Customer Service in Pakistan

Bad serviceI write this post in anger, I write this post in pure frustration at being repeatedly mistreated at the hands of customer service representatives. Before I begin, I actually do not owe them a dime and have always paid my bills on time, but this unlucky soul whenever has a problem, I dread making the call to a CS center. Name any company Ufone, Mobilink, Union Bank and Citibank etc etc (These are a few companies I have had a bad experinece with) I am more often frustrated at being blatantly mistreated by these organization who lay tall claims to the extent “Its all about U”.

I will narrate today’s incident with Union Bank (Credit Card div) where I called to cancel a Supplementary card, mind you it was for only the additional card NOT the main card so I do remain their loyal customer. The converstation started with a barrage of security question, so many questions as if I was in the process of withdrawing millions from their piggy-bank.

After more then 10 complicated questions going deep into my Shajrah-e-Nasal (Family History) I explained my request to cancel, it then started another barrage of question going deep into the life history of the additional card holder, I wondered why all the questions as my intention is to cancel the account and I should have the right being the primary card holder without any issues but the CS remained persistent on the questions and I obliged.

After the interrogation ordeal I was placed on-hold by the representative to later return and regretfully inform me that their computers were not working, DUH !!! so the question you were asking me were being verified from a toilet paper? was simply asked to call back 3 hours later to re-interrogate myself and try my luck then. The CS could have been courteous to inform me 20 minutes earlier of the computer bug before interrogating me.

That blew my lid, I asked them to call me back since it was a problem on their end, well that request fell on deaf ears as it resulted in a flat denial – as its against their policy to call back. Three hours later stupid-me called up again to go thourgh the elaborate waste of my time, but the CS did ensure I go through the interrogation ordeal all over again..

I am sure you even have a list of bad-rep companies and if you have time humor us, don’t store all that anger inside let it loose and vent your frustration here, we all know that they will not listen and probably never improve. When narrating the story don’t forget to point the finger at the company under criticsm. A recent audio clip has been roaming the city of a dude calling the Mobilink and giving him a hell load of profanity, it did bring a smile on my face, if you have not heard it drop me an email (check my about page).

What irritates me that they have no civil sense to treat their customers properly, no one seems to be wanting to help and courtesy does not seem to exist as a basic requirement in human interaction. Don’t forget to narrate your own story in the comments section to humor us all.


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10 responses to “Customer Service in Pakistan”

  1. Yasir Suleman Memon Avatar

    It’s aaaaalllll abouuuttt yoooooou.. its aaalll about yyyoouuu…
    DAAM…

    I wonder how TRG runs call centers of Lego for US kids… tsk tsk tsk… I know US kids… they can be really offensive if you ask their life history when they ask you how to get a piece of lego assembled.. hehe…

    I’ve had a bad experience with Passport people… I will always hate them! argh :@

  2. shirazi Avatar

    CRM is a new thing here. Which is one reason even the international companies (try PIA) are doing poorly.

  3. Zag Avatar

    I have a beef with the Standard Chartered Bank Credit Card Division. When I first signed up for their card, I was told that there wasn’t going to be any joining fees or annual fees. So I happily signed up with them. After I got my first bill, I had both joining fees and annual fees charged on my account. I called up the customer service. After going thru the usual security questions, I was told that I have to pay the joining fee since there is no such promotion however I will be refunded my annual fees once i spend Rs. 3000. When I told him that their salesperson had told me that I won’t have to pay either annual nor joining fees, the customer service rep said he must have lied to you!!!!!
    Well, anyway, i go ahead and spend more than Rs. 3,000 and call them again. after going thru the questions I was told that my request has been put forward and it will be refunded in the next bill. When the next bill came, there wasn’t any refund. I call them back again, and I was told that I haven’t called them and requested a refund earlier but since he is such a nice guy, he will forward my request this time. Okay. Third bill came, still no refund. I call them again, and this time another rep told me that i haven’t called them and requested a refund earlier. That did it for me. After a hearing a mouthful of MC BCs from me, he said he will do it again. And on the fourth bill, i got my refund back!!
    After that I haven’t used their CC. I am happy using Bank Alfalah’s CC. But for the last two months they have started charging some insurance on the SCB card which I don’t want. I have twice called them for the removal but it still is popping up on my card. I have to pay Rs 95 on each of my SCB cards and I am not even using them. If they charge me again next month, I am cutting their stupid ass cards and will personally go and stuff it up their Customer service reps’ asses!!!!

  4. Teeth Maestro Avatar

    Zag – I take solace in the fact that I am not alone 😉 welcome to the club 😉 I had a similar billing issue with UFONE took me 4 months to remive Rs.450 and about 20 calls – I must have wasted more valuable time then the 450 but I stuck to it for the principle.

    Pore ’em on — I doubt there is anyone out there without a story to narrate. I await more stories to humor us all !!!

  5. Kamran Avatar

    i would request you to kindly send the same blog post to Letters to the Editor of DAWN so that Union Bank can open its eyes.

    —edited by the ‘admin’ for the typo error in this comment

  6. shobz Avatar

    be pakistani buy pakistani. hmm where did we go wrong over here? well if u think you have it bad, wait till you talk to the call center people from india.the cellular phone networks have based their call networks in india. i have yet to hear a british voice. on the bright side, the credit card companies use the local brits for all queries. the only problem is that they tend to be a bit rude. at least indians arent rude. in fact they are very polite.

  7. Tall Dark Handsome Avatar

    customer dealing and handling is purely based on the guys maturity ..
    in pk .. these organizations (except banks) have just spent a small time in doing this stuff .. expect less of this as time passes ..

  8. Shah Avatar
    Shah

    I really appreciate all of your comments. This truly help me with what i’m about to do down here in PK. I’ve been in States all my life and since i’ve been back i’ve not seen one single company keeping up with their words and promises. Your article and comments are excellent and once again I appreciate that.

  9. Muhammad Asad Mustafa Avatar
    Muhammad Asad Mustafa

    4289240035472527
    With reference to our previous letter (copy attached), I am your ex-card member, I got statement in the month of March, April and May 2008 in which the bank charge Rs. 4000/= as annual fees, Rs. 200/= as Federal Excise Duty and late payment charges. I don’t want to pay such amount so I cancel my card in the month of March 2008 and drop in the box, which was acknowledged by the bank also. Further the action was communicated to your representative of 24hours banking. Now at these days I got another statement along with financial charges on unpaid amount again I call 24 hours banking and she advice me to write a letter than we will stop statements.
    Please stop my account and cancel all dues under intimation to us. Other wise the matter will be taken at banking tribunal at SCB Cost and the bank will be responsible for any damages.

  10. Farhan Esar Avatar
    Farhan Esar

    Ufone Bad Billing.

    I have a ufone no and i got a shock. My bill was 14,000 PKRand i had just deposted PKR 2,000 next day i get a message that my credit limit is exceeding by 120 %. I went to the Ufone center and asked them what was going on.

    First of all the guy sitting at the desk was not polite and i had to give him a tough look to solve my issue. When i told him about the billing issue he checked the system and said that i was charged for my umail account on whihc i asked for clarifcation and found that for six months i was not charged umail service fee.

    I have to pay that amount but hey what about the sys