is NETVISA a registered insurance company? If it is just an added service like a ring tone or wall paper, why can’t the GSM networks provide it to the consumer on request?
Why must we all be passive subscribers to a service we may NEVER need? Is someone trying to scheme the hapless consumer of more of his hard earned Naira again with bogus services?
N4.80k annually seems negligible to one consumer but with the millions of GSM subscribers already on the 4 networks and more signing on every day, the gross due to NETVISA is alarming! For a service maybe less than 10% of us will ever need? It is definitely not acceptable.
NCC has some explaining to do to the Nigerian consumer. Why are we being forced to take a service that is not essential to our consumption of the telecoms service? This service must be optional if it is even to be allowed at all. And NCC should seek the existing Networks option first before seeking a third party or are there personal interests involved here?
The Consumer Protection Council needs to speak up for the Nigerian consumer on this issue. We cannot continue to allow these kinds of violation of consumer rights just because majority of consumers are not aware that they have rights which must be upheld by public and private service providers.
Consumers also must organize effectively to resist this move. Except NCC can explain to us in copious details that the intended service will be optional, (thus protecting the consumer's right to choose) and will not cost us or the Nigerian government any additional charge, we cannot consent to such draconian levies through the back door.
I found out this week that it is possible to file a class action suit in Federal High Courts now. Our NGO Consumer Advocacy Forum is willing to collaborate with other consumer organizations and individuals to challenge NCC's right to enforce this charge on us if necessary.
You can join us by sending an email or joining the group Consumers against Compulsory Phone Blacklisting Charges on our social network www.cafonnigeria.ning.com. You can also email, call or text the address above.
Better still; let’s mount the pressure on NCC by sending emails to ncc@ncc.gov.ng. Here is a sample message to send.
“Dear Engr Ndukwe, I am a Nigerian Telephone Subscriber and I do not agree with the compulsory 40k surcharge for phone blacklisting services. Please explore the option of the networks providing this service on request at no extra charge. Thank you. Your name and cell phone no.”
Send a message that we do not consent to this charges. It is time to get active to ensure that we protect our rights. Let's just say NO!
NCC licensed NETVISA to provide a blacklisting service to switch off your phone when you report it stolen. That way, the phone will be unusable on any network in Nigeria thus defeating the purpose of stealing it in the first place.
A similar service is already available with your service provider once you can prove the phone to be yours but they only switch off the SIM card. However, for some reason, NCC curiously insists on giving the same responsibility to a new company who will charge you 40kobo EVERY month directly deducted from your phone credit irrespective of whether you use the service or not!
That means we will all be forced to pay this NETVISA Company N4.80 every year for as long as we use a GSM line! Seems insignificant... until you add it up and multiply with at least 50 million subscribers and you get a whooping N240m!!
Nigerians will be paying NETVISA at least N240million EVERY year for doing something that MTN, GLO and Zain have the capacity to do without charging a dime!!
MTN and Zain have already connected with NETVISA as at press time. Glo Mobile and Etisalat are yet to comply with the NCC directive. What consumers need to know at this time is, whose interest is NCC serving in this matter; the Nigerian Consumer, the Nigerian Government or NETVISA? Who on earth is NETVISA?
What was the process by which they were chosen to provide this supposed "service"? Has NCC explored other ways in achieving this objective without additional charges? Nigeria pays one of the highest charges for telephony services already; why is NCC trying to add to that burden?
According to the current agreement, the GSM networks will pay the charges to NETVISA which will be deducted from their remittance to NCC for the first 2 years. Subsequently, the charges will be deducted from subscriber funds. The question is why will the government pay for this service at all?
Who is NCC trying to deceive by absorbing the cost for the first two years? Whichever way you look at it, the Nigerian consumer will pay either indirectly through government funds for two years or directly after.
Why is this service being made compulsory anyway? Is it insurance? If so, is NETVISA a registered insurance company? If it is just an added service like a ring tone or wall paper, why can’t the GSM networks provide it to the consumer on request?
Why must we all be passive subscribers to a service we may NEVER need? Is someone trying to scheme the hapless consumer of more of his hard earned Naira again with bogus services?
N4.80k annually seems negligible to one consumer but with the millions of GSM subscribers already on the 4 networks and more signing on every day, the gross due to NETVISA is alarming! For a service maybe less than 10% of us will ever need? It is definitely not acceptable.
NCC has some explaining to do to the Nigerian consumer. Why are we being forced to take a service that is not essential to our consumption of the telecoms service? This service must be optional if it is even to be allowed at all. And NCC should seek the existing Networks option first before seeking a third party or are there personal interests involved here?
The Consumer Protection Council needs to speak up for the Nigerian consumer on this issue. We cannot continue to allow these kinds of violation of consumer rights just because majority of consumers are not aware that they have rights which must be upheld by public and private service providers.
Consumers also must organize effectively to resist this move. Except NCC can explain to us in copious details that the intended service will be optional, (thus protecting the consumer's right to choose) and will not cost us or the Nigerian government any additional charge, we cannot consent to such draconian levies through the back door.
I found out this week that it is possible to file a class action suit in Federal High Courts now. Our NGO Consumer Advocacy Forum is willing to collaborate with other consumer organizations and individuals to challenge NCC's right to enforce this charge on us if necessary.
You can join us by sending an email or joining the group Consumers against Compulsory Phone Blacklisting Charges on our social network www.cafonnigeria.ning.com. You can also email, call or text the address above.
Better still; let’s mount the pressure on NCC by sending emails to ncc@ncc.gov.ng. Here is a sample message to send.
“Dear Engr Ndukwe, I am a Nigerian Telephone Subscriber and I do not agree with the compulsory 40k surcharge for phone blacklisting services. Please explore the option of the networks providing this service on request at no extra charge. Thank you. Your name and cell phone no.”
Send a message that we do not consent to this charges. It is time to get active to ensure that we protect our rights. Let's just say NO!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Sales Promotions: Exploiting Consumer Vulnerability?
In recent times, the Nigerian marketing landscape has been bombarded with an avalanche of sales promotions from almost every sector; financial, telecoms, automobiles… suddenly everyone seems to be in a desperate grab for the consumer’s already overstretched naira.
The prizes are sometimes so outrageous, it’s difficult to believe! Etisalat grand prize is one million dollars! MTN has at least 3 different promotions (above and below the line) running simultaneously; Glo has Text 4 Millions. Practically all the banks have been running unending promotions since the lull of the capital market in an effort to raise cash to shore up their depleting base. The promotions come in various packages, sizes, stages and targeted at parents, yuppies, traders…even children!
While the trend might be seen as an effective effort to keep the business mill turning in a global recession like this, the sudden bandwagon to entice the consumer to spend even more is very alarming. A guesstimate of the value of prizes on the sales promotion landscape to date must be in billions!
That does not include the additional billions spent on publicity, advertising, draw events, and all the attendant marketing support such extraordinary brand activity entails. In fairness to businesses, sales promotions are legal instruments to effect a desired change in market dynamics.
It has proven effective in achieving decisive shifts in market share, improving cash flow and exciting slow sales seasons. For the brand owners and service providers, sales promotions usually portend good news.
The benefits of sales promotions seem however stacked dangerously in favor of the service provider at the expense of the consumer. The troubling question though is, is the Nigerian Consumer aware? How protected is the consumer from the minefield of exploitation prevalent in the sales promotion option?
Are the laws regulating sales promotion in Nigeria comprehensive or even effective enough to reassure the consumer that his vulnerability is protected? Who is responsible to look out for the consumers in such highly tempting and intoxicating situations as sales promotions are proving to be?
First is the processes many of these promotions employ to determine participation. The most common is to encourage the consumer to make a purchasing decision to qualify for instance; text “win” to a short code like 222 or 5000 at N50, N100, and N200 or save N10,000 in your account within a certain period and you qualify to participate.
As simple as this is, it raises the question, what is the focus of the promotion? Is it a loyalty platform or a sales drive? Most brands claim it is a means of rewarding loyal consumers but how can you claim to be rewarding me for past business yet I have to spend something again to have a chance at the supposed ‘reward’?
The only promotion I have seen that has been faithful to the principle of rewarding loyal customers is the First Bank Big Splash Promo which I witnessed at one of the draws in Lagos. The process of selection was transparent and totally chance based because it was computerized and all the winners who emerged were called on the phone right there in the hall.
None of those winners was even aware of the promotion. They were just regular First Bank customers and were automatically included in the promo because their accounts had the minimum balance required. They were not made to fill a form or submit anything. They won because they were loyal to First Bank. That is a loyalty promotion.
Not so with the telecoms industry however. The exploitation of consumer vulnerability is massive here. By global consumer practice, consumers should not pay any extra to participate in a promotion where their options of winning are determined by chance. It is termed as illegal lottery.
A lottery is a promotion that consumers pay a token to participate in a chance draw. A sales promotion is when consumers make regular purchase decisions at regular prices and their decision within the period qualifies them to participate in a chance draw.
The only promotions that can charge more than regular purchase decisions are the ones that require some skill from the consumer e.g. answer 5 questions to qualify for the draw where the draw is also determined by some skill display e.g. a shortlist of 20 people who will answer more questions to emerge winners (like Who wants to be a Millionaire).
Once skill is involved, it is no longer a lottery. However, a critical appraisal of most promotions running shows that the consumer is rarely required to show any skill, yet he is charged a premium to participate in such promotions. That is illegal lottery.
Another issue in this sales promotions jamboree is the psychological exploitation of consumer vulnerability. The harsh economic realities in Nigeria make every opportunity to get a “breakthrough” more attractive to the struggling masses. It is thus easier to entice them with promises of millions of naira, big cars, and foreign trips. Etisalat even promises one million dollars!
The concern for consumer protection experts is that given the prevailing poverty within the society, can Nigerian consumers really make rational decisions on participating in such promotions? There is a risk that the attraction of such mouth watering prizes can be so great, it could influence consumers to make biased judgments that could affect their financial habits which could eventually impoverish them further.
Most promos are cunningly designed to encourage consumers to send multiple entries and at the kind of premiums they charge, a consumer could get hooked sending multiple participation that other necessary expenses of his daily life may suffer. I was informed that a winner of one these promos claimed to have spent up to N2.5m in entries to emerge winner!
Another participant claimed to have spent over N1m and still lost! All in a bid to win N10m in a purported ‘treasure hunt’. Those consumers could have put that money to more productive use if they saved same with the vigor they participated in these promotions.
In cases of psychological and economic vulnerability as we obviously have in Nigeria, government through agencies like the Consumer Protection Council has the responsibility of intervening when service providers run promotions that could inadvertently take advantage of consumers who could be vulnerable or unfairly influenced by the attractions of the prizes.
Once we get past the resolution of lotteries versus promotions, other ways this can be achieved is if a regulation is passed to limit a consumer’s total participation in any promotion to a reasonable number of entries that would not inadvertently impoverish him.
Many of these promotions declare winners who never get the promised prizes. There are no means of proper monitoring as some promotions have so many levels of winners, it is practically impossible for regulatory agencies to verify that the “winners” exist and got the prizes.
Many of the brands also do not cooperate with the agencies in their efforts to monitor these promotions so the only protection the consumer has is the integrity of such brands and how faithful it chooses to be to that integrity. That is not good enough for the Nigerian consumer.
There is a great need to educate and enlighten consumers on the chances of being exploited when participating in any of these promotions. The brands also should have a special customer care line dedicated to educating consumers on the processes of their promos and taking their complaints. Advertising and publicity is not enough.
For the consumer, it is still our responsibility to find out details about these promotions before deciding to participate. An informed consumer will make rational decisions about his limits of participation and how trustworthy the brand’s activities have been before the promo.
Don’t be enticed simply by the star prizes alone. Always remember that no one gives anything without any conditions. Find out those conditions and determine if you can live with them before participating.
If you have been declared ‘winner’ and have not received your prize, get in touch with CPC and make a complaint. Better still, email or text me with your concerns. I would be glad to help you resolve it.
Let’s start taking back our rights as consumers. It is the only way to make the government and service providers accountable.
The prizes are sometimes so outrageous, it’s difficult to believe! Etisalat grand prize is one million dollars! MTN has at least 3 different promotions (above and below the line) running simultaneously; Glo has Text 4 Millions. Practically all the banks have been running unending promotions since the lull of the capital market in an effort to raise cash to shore up their depleting base. The promotions come in various packages, sizes, stages and targeted at parents, yuppies, traders…even children!
While the trend might be seen as an effective effort to keep the business mill turning in a global recession like this, the sudden bandwagon to entice the consumer to spend even more is very alarming. A guesstimate of the value of prizes on the sales promotion landscape to date must be in billions!
That does not include the additional billions spent on publicity, advertising, draw events, and all the attendant marketing support such extraordinary brand activity entails. In fairness to businesses, sales promotions are legal instruments to effect a desired change in market dynamics.
It has proven effective in achieving decisive shifts in market share, improving cash flow and exciting slow sales seasons. For the brand owners and service providers, sales promotions usually portend good news.
The benefits of sales promotions seem however stacked dangerously in favor of the service provider at the expense of the consumer. The troubling question though is, is the Nigerian Consumer aware? How protected is the consumer from the minefield of exploitation prevalent in the sales promotion option?
Are the laws regulating sales promotion in Nigeria comprehensive or even effective enough to reassure the consumer that his vulnerability is protected? Who is responsible to look out for the consumers in such highly tempting and intoxicating situations as sales promotions are proving to be?
First is the processes many of these promotions employ to determine participation. The most common is to encourage the consumer to make a purchasing decision to qualify for instance; text “win” to a short code like 222 or 5000 at N50, N100, and N200 or save N10,000 in your account within a certain period and you qualify to participate.
As simple as this is, it raises the question, what is the focus of the promotion? Is it a loyalty platform or a sales drive? Most brands claim it is a means of rewarding loyal consumers but how can you claim to be rewarding me for past business yet I have to spend something again to have a chance at the supposed ‘reward’?
The only promotion I have seen that has been faithful to the principle of rewarding loyal customers is the First Bank Big Splash Promo which I witnessed at one of the draws in Lagos. The process of selection was transparent and totally chance based because it was computerized and all the winners who emerged were called on the phone right there in the hall.
None of those winners was even aware of the promotion. They were just regular First Bank customers and were automatically included in the promo because their accounts had the minimum balance required. They were not made to fill a form or submit anything. They won because they were loyal to First Bank. That is a loyalty promotion.
Not so with the telecoms industry however. The exploitation of consumer vulnerability is massive here. By global consumer practice, consumers should not pay any extra to participate in a promotion where their options of winning are determined by chance. It is termed as illegal lottery.
A lottery is a promotion that consumers pay a token to participate in a chance draw. A sales promotion is when consumers make regular purchase decisions at regular prices and their decision within the period qualifies them to participate in a chance draw.
The only promotions that can charge more than regular purchase decisions are the ones that require some skill from the consumer e.g. answer 5 questions to qualify for the draw where the draw is also determined by some skill display e.g. a shortlist of 20 people who will answer more questions to emerge winners (like Who wants to be a Millionaire).
Once skill is involved, it is no longer a lottery. However, a critical appraisal of most promotions running shows that the consumer is rarely required to show any skill, yet he is charged a premium to participate in such promotions. That is illegal lottery.
Another issue in this sales promotions jamboree is the psychological exploitation of consumer vulnerability. The harsh economic realities in Nigeria make every opportunity to get a “breakthrough” more attractive to the struggling masses. It is thus easier to entice them with promises of millions of naira, big cars, and foreign trips. Etisalat even promises one million dollars!
The concern for consumer protection experts is that given the prevailing poverty within the society, can Nigerian consumers really make rational decisions on participating in such promotions? There is a risk that the attraction of such mouth watering prizes can be so great, it could influence consumers to make biased judgments that could affect their financial habits which could eventually impoverish them further.
Most promos are cunningly designed to encourage consumers to send multiple entries and at the kind of premiums they charge, a consumer could get hooked sending multiple participation that other necessary expenses of his daily life may suffer. I was informed that a winner of one these promos claimed to have spent up to N2.5m in entries to emerge winner!
Another participant claimed to have spent over N1m and still lost! All in a bid to win N10m in a purported ‘treasure hunt’. Those consumers could have put that money to more productive use if they saved same with the vigor they participated in these promotions.
In cases of psychological and economic vulnerability as we obviously have in Nigeria, government through agencies like the Consumer Protection Council has the responsibility of intervening when service providers run promotions that could inadvertently take advantage of consumers who could be vulnerable or unfairly influenced by the attractions of the prizes.
Once we get past the resolution of lotteries versus promotions, other ways this can be achieved is if a regulation is passed to limit a consumer’s total participation in any promotion to a reasonable number of entries that would not inadvertently impoverish him.
Many of these promotions declare winners who never get the promised prizes. There are no means of proper monitoring as some promotions have so many levels of winners, it is practically impossible for regulatory agencies to verify that the “winners” exist and got the prizes.
Many of the brands also do not cooperate with the agencies in their efforts to monitor these promotions so the only protection the consumer has is the integrity of such brands and how faithful it chooses to be to that integrity. That is not good enough for the Nigerian consumer.
There is a great need to educate and enlighten consumers on the chances of being exploited when participating in any of these promotions. The brands also should have a special customer care line dedicated to educating consumers on the processes of their promos and taking their complaints. Advertising and publicity is not enough.
For the consumer, it is still our responsibility to find out details about these promotions before deciding to participate. An informed consumer will make rational decisions about his limits of participation and how trustworthy the brand’s activities have been before the promo.
Don’t be enticed simply by the star prizes alone. Always remember that no one gives anything without any conditions. Find out those conditions and determine if you can live with them before participating.
If you have been declared ‘winner’ and have not received your prize, get in touch with CPC and make a complaint. Better still, email or text me with your concerns. I would be glad to help you resolve it.
Let’s start taking back our rights as consumers. It is the only way to make the government and service providers accountable.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Make Consumer Rights Work for you!
Hello Sola,
I’m one of those that enjoy your column but I never knew I would soon be one of those writing due to unfair service from the telecoms industry; precisely, Zain.
I started using Zain from Econet days and I must confess that I enjoy them tremendously apart from the general hic cups which I believe is applicable, if not more, to the other networks.
However, right now, I AM NOT A HAPPY CUSTOMER! I bought two N500.00 recharge cards from a stationary vendor in front of my office but couldn't credit my phone with the cards because the system claims that it has been used by a previous subscriber. What! I tried again and again at intervals thinking it will be a mistake but the same message keeps popping up. I was mad! I work hard for my money to lose it this way. I would rather give it to the messenger in my office that runs errand for me than to lose it this way.
One of my colleagues trying to calm me down, explaining that it is possible that Zain printed the same batch number twice! I complained to the vendor who was at a loss as to what could be the problem. I sent my colleague to Zain service centre at Silver Bird Galleria and he was told that they will need to send a message to the Head Office. He even went to another centre at Ikeja on Saturday but was told that they don’t attend to these kinds of issues on weekend.
I then decided to send a mail requested that a new PIN should be sent to me as I couldn't recharge my phone with the cards I bought but the response I got was that the cards in question were loaded by another subscriber on the 2nd of June (I tried to load mine around 2nd week in June).
I sent another mail, this time explaining that the cards I bought were sealed in a foil which I personally removed and the silver lining concealing the PIN was very intact. These I personally scratched hence it beats me how another subscriber must have used the same card when I was holding it! The mail was sent over two weeks now and I HAVE NOT GOTTEN A RESPONSE!
Not even to say that they will look into it. They should find out if the error is indeed from their printing of a batch of cards twice or someone is playing a fast one on them but whatever they do, I need them to send me another PIN because I am so frustrated right now and ready to take this thing further if the need arise. I have my evidence which is the cards themselves, the person that sold them was complained to immediately and their service centres were contacted.
NB: Sola, if you read this mail please advise me on what you think I should do.I am not a hungry riff-raff as I earn an average pay working in the bank and happen to be a branch manager. I just need a PIN that works for the money I have already spent! Nneoma
Dear Nneoma,
Thank you for contacting me through this email. I would love to help you look into what your rights are in this circumstance but off my head, I would suggest you hold the vendor who sold the cards because that is the only way to verify that the cards came directly from the Zain batch or it is a fake card.
I would also suggest that you write a formal letter to the customer services department explaining the situation; but your case would be better helped if you could trace the distribution chain from your vendor to the major wholesaler via the batch number. That way, you can establish Zain's culpability in the case.
Please note that you would need to be patient and ready to follow this through as it might be a long process. I would encourage you to get to the bottom of this because you would be saving other consumers who might fall victim of this fraud if any is established. I look forward to your response and would be glad to help in any way to rectify this situation. Best Regards, Sola
Hello Sola
I am super thrilled reading your response. I nearly didn't believe that you’ll be writing back so thank you very much.
Though I can't be sure, I believe that the vendor is least culpable because he is stationary! If it were to be a hawker, then I will believe that he had played a fast one on me and secondly, this card is not the paper type that they pin together but the hard one that comes in a foil and the PIN number covered with a silver lining.
I think it is an error from Zain. It will be mighty easy for a fraudster to duplicate the paper cards instead of these hard ones but anyway, THIS IS NAIJA! I will take your advice and officially write the customer care unit via the same channel I used before hoping that this time, they will at least investigate it. Keep up this good work. Nneoma
Hello Sola,
I wish to inform you that I just got two Zain cards handed over to me now worth exactly N1, 000.00, thanks to you!
You said to follow the distribution chain and that was what happened. I sent for the vendor and complained to him and then gave him the photocopies of the card (I needed to hold onto the main card as evidence). With these, he sent it to the company he bought his cards from who in return sent it to the ones they bought theirs from and so on and so on! Voila! I have my refund back.
The advice you gave me should have simply be given to me by Zain instead of just telling me that someone has used the card. Thanks a million! I am happy not so much for the money but because I have learnt that things can still happen if you know your rights and consistently follow it through. You taught me that! Nneoma
Hello Nneoma,
Congratulations! I am very proud of you for insisting on your rights and having the patience to see the process through. Many Nigerian consumers like you would just bear that loss without complaining and that is one of the reasons our consumer rights structure is still so weak. I would like to publish your experience especially because there is a great lesson to learn from it. I hope you will permit me.
Please continue to exercise your rights as a consumer in every transaction because it will contribute greatly to the development of our great nation. I am honored to have been of help in this instance. Please do not hesitate to let me know if I can assist you in any other issue that has to do with consumer protection. Sola
Dear Sola,
The pleasure is mine for having you as an advocate, for free! Please feel free to use this experience and material as you please especially for better education of others. Nneoma
My Comments
This chain of e-mails was exchanged between Nneoma and me in the last six weeks or so and I decided to publish because I hope it would encourage another consumer to be more committed to expecting excellent service and where it is missing, to insist on it and not settle for less.
I also hope someone would learn the simple truth Nneoma learnt through this process; “If you know your rights and insist on it, follow through on the process, you most likely will get it! So while we await the body of laws that would codify our consumer rights, let’s make the effort to insist on basic integrity in transactions and good customer care.
P.S I also hope Zain will learn a thing or two from Nneoma’s experience too. A customer response system that does not respond to a customer’s need weeks after the first complaint is not efficient enough. Customer agents should also be better trained on how to help a customer get the best out of his or her experience with the brand. And what was that about not treating some particular issues at weekends? What if that was all the free time a consumer has? Is Zain trying to tell us their ideal customers are people who have time to follow through their process during the week? I sure hope not.
I however commend Zain’s prompt response down the distribution chain. It shows that the brand has made provision to accept responsibility for defaults when it can be established. One however wonders how such a fraud could have been perpetrated. NCC needs to investigate such instances to protect other consumers from Nneoma’s experience. Well done Nneoma! Thanks for proving that consumer rights can be enforced even in Nigeria! I would be glad to assist any other consumer keen on enforcing his or her rights. Just e-mail or call me. Together we can make Nigeria consumer safe and friendly.
I’m one of those that enjoy your column but I never knew I would soon be one of those writing due to unfair service from the telecoms industry; precisely, Zain.
I started using Zain from Econet days and I must confess that I enjoy them tremendously apart from the general hic cups which I believe is applicable, if not more, to the other networks.
However, right now, I AM NOT A HAPPY CUSTOMER! I bought two N500.00 recharge cards from a stationary vendor in front of my office but couldn't credit my phone with the cards because the system claims that it has been used by a previous subscriber. What! I tried again and again at intervals thinking it will be a mistake but the same message keeps popping up. I was mad! I work hard for my money to lose it this way. I would rather give it to the messenger in my office that runs errand for me than to lose it this way.
One of my colleagues trying to calm me down, explaining that it is possible that Zain printed the same batch number twice! I complained to the vendor who was at a loss as to what could be the problem. I sent my colleague to Zain service centre at Silver Bird Galleria and he was told that they will need to send a message to the Head Office. He even went to another centre at Ikeja on Saturday but was told that they don’t attend to these kinds of issues on weekend.
I then decided to send a mail requested that a new PIN should be sent to me as I couldn't recharge my phone with the cards I bought but the response I got was that the cards in question were loaded by another subscriber on the 2nd of June (I tried to load mine around 2nd week in June).
I sent another mail, this time explaining that the cards I bought were sealed in a foil which I personally removed and the silver lining concealing the PIN was very intact. These I personally scratched hence it beats me how another subscriber must have used the same card when I was holding it! The mail was sent over two weeks now and I HAVE NOT GOTTEN A RESPONSE!
Not even to say that they will look into it. They should find out if the error is indeed from their printing of a batch of cards twice or someone is playing a fast one on them but whatever they do, I need them to send me another PIN because I am so frustrated right now and ready to take this thing further if the need arise. I have my evidence which is the cards themselves, the person that sold them was complained to immediately and their service centres were contacted.
NB: Sola, if you read this mail please advise me on what you think I should do.I am not a hungry riff-raff as I earn an average pay working in the bank and happen to be a branch manager. I just need a PIN that works for the money I have already spent! Nneoma
Dear Nneoma,
Thank you for contacting me through this email. I would love to help you look into what your rights are in this circumstance but off my head, I would suggest you hold the vendor who sold the cards because that is the only way to verify that the cards came directly from the Zain batch or it is a fake card.
I would also suggest that you write a formal letter to the customer services department explaining the situation; but your case would be better helped if you could trace the distribution chain from your vendor to the major wholesaler via the batch number. That way, you can establish Zain's culpability in the case.
Please note that you would need to be patient and ready to follow this through as it might be a long process. I would encourage you to get to the bottom of this because you would be saving other consumers who might fall victim of this fraud if any is established. I look forward to your response and would be glad to help in any way to rectify this situation. Best Regards, Sola
Hello Sola
I am super thrilled reading your response. I nearly didn't believe that you’ll be writing back so thank you very much.
Though I can't be sure, I believe that the vendor is least culpable because he is stationary! If it were to be a hawker, then I will believe that he had played a fast one on me and secondly, this card is not the paper type that they pin together but the hard one that comes in a foil and the PIN number covered with a silver lining.
I think it is an error from Zain. It will be mighty easy for a fraudster to duplicate the paper cards instead of these hard ones but anyway, THIS IS NAIJA! I will take your advice and officially write the customer care unit via the same channel I used before hoping that this time, they will at least investigate it. Keep up this good work. Nneoma
Hello Sola,
I wish to inform you that I just got two Zain cards handed over to me now worth exactly N1, 000.00, thanks to you!
You said to follow the distribution chain and that was what happened. I sent for the vendor and complained to him and then gave him the photocopies of the card (I needed to hold onto the main card as evidence). With these, he sent it to the company he bought his cards from who in return sent it to the ones they bought theirs from and so on and so on! Voila! I have my refund back.
The advice you gave me should have simply be given to me by Zain instead of just telling me that someone has used the card. Thanks a million! I am happy not so much for the money but because I have learnt that things can still happen if you know your rights and consistently follow it through. You taught me that! Nneoma
Hello Nneoma,
Congratulations! I am very proud of you for insisting on your rights and having the patience to see the process through. Many Nigerian consumers like you would just bear that loss without complaining and that is one of the reasons our consumer rights structure is still so weak. I would like to publish your experience especially because there is a great lesson to learn from it. I hope you will permit me.
Please continue to exercise your rights as a consumer in every transaction because it will contribute greatly to the development of our great nation. I am honored to have been of help in this instance. Please do not hesitate to let me know if I can assist you in any other issue that has to do with consumer protection. Sola
Dear Sola,
The pleasure is mine for having you as an advocate, for free! Please feel free to use this experience and material as you please especially for better education of others. Nneoma
My Comments
This chain of e-mails was exchanged between Nneoma and me in the last six weeks or so and I decided to publish because I hope it would encourage another consumer to be more committed to expecting excellent service and where it is missing, to insist on it and not settle for less.
I also hope someone would learn the simple truth Nneoma learnt through this process; “If you know your rights and insist on it, follow through on the process, you most likely will get it! So while we await the body of laws that would codify our consumer rights, let’s make the effort to insist on basic integrity in transactions and good customer care.
P.S I also hope Zain will learn a thing or two from Nneoma’s experience too. A customer response system that does not respond to a customer’s need weeks after the first complaint is not efficient enough. Customer agents should also be better trained on how to help a customer get the best out of his or her experience with the brand. And what was that about not treating some particular issues at weekends? What if that was all the free time a consumer has? Is Zain trying to tell us their ideal customers are people who have time to follow through their process during the week? I sure hope not.
I however commend Zain’s prompt response down the distribution chain. It shows that the brand has made provision to accept responsibility for defaults when it can be established. One however wonders how such a fraud could have been perpetrated. NCC needs to investigate such instances to protect other consumers from Nneoma’s experience. Well done Nneoma! Thanks for proving that consumer rights can be enforced even in Nigeria! I would be glad to assist any other consumer keen on enforcing his or her rights. Just e-mail or call me. Together we can make Nigeria consumer safe and friendly.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
PHCN’s Bogus “Service Charge”
Nigerian consumers are blue in the face from complaints of epileptic or totally absent power supply from the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN). Out of frustration, we have all become mini or micro power generating units via our creative options of generators, inverters, solar, wind and good old candles and wick lamps; anything just not to have to endure the darkness one more night. As if the situation is not humiliating enough, PHCN is still stealing us all blind!
My Story
Like every consumer, I am forced to connect to the PHCN grid because it is the only one available. A few years ago, they introduced the pre-paid meter in pilot schemes across the country. Being a discerning consumer, I was skeptical of the new system as we still had tons of issues with the old one. The only thing that was regular on the old system was the bill, not withstanding that you may not have consumed up to 10 hours of electricity in the entire month.
I was eventually ‘forced’ to switch over to the pre-paid system October last year because PHCN was phasing out the old meters in my area. My first shock was that the company effecting the switch came in, connected a new meter and just took my old one away! When I demanded for it, I was informed the meter was PHCN property though we had paid for it when it was installed.
At my local PHCN office to purchase units on the pre-paid card, I discovered I had to pay PHCN N50, 000 for the new meter installed or spread the payment over 24 months. Since I was paying for the meter, could I have it issued in my name because, as a tenant, my landlord would probably not refund the money? Well, in PHCN logic, to get that privilege, I had to write an application to the Marketing Manager begging for the opportunity of getting the meter issued in my name.
Since the process could take weeks and they refused to open a temporary account meanwhile, I agreed to start paying under the old name and spread the payment over 24 months. In a normal environment, one would expect that the meter would be my property on full payment but no, it will always remain PHCN’s property! So why am I paying for something that I would never own? This is the first rip-off.
PHCN makes the consumer pay for an equipment it has no intention of releasing to him. When I requested for an explanation, I was just told ‘that is the procedure, madam’. In actual fact, PHCN (I keep typing NEPA) does not own the meters. They belong to some private companies who have signed the deal to provide the equipment so PHCN would not need to outlay the capital to buy them. So consumers like me are paying the companies back for the investment; the only questionable thing is that the company still owns the equipment even after I have paid for it or does it now revert to PHCN? That clarification begs an answer.
Either way, PHCN appears to be forcing consumers to put up the capital for it to acquire an essential part of its service delivery. But because we are’ investors’ under duress, we do not get any dividend for our ‘investment’.
Rather, we are charged a service fee of about N700 every month for using equipment we are paying or have paid for! It is double jeopardy.
Imagine that you wanted to access the internet and an ISP sells you an EV-DO card at N10,000 to enable you access their portal, and then charges you N700 every month for the use of the card which you must return back to them if you are relocating to Ghana because it was their property all along! What was the N10, 000 for if they owned the card anyway and could get it back when they please? It’s a fraud.
To add salt to the injury of such rip offs, I had a recent encounter with the draconic system PHCN runs in the name of service delivery. I purchased units last in March because, since then PHCN had not provided service to my area until early July. Since I had over 500 units left on the card, it didn’t make any sense to keep making additional purchases for services not delivered. The service got slightly better from the first week in July (from about 2 hours a week to 5 hrs a day now…great improvement!) so I sent a help to refill. Imagine my shock when he came back to say that we ‘owed’ PHCN N12, 500 and could not make any new purchases until we cleared the debt!
How do you ‘owe’ a service provider on a pre-paid scheme? If anything, it was PHCN who owed me for more than 3months by not providing the service I already paid for! On further investigation, the Marketing Manager Ogba Undertaking, Mr. Ajikobi explained that I was in arrears for the monthly installments on the meter. Since I didn’t make any purchases in 3 months, the installments had accumulated so I had to clear it. No remorse for the fact that it was PHCN’s incompetence that created the lull in purchasing activity. If they had been consistent on their service delivery, would I have been in arrears? That is the service delivery one million dollar question.
One would expect that since this is an ongoing relationship (not that I have any choice because PHCN is still a monopoly enforced by federal legislation) the PHCN Management would be smart enough to make these deductions elastic to cover 24 transactions instead of 24 calendar months; especially since they are aware that their system is anything but efficient and the default would most likely be from their end more often than the consumer. But why should they care? They are legalized to extort money from helpless consumers by our own supposed “democratically elected” government with no structures to call them to order!
The one that knocked me off was the fact that my arrears also included service charges for those 3 months! Service charges? Which service did I get from PHCN between March and July that I owed them for? We did not get power in my area for up to 48 hours in almost 90 days! Is that the service I was being charged for? With systems like this, is the Federal Government condoning the biggest extortion racket in Nigeria? How does a government run a service delivery structure like PHCN that demands payment for services it did not provide? If PHCN was a private sector business, consumers could at least seek redress by reporting to government, but who do we report PHCN to? The same Minister who oversees their structure?
Is PHCN another subtle channel to tax Nigerians to death because the only payment you must make without getting commensurate services is a tax? Is the ‘service charge’ actually an Energy Tax rigged through the back door? The Honorable Minister needs to clarify that for the Nigerian consumer because he oversees a structure that robs the consumer of choice and levies a flat monthly fee on all subscribers irrespective of whether the system delivers on its promise or not. That is taxation.
Will the Honorable Minister please advice his boss that the solution to Nigeria’s Power Trauma is for this administration to think outside the box (for once) and attempt total deregulation with the strategic separation of domestic from industrial power consumption? The model is simple, immediate and implementable and I would be glad to forward it to him if he sends his e-mail. At least, it will break domestic consumers’ dependence on epileptic and draconic PHCN by increasing our choices while the government can focus on industrial generation… and no, I am not a power or energy expert or consultant, just a mere frustrated consumer who bothered to think of a creative solution to deliver me from the oppression PHCN has become to my existence! I am sure there are millions like me all over Nigeria.
Meanwhile, I have since paid the disguised “Energy Tax” just so I can supplement my 3 generators with PHCN’s epileptic service but I am seriously considering court action to challenge the power dragon’s rights to charge me for services I did not receive? Is there a lawyer out there willing to represent me in this iconic suit? Maybe if we stretch them thin, they will adjust their unreasonable system and learn how to earn every kobo we pay them for once.
I close with this thread on my Facebook page about energy and service delivery
Breaking News: The UK Energy Regulator OFGEN is to fine EDF an energy service provider £2m for poor customer service! Someone please beg our regulator NERC to fine PHCN too o! Maybe like N100 billion for the trauma consumers endure in Nigeria. Or am I asking the impossible?
Oyefeso T
Yes, it is impossible because the CEO of NERC probably has a 100KVA generator in his house donated by a generator brand and a monthly supply of 500litres of diesel from the importers.
Segun A
Accountability in Nigeria? Phew... Alice in Wonderland!
Wunmi A
Things can only work out in the power sector if Federal govt could ban the use of generator set and its importation, maybe our great State (Lagos) can start that by formulating a policy that will stop or reduce use of generator. Though, it will be very difficult to do but, if Nigerians can sacrifice that we'll all laugh soon.
Kelvinmary P. N.
@Wunmi: Chopping off a head is not the cure for headaches... there are better ways.
Babatunde O J
The problem is much deeper than you can see. If we ramp up production as in megawatts, then failure point is distribution since both equipment and wiring are old and in some cases unable to carry the increased load coming from additional production without significant reinvestment... Of course you can always ask where the monies spent over the past 10 years went... This one pass regulator...
Obaro E
Yes, you are asking the impossible. I don't mean to sound pessimistic or 'unpatriotic', but when supposedly educated people in a country do not believe there is a problem when PHCN cannot guarantee 6 hours supply of electricity after almost 50 years of independence, we really are in a mess.
Sola Salako
Am I the only one who sees the solution to this problem? It’s right under our noses; Develop a unique policy for Nigeria that separates domestic consumption from industrial and encourage micro individual generation via green options like solar and wind while govt focuses on industrial generation. The model is simple, workable and sustainable. But it requires executive will, commitment and sincerity; all qualities that are obviously deficient in this administration. We are at the mercy of the Abuja Circus. God help us!
Ronke A (UK)
Many drops make an ocean. The energy providers in the UK had a history of dancing to their own tunes. Even when housing providers (as opposed to the individual consumer) liaise with them, they respond to enquiries when they feel like, paper trails go missing, site appointments are not kept… yes all this in the UK! It took some doing but an example has been made and service is bound to improve. Where there is a will . . . . .
Babatunde O J
@Sola: this solution has been very clear for some years now... It took a Nigerian to use this model to solve power problems in an East African country some years back... The issue is exactly what you have said... they think it’s a circus... Of course you guys know you will have to delete diesel and generator traders while you are on this path. But please also wipe out trailer and truck haulage of goods and revive the rail system for travel and cheaper haulage of goods while you are ahead...
Elvis E
Who says we need a national grid? Why can't we have regional, state & or even ward grids? This is one urgent thing that ought to be changed in the constitution; let states generate & distribute power as they see fit. Let states be able to sign PPP power agreements. The competition betwixt the states will ensure power supply is regularized according to demand. Breakup the national 'greed', oops! grid, Let there be LIGHT!
Dele V B
Micro generation [using solar, wind, biomass, tidal waves e.t.c] seems like an attractive option going forward. The government still needs to provide a functional, reliable and efficient national grid network. Also, supply, generation and local distribution companies have to be encouraged, regulated and incentivized. Having said this, natural gas is available in abundance and this should serve as our competitive advantage for industries - the resource is being flared/wasted in the Niger-delta by this government. To conclude, a coherent, comprehensive and articulated energy policy has to be owned by this government. But with or without government help, micro generation is bound to get more popular in Niaja (sic) even as initial costs fall worldwide!
Babatunde O J
@Dele: While some of these technologies are still in nascent stages, micro generation is truly very attractive. The issue is we will need to knock Abuja with a very big stick indeed to get them to pave the way... In the US, this option is becoming closer to reality as we speak since they want to reduce dependence on foreign oil and gas. Let's get some truth into this thread... any energy policy that unbundles power production will be strongly resisted by the central government! We need a new TYPE of government then we will get all we are asking for!!!
Omidan O
Power Holding Company of NIGERIA (PHCN) ... thinks they are doing a good JOB! Dem dey HOLD the power well well! Can you imagine a govt that wants to improve on ELECTRICITY would budget a whooping N2 billion for diesel! What else can we expect?
Ailen A
100 billion is an understatement. Something far more will do. Can someone just tell PHCN to stop bringing bills to my house? My household has finally resorted to solar power, inverter and ‘I better pass my neighbor’ generator. This people still dey bring bill. I think well over N900billion fine will just be fine.
Ethel O
To my mind, PHCN is acting in accordance with its name. If I am right, its responsibility is to "hold power" and not to supply it to the ordinary Nigerians who are in dire need of it on a daily basis. Tell me an economy anywhere in the world that does not revolve on a maximum supply of power. I wonder what all those "learned men and women" really learn when they travel overseas and see that things function differently. In fact, a N100 billion will be a mere pat on PHCN’s back for the harm that it causes to the common man, young and old alike.
My Story
Like every consumer, I am forced to connect to the PHCN grid because it is the only one available. A few years ago, they introduced the pre-paid meter in pilot schemes across the country. Being a discerning consumer, I was skeptical of the new system as we still had tons of issues with the old one. The only thing that was regular on the old system was the bill, not withstanding that you may not have consumed up to 10 hours of electricity in the entire month.
I was eventually ‘forced’ to switch over to the pre-paid system October last year because PHCN was phasing out the old meters in my area. My first shock was that the company effecting the switch came in, connected a new meter and just took my old one away! When I demanded for it, I was informed the meter was PHCN property though we had paid for it when it was installed.
At my local PHCN office to purchase units on the pre-paid card, I discovered I had to pay PHCN N50, 000 for the new meter installed or spread the payment over 24 months. Since I was paying for the meter, could I have it issued in my name because, as a tenant, my landlord would probably not refund the money? Well, in PHCN logic, to get that privilege, I had to write an application to the Marketing Manager begging for the opportunity of getting the meter issued in my name.
Since the process could take weeks and they refused to open a temporary account meanwhile, I agreed to start paying under the old name and spread the payment over 24 months. In a normal environment, one would expect that the meter would be my property on full payment but no, it will always remain PHCN’s property! So why am I paying for something that I would never own? This is the first rip-off.
PHCN makes the consumer pay for an equipment it has no intention of releasing to him. When I requested for an explanation, I was just told ‘that is the procedure, madam’. In actual fact, PHCN (I keep typing NEPA) does not own the meters. They belong to some private companies who have signed the deal to provide the equipment so PHCN would not need to outlay the capital to buy them. So consumers like me are paying the companies back for the investment; the only questionable thing is that the company still owns the equipment even after I have paid for it or does it now revert to PHCN? That clarification begs an answer.
Either way, PHCN appears to be forcing consumers to put up the capital for it to acquire an essential part of its service delivery. But because we are’ investors’ under duress, we do not get any dividend for our ‘investment’.
Rather, we are charged a service fee of about N700 every month for using equipment we are paying or have paid for! It is double jeopardy.
Imagine that you wanted to access the internet and an ISP sells you an EV-DO card at N10,000 to enable you access their portal, and then charges you N700 every month for the use of the card which you must return back to them if you are relocating to Ghana because it was their property all along! What was the N10, 000 for if they owned the card anyway and could get it back when they please? It’s a fraud.
To add salt to the injury of such rip offs, I had a recent encounter with the draconic system PHCN runs in the name of service delivery. I purchased units last in March because, since then PHCN had not provided service to my area until early July. Since I had over 500 units left on the card, it didn’t make any sense to keep making additional purchases for services not delivered. The service got slightly better from the first week in July (from about 2 hours a week to 5 hrs a day now…great improvement!) so I sent a help to refill. Imagine my shock when he came back to say that we ‘owed’ PHCN N12, 500 and could not make any new purchases until we cleared the debt!
How do you ‘owe’ a service provider on a pre-paid scheme? If anything, it was PHCN who owed me for more than 3months by not providing the service I already paid for! On further investigation, the Marketing Manager Ogba Undertaking, Mr. Ajikobi explained that I was in arrears for the monthly installments on the meter. Since I didn’t make any purchases in 3 months, the installments had accumulated so I had to clear it. No remorse for the fact that it was PHCN’s incompetence that created the lull in purchasing activity. If they had been consistent on their service delivery, would I have been in arrears? That is the service delivery one million dollar question.
One would expect that since this is an ongoing relationship (not that I have any choice because PHCN is still a monopoly enforced by federal legislation) the PHCN Management would be smart enough to make these deductions elastic to cover 24 transactions instead of 24 calendar months; especially since they are aware that their system is anything but efficient and the default would most likely be from their end more often than the consumer. But why should they care? They are legalized to extort money from helpless consumers by our own supposed “democratically elected” government with no structures to call them to order!
The one that knocked me off was the fact that my arrears also included service charges for those 3 months! Service charges? Which service did I get from PHCN between March and July that I owed them for? We did not get power in my area for up to 48 hours in almost 90 days! Is that the service I was being charged for? With systems like this, is the Federal Government condoning the biggest extortion racket in Nigeria? How does a government run a service delivery structure like PHCN that demands payment for services it did not provide? If PHCN was a private sector business, consumers could at least seek redress by reporting to government, but who do we report PHCN to? The same Minister who oversees their structure?
Is PHCN another subtle channel to tax Nigerians to death because the only payment you must make without getting commensurate services is a tax? Is the ‘service charge’ actually an Energy Tax rigged through the back door? The Honorable Minister needs to clarify that for the Nigerian consumer because he oversees a structure that robs the consumer of choice and levies a flat monthly fee on all subscribers irrespective of whether the system delivers on its promise or not. That is taxation.
Will the Honorable Minister please advice his boss that the solution to Nigeria’s Power Trauma is for this administration to think outside the box (for once) and attempt total deregulation with the strategic separation of domestic from industrial power consumption? The model is simple, immediate and implementable and I would be glad to forward it to him if he sends his e-mail. At least, it will break domestic consumers’ dependence on epileptic and draconic PHCN by increasing our choices while the government can focus on industrial generation… and no, I am not a power or energy expert or consultant, just a mere frustrated consumer who bothered to think of a creative solution to deliver me from the oppression PHCN has become to my existence! I am sure there are millions like me all over Nigeria.
Meanwhile, I have since paid the disguised “Energy Tax” just so I can supplement my 3 generators with PHCN’s epileptic service but I am seriously considering court action to challenge the power dragon’s rights to charge me for services I did not receive? Is there a lawyer out there willing to represent me in this iconic suit? Maybe if we stretch them thin, they will adjust their unreasonable system and learn how to earn every kobo we pay them for once.
I close with this thread on my Facebook page about energy and service delivery
Breaking News: The UK Energy Regulator OFGEN is to fine EDF an energy service provider £2m for poor customer service! Someone please beg our regulator NERC to fine PHCN too o! Maybe like N100 billion for the trauma consumers endure in Nigeria. Or am I asking the impossible?
Oyefeso T
Yes, it is impossible because the CEO of NERC probably has a 100KVA generator in his house donated by a generator brand and a monthly supply of 500litres of diesel from the importers.
Segun A
Accountability in Nigeria? Phew... Alice in Wonderland!
Wunmi A
Things can only work out in the power sector if Federal govt could ban the use of generator set and its importation, maybe our great State (Lagos) can start that by formulating a policy that will stop or reduce use of generator. Though, it will be very difficult to do but, if Nigerians can sacrifice that we'll all laugh soon.
Kelvinmary P. N.
@Wunmi: Chopping off a head is not the cure for headaches... there are better ways.
Babatunde O J
The problem is much deeper than you can see. If we ramp up production as in megawatts, then failure point is distribution since both equipment and wiring are old and in some cases unable to carry the increased load coming from additional production without significant reinvestment... Of course you can always ask where the monies spent over the past 10 years went... This one pass regulator...
Obaro E
Yes, you are asking the impossible. I don't mean to sound pessimistic or 'unpatriotic', but when supposedly educated people in a country do not believe there is a problem when PHCN cannot guarantee 6 hours supply of electricity after almost 50 years of independence, we really are in a mess.
Sola Salako
Am I the only one who sees the solution to this problem? It’s right under our noses; Develop a unique policy for Nigeria that separates domestic consumption from industrial and encourage micro individual generation via green options like solar and wind while govt focuses on industrial generation. The model is simple, workable and sustainable. But it requires executive will, commitment and sincerity; all qualities that are obviously deficient in this administration. We are at the mercy of the Abuja Circus. God help us!
Ronke A (UK)
Many drops make an ocean. The energy providers in the UK had a history of dancing to their own tunes. Even when housing providers (as opposed to the individual consumer) liaise with them, they respond to enquiries when they feel like, paper trails go missing, site appointments are not kept… yes all this in the UK! It took some doing but an example has been made and service is bound to improve. Where there is a will . . . . .
Babatunde O J
@Sola: this solution has been very clear for some years now... It took a Nigerian to use this model to solve power problems in an East African country some years back... The issue is exactly what you have said... they think it’s a circus... Of course you guys know you will have to delete diesel and generator traders while you are on this path. But please also wipe out trailer and truck haulage of goods and revive the rail system for travel and cheaper haulage of goods while you are ahead...
Elvis E
Who says we need a national grid? Why can't we have regional, state & or even ward grids? This is one urgent thing that ought to be changed in the constitution; let states generate & distribute power as they see fit. Let states be able to sign PPP power agreements. The competition betwixt the states will ensure power supply is regularized according to demand. Breakup the national 'greed', oops! grid, Let there be LIGHT!
Dele V B
Micro generation [using solar, wind, biomass, tidal waves e.t.c] seems like an attractive option going forward. The government still needs to provide a functional, reliable and efficient national grid network. Also, supply, generation and local distribution companies have to be encouraged, regulated and incentivized. Having said this, natural gas is available in abundance and this should serve as our competitive advantage for industries - the resource is being flared/wasted in the Niger-delta by this government. To conclude, a coherent, comprehensive and articulated energy policy has to be owned by this government. But with or without government help, micro generation is bound to get more popular in Niaja (sic) even as initial costs fall worldwide!
Babatunde O J
@Dele: While some of these technologies are still in nascent stages, micro generation is truly very attractive. The issue is we will need to knock Abuja with a very big stick indeed to get them to pave the way... In the US, this option is becoming closer to reality as we speak since they want to reduce dependence on foreign oil and gas. Let's get some truth into this thread... any energy policy that unbundles power production will be strongly resisted by the central government! We need a new TYPE of government then we will get all we are asking for!!!
Omidan O
Power Holding Company of NIGERIA (PHCN) ... thinks they are doing a good JOB! Dem dey HOLD the power well well! Can you imagine a govt that wants to improve on ELECTRICITY would budget a whooping N2 billion for diesel! What else can we expect?
Ailen A
100 billion is an understatement. Something far more will do. Can someone just tell PHCN to stop bringing bills to my house? My household has finally resorted to solar power, inverter and ‘I better pass my neighbor’ generator. This people still dey bring bill. I think well over N900billion fine will just be fine.
Ethel O
To my mind, PHCN is acting in accordance with its name. If I am right, its responsibility is to "hold power" and not to supply it to the ordinary Nigerians who are in dire need of it on a daily basis. Tell me an economy anywhere in the world that does not revolve on a maximum supply of power. I wonder what all those "learned men and women" really learn when they travel overseas and see that things function differently. In fact, a N100 billion will be a mere pat on PHCN’s back for the harm that it causes to the common man, young and old alike.
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!
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!
FAAN and “Branding” at Nigerian Airports
If you have had any reason to use most Nigerian Airports in recent times, especially the very busy ones like MM2, MMIA, NAIA, Abuja (I haven’t used PHIA, or KIA in a few years) you would have noticed the ‘deafening’ attempts at generating income that has almost turned our airports into advertising marts. The drive to make money is so great that every available space is plastered with some advertising message from either the banks or the telecom rivals especially of the GSM variant!
While the concept of public-private sector partnership is welcome, the execution of the idea is fast becoming offensive in our airports and is a testimonial to the lack of creative initiative on both the FAAN team and the brand management teams of the brands on display. How can the Chief Executives of both FAAN and its ‘branding customers’ walk thru such clutter in the name of branding and feel any sense of achievement or cost effectiveness? (Maybe as ‘big men’, they don’t use the ’popular’ check-in, arrival and departure lounges that ‘common’ Nigerians like me have to use)
Every inch of the airports have become fair game to hang all kinds of messages, wall-to-wall outdoor posters, lintel strips of brands struggling to outdo themselves to be the first to welcome the already mentally tired passenger to Lagos, Abuja or Nigeria depending on which airport you are. The cacophony of colors and messages has become a mental assault on the passenger’s psyche. The situation is a clear case of mental and emotional harassment of the Nigerian consumer and it is getting out of hand!
Major culprits are Intercontinental Bank, Glo Mobile, UBA and MTN and the worst airports are MM2 and Murtala Mohammed International Airport both in Lagos, especially MM2! It’s like walking through Oshodi Market pre Fashola! Everything is s-c-r-e-a-m-i-n-g at you. In fact, the adverts are so big they have crowded the valuable signs that should direct the passenger to the appropriate points for service. The visual impact creates more confusion as you are constantly distracted and confused as to what to fix your eyes on while transacting business in these airports.
(By the way, whoever approved the MM2 as a finished project should be thrown in jail! The finishing of the structure leaves a lot to be desired. I can almost bet my bottom naira that the airport will be ready to fall apart by the time the ‘Consessionee’ hands it over to FAAN in 30yrs! Can you see it still standing like the International Airport after the usual Nigerian culture of zero maintenance? I don’t. I can list at least 5 flaws that are tell- tale signs to my aesthetically untrained eyes…just look closely at the ceilings or the floors when next you are there…)
Back to FAAN’s quick money ‘branding’ strategy; just this week, I noticed that FAAN has started branding the exterior of MMIA too since there is no more space to ‘sell’ on the interior (except maybe the floors and ceilings because even the chairs in the departure lounges are ‘branded’ with various corporate colors depending on which brand is financing it.) The tower at the international airport now ‘belongs’ to Glo! Can you imagine; even THE TOWER?!
Maybe the Minister for Aviation should hire the Lagos State Advertising and Signage Agency (LASAA) to ‘visit’ Nigerian Airports and ‘sanitize’ them like they have done Lagos streets, so consumers can use the airports without getting a headache or fudgy brains from trying to process the assault on our mental and emotional psyche. While the brands have a right to advertise their wares, FAAN should also remember that consumers do have a right to their privacy in some supposedly ‘public’ arenas especially when we pay taxes to use those public places too.
FAAN should please take time to understand the psychological impact of its trade and take that into consideration in its aggressive attempt at making extra money at all costs. After all, passengers already pay airport taxes for the use of the same airports or are we being taxed so we can be ‘deafened’ with the visual ‘noise’ and clutter of these brands and their adverts? The ones we are bombarded with on the streets free of charge is not enough, we now have to pay FAAN to deliver us as a ‘captive audience’ to the mental ‘terrorists’ who want to take over our psyche by force or tulasi by ‘branding us red, green, blue or yellow!
Travelling in the Nigerian airspace is nerve racking enough with the various uncertainties about the quality, standard and capabilities of equipment and human resource but FAAN seems bent on further escalating our unsettled nerves with all kinds of messages screaming at us as soon as we enter the airport environment! Haba! The confines of a departure lounge (or immigration areas on arrival at the international airport) should be kept as serene and nerve calming as possible as the passenger has either just survived a harrowing mental experience of flying or is about to commence on one.
From the execution of this concept, it is also clear that the FAAN team seems to have no understanding of the principles of Branding or is it that the FAAN brand has no essence of its own that it can afford to sell away every opportunity to project its own brand values to other brands? With this untidy style of commercializing its space, FAAN may be whittling away at its brand equity thus consumers will have no recognition, appreciation or expectation of the FAAN brand. Or is that the corporate strategy? (Maybe as long as FAAN is ‘faceless’, it can get away with shoddy service delivery?)
Really, how much is the FAAN brand worth to its custodians? The long term implications of this strategy on the FAAN brand may be worth much more than the short term benefits of quick money. By the way, what does FAAN do with all the airport taxes paid on every single ticket purchased to fly out of its airports? Not to mention the rent charges to the airlines. Why is it difficult to maintain the facilities without “consessioning” it out to brand advertisers on this scale? Even the toilets are either overflowing or lack water. On Saturday, I saw a lady about to use the female toilet and a young man sitting at the entrance handed her a roll of toilet paper to take a few plies to use! An embarrassment and invasion of a consumer’s privacy! Why can’t the roll be placed in the cubicles? Is that too expensive or does FAAN need someone to ‘brand’ the toilets too?
The Minister of Aviation needs to pay closer attention to the ‘soft’ services of FAAN while he is grappling with hard core aviation issues because it is all part of service delivery. If the people on the job don’t have the prerequisite appreciation of their job functions, he should please approve the services of consultants to help manage brand image and customer care processes. After all, his ‘been to’ experience must have contributed to the President’s decision to appoint him or maybe he has joined the bandwagon in Abuja who seem to feel Nigerian consumers don’t deserve world class service. Let’s hope I’m wrong about that. Honorable Minister Sir, please help minimize the adverts in Nigerian airports! Or is this part of Aunty Dora’s ‘Rebranding’ Drama script?
Section of MM2 Departure lounge
While the concept of public-private sector partnership is welcome, the execution of the idea is fast becoming offensive in our airports and is a testimonial to the lack of creative initiative on both the FAAN team and the brand management teams of the brands on display. How can the Chief Executives of both FAAN and its ‘branding customers’ walk thru such clutter in the name of branding and feel any sense of achievement or cost effectiveness? (Maybe as ‘big men’, they don’t use the ’popular’ check-in, arrival and departure lounges that ‘common’ Nigerians like me have to use)
Every inch of the airports have become fair game to hang all kinds of messages, wall-to-wall outdoor posters, lintel strips of brands struggling to outdo themselves to be the first to welcome the already mentally tired passenger to Lagos, Abuja or Nigeria depending on which airport you are. The cacophony of colors and messages has become a mental assault on the passenger’s psyche. The situation is a clear case of mental and emotional harassment of the Nigerian consumer and it is getting out of hand!
Major culprits are Intercontinental Bank, Glo Mobile, UBA and MTN and the worst airports are MM2 and Murtala Mohammed International Airport both in Lagos, especially MM2! It’s like walking through Oshodi Market pre Fashola! Everything is s-c-r-e-a-m-i-n-g at you. In fact, the adverts are so big they have crowded the valuable signs that should direct the passenger to the appropriate points for service. The visual impact creates more confusion as you are constantly distracted and confused as to what to fix your eyes on while transacting business in these airports.
(By the way, whoever approved the MM2 as a finished project should be thrown in jail! The finishing of the structure leaves a lot to be desired. I can almost bet my bottom naira that the airport will be ready to fall apart by the time the ‘Consessionee’ hands it over to FAAN in 30yrs! Can you see it still standing like the International Airport after the usual Nigerian culture of zero maintenance? I don’t. I can list at least 5 flaws that are tell- tale signs to my aesthetically untrained eyes…just look closely at the ceilings or the floors when next you are there…)
Back to FAAN’s quick money ‘branding’ strategy; just this week, I noticed that FAAN has started branding the exterior of MMIA too since there is no more space to ‘sell’ on the interior (except maybe the floors and ceilings because even the chairs in the departure lounges are ‘branded’ with various corporate colors depending on which brand is financing it.) The tower at the international airport now ‘belongs’ to Glo! Can you imagine; even THE TOWER?!
Maybe the Minister for Aviation should hire the Lagos State Advertising and Signage Agency (LASAA) to ‘visit’ Nigerian Airports and ‘sanitize’ them like they have done Lagos streets, so consumers can use the airports without getting a headache or fudgy brains from trying to process the assault on our mental and emotional psyche. While the brands have a right to advertise their wares, FAAN should also remember that consumers do have a right to their privacy in some supposedly ‘public’ arenas especially when we pay taxes to use those public places too.
FAAN should please take time to understand the psychological impact of its trade and take that into consideration in its aggressive attempt at making extra money at all costs. After all, passengers already pay airport taxes for the use of the same airports or are we being taxed so we can be ‘deafened’ with the visual ‘noise’ and clutter of these brands and their adverts? The ones we are bombarded with on the streets free of charge is not enough, we now have to pay FAAN to deliver us as a ‘captive audience’ to the mental ‘terrorists’ who want to take over our psyche by force or tulasi by ‘branding us red, green, blue or yellow!
Travelling in the Nigerian airspace is nerve racking enough with the various uncertainties about the quality, standard and capabilities of equipment and human resource but FAAN seems bent on further escalating our unsettled nerves with all kinds of messages screaming at us as soon as we enter the airport environment! Haba! The confines of a departure lounge (or immigration areas on arrival at the international airport) should be kept as serene and nerve calming as possible as the passenger has either just survived a harrowing mental experience of flying or is about to commence on one.
From the execution of this concept, it is also clear that the FAAN team seems to have no understanding of the principles of Branding or is it that the FAAN brand has no essence of its own that it can afford to sell away every opportunity to project its own brand values to other brands? With this untidy style of commercializing its space, FAAN may be whittling away at its brand equity thus consumers will have no recognition, appreciation or expectation of the FAAN brand. Or is that the corporate strategy? (Maybe as long as FAAN is ‘faceless’, it can get away with shoddy service delivery?)
Really, how much is the FAAN brand worth to its custodians? The long term implications of this strategy on the FAAN brand may be worth much more than the short term benefits of quick money. By the way, what does FAAN do with all the airport taxes paid on every single ticket purchased to fly out of its airports? Not to mention the rent charges to the airlines. Why is it difficult to maintain the facilities without “consessioning” it out to brand advertisers on this scale? Even the toilets are either overflowing or lack water. On Saturday, I saw a lady about to use the female toilet and a young man sitting at the entrance handed her a roll of toilet paper to take a few plies to use! An embarrassment and invasion of a consumer’s privacy! Why can’t the roll be placed in the cubicles? Is that too expensive or does FAAN need someone to ‘brand’ the toilets too?
The Minister of Aviation needs to pay closer attention to the ‘soft’ services of FAAN while he is grappling with hard core aviation issues because it is all part of service delivery. If the people on the job don’t have the prerequisite appreciation of their job functions, he should please approve the services of consultants to help manage brand image and customer care processes. After all, his ‘been to’ experience must have contributed to the President’s decision to appoint him or maybe he has joined the bandwagon in Abuja who seem to feel Nigerian consumers don’t deserve world class service. Let’s hope I’m wrong about that. Honorable Minister Sir, please help minimize the adverts in Nigerian airports! Or is this part of Aunty Dora’s ‘Rebranding’ Drama script?
Section of MM2 Departure lounge
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