The Tribune

IT IS telling and disturbing the number and drumbeat of Bahamians dissatisfied and frustrated with the often poor and inconsistent quality of service by the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC). The number of upset customers seems as voluminous as the white pages of a printed directory.

The telecommunications company is reliably unreliable. Many Bahamians consistently experience dropped calls on landlines and mobile phones, static on landlines, billing complaints, service paid for but not delivered and other difficulties.

One of the company’s marketing slogans is “No Stress, Just Vibes”, an irony given the stress caused by the company and its poor vibes pertaining to customer service.

There are many good and hard-working people at the company. But something is terribly wrong. Many are dumbfounded as to what are the company’s underlying and fundamental problems in the delivery of consistent and quality service.

Telecommunications companies are essentially technology companies, with access to sophisticated communications technologies, including AI and fibre optics, as well as sophisticated algorithms which should improve service at every level.

DIFFICULTIES

The difficulties at BTC are technological and human. The corporate culture at the company, including a seeming cavalier indifference toward customer complaints, appears pervasive. Customer service representatives regularly do not reply to complaints in a timely manner.

What makes this especially maddening is when a customer calls, is on hold for an interminable period and, after talking to a representative the call drops and the agent never calls back.

Frustratingly, one has to call again and go through the same numbing and torturous process. Some have experienced this merry-go-round of incompetence several times on a single matter. A colleague wondered whether there is an algorithm that purposefully drops calls after a given period.

The merry-go-round includes being sent from one department to the next, with no one seemingly incapable of understanding or being able to resolve a basic problem. One is sent from department to department with no resolution, which may go on for months on end.

In a recent story in The Tribune, “Sameer Bhatti, BTC’s chief executive, acknowledged … there will be ‘occasions’ when technology fails to function after several well-known customers recently complained they were being billed for communications services they were not receiving, with no information on the problem’s cause or when it would be rectified being provided.”

TURNOVER

According to Eyewitness News, Mr Bhatti is “the fifth person to occupy the role [of chief executive officer, in the last five years. The website noted: “The most recent stop on Bhatti’s resume was American-based telecommunications conglomerate Comcast, where he spent ten years as an executive in ‘commercial and channel development roles. Prior to that, he held senior positions at Juniper Networks and Verizon in the United States.”

A Bahamian, he is well-regarded and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Management Science and Statistics from the University of Maryland and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Duke University.

Still, why has there been such rapid turnover at the helm of BTC? This does not look good. Such turnover typically does not bode well for an organisation. Unfortunately, Mr. Bhatti, BTC’s technology does not just seem to be failing on “occasions”.

The new CEO told this journal: “We are continuing with our mandate to upgrade our networks and completely ‘fiberise’ our entire network with unmatched speeds and value. More than 70 percent of New Providence has been upgraded to fiber, and during the course of this year, the entire New Providence footprint will be fully fiber.

“Where services have been upgraded, we encourage our customers to also upgrade to fiber for better reliability. Eventually, BTC will only maintain its fibre network, and we will shut down our legacy copper technology.”

Does this not suggest that there have been persistent structural and systemic problems with the network requiring a massive upgrade?

The Tribune story recounted the woes of Leandra Esfakis. She noted that: “It was only after she sent a complaining February 20, 2023, email to Inge Smidts, BTC’s chair and head of its immediate parent, Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC), that two phone lines at her Market Street premises for which she paid a deposit in November 2022 were switched on.

“In the meantime, she said BTC had been calling to demand payment of around $218 for use of the lines but had provided no bill so she could understand on what basis the charges had accrued.” Her fuller complaint can be read in the March 6 story in the paper.

Why does a customer have to write to a head of the company on such a basic matter? If the CEO is busy dealing with generally minor complaints this suggests that there are human resource problems with other executives and junior level staff including supervisors.

SERVICE

Notably, this is an entrenched and structural human resource problem found with many utilities and government agencies in The Bahamas and parts of the Caribbean, where the quality of talent impairs consistency, progress and better customer service outcomes.

A dear friend’s litany of problems with BTC appears representative of the myriad difficulties Bahamians experience on a daily basis. She runs a small business requiring constant connectivity including to run customer debit and credit cards.

Her high-speed BTC connection often requires her to reset the modem. She signed up for a package which includes a cell phone which she has yet to receive after nearly five months. Her billing has sometimes been wrong. Worse, she has not been able to consistently receive her bill electronically.

When she has called to ask to receive an electronic copy of her bill, customer service representatives seemed incapable of fixing the problem. And these are just the problems at the office.

Her home landline has been down at least four times last year and once so far this year. Her elderly mother’s home landline goes down even more and for a longer period.

How can one business and individual have so many problems with BTC? Her story is not atypical. When a business and the head of a company has to endure so many telecommunications problems it affects productivity and profits.

A pizza delivery company can send a customer an electronic receipt in seconds or minutes, along with a coupon for something free, and yet one can often not get BTC to acknowledge payment electronically on the same day. Worse, after paying one’s bill, a customer keeps receiving texts messages requesting payment.

This is not an occasional failure. The problem appears to be the human resources who seem incapable of improving their algorithms despite being a digital communications technology company.

CULTURE

Changing from copper to fibre may prove easier than changing a corporate culture. While there are those who offer good service, quite a number have complained about the rude and often indifferent service at a number of BTC stores on New Providence.

One store in particular in western New Providence was known for employees who mostly ignored or were dismissive of customers seeking to purchase a new cell phone. This columnist experienced this poor service and attitude twice at the same store. Others reported similar experiences.

Bahamians desperately want to know why some of the basic problems at the country’s oldest telecommunications company seem unfixable and getting worse. Many wish Mr Bhatti well. He and BTC have a long way to go to restore good faith and trust in a company that has lost considerable favour.

Customers are not moved by expensive marketing and slogans, which are no substitute for good policy and customer service. Most just want reliable and consistent technological and human service.