TBK tries- The worst Customer Service in Bahrain...part one

 

Customer care course for Awali hospital- why did I bother? 5 of them have since left!

This is a really difficult blog to write because it does not exist. I know because I used to teach Customer Service to IT , Security and the Hospital teams at Bapco!

So let me give you some examples.....

From Awali Hospital.... I turn up for a Specialist appointment to be greeted with 

"Oh he cancelled".

"Do you think it would have been a good idea to tell me he cancelled instead of wasting my time coming here?"

"We did"." 

How and when? "

"We texted you"' .

"On what number?" 

"oh yeah, you don't have a mobile. Ha ha" 

Then when I was trying to arrange an MRI scan at another hospital they told me they had tried to call me many times but as I don't have a mobile I am impossible to get hold of. I asked when they called me and checked the call log on my office phone. 

There was only one call, which I could not answer, as I was in hospital! I filed a complaint and then the person I complained about started to attack me in the reception area, poking me, and saying to all the patients and staff 

"Can you believe he filed a complaint about me?"

So now I have had to file a second complaint about her, but as usual nothing will be done!

Once I got the MRI results I booked to see the specialist. I turned up at 5 pm and waited for my appointment at 6 pm. No specialist. I asked why . They said he only comes on Tuesday and today is Wednesday. I showed them my diary where I had written the appointment down when I made it.

They checked again and told me they had booked the appointment with a different specialist. I asked how a specialist in Diarrhea was going to help me with osteoporosis in my hips. 

They asked me to come back the following Tuesday to see the hip specialist.

Another 4 hours wasted at Awali hospital and another weeks delay in identifying the source of the pain and resolving it. 

Unbelievable. 

Maybe if the receptionist who took the booking spend less time on Facebook writing homophobic posts like 

"God Made Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve"

and listened to the patients when they made their bookings I might have had my pain reduced a week earlier.

My 2020 calendar which took 3 months to get printed in Bahrain, Eventually I gave up and sent the art work to the UK and it was done by ASK print in less than a week and cheaper than I was quoted in Bahrain

The worst service I ever had was with the printing of my 2020 calendar. I sent the design to the printer in September and he gave me  a quote. I accepted, and I chased where it was in October and November. In December he finally told me 

"Sorry we cannot do it this year. "

I was going to explain that there is no point printing a 2020 calendar in 2021 , but I just gave up and sent it to the UK, where it was printed in a week, and cheaper than the Bahrain quote.  

The Sofitel at Zallaq- I have not been there for a year due to the terrible service

Another time I invited a friend from Saudi to a cookery class at the Sofitel. When  we got there ( Jonathan had to make a 2 hour drive )  to find out it was cancelled as the Chef was sick. When I asked to see the Manager to complain he tells me - "They should have called you , sir" . Too right.

I gave them another try and booked a birthday cake, champagne and a car to the airport when my brother came to stay. I did not want him to pay so I asked if it could be charged to my card. They sent me a form, I completed it and returned it. Luckily I checked the details as they had booked the car for the wrong date. After the event I checked my card statement and  there was no charge. A few months later they called to say the Manager who took the booking left and there was no trace of the card details. They asked if I could resend them.  I explained that if someone had left and taken my credit card details with them I would have to cancel the card and get a new one , and there was no way I was going to send them the details of the new card to loose again.

I cancelled my Credimax Credit card when I moved to NBB because I got fed up of waiting for an hour to be served in the BBK branch at Sanad, after they closed the one at the refinery. 

I asked then how much I owed and where I could pay it. I got the amount, took the cash from NBB and went to the BBK branch where they advised me to pay. I took a number and waited 30 mins then went to the teller.  I explained the situation and explained I wanted to pay the card off. I didn't have the card with me ( I had already cut it up) and he said he could not take payment without the card number. He sent me to the Credimax counter where I waited 30 mins.

Eventuality I went back to the first teller and he said, "Maybe he is on his break, come back in an hour". I said I had already wasted one hour and walked out. i called Credimax and they gave me the number and another day I went to pay , waited 30 mins, and finally they took my money. 

A week later I get an invoice for an outstanding amount ( they had charged interest and a late payment fee). I wrote to the person who told me how much to pay and told her I had done as instructed.  I got an out of office message saying she was away for a month , so I waited for her return. I got two more late payment charges and interest payments which I scanned and sent back and refused to pay, and eventually they stopped writing to me.

Alosra at Riffa Palms , where I used to shop. 3  units closed here in a year- Gusto, Hong Kong, Elevation burger

I love cooking Pinoy food and often make Manok and Baboy Adobo for my Pinoy houseboys, coworkers and friends.  Just before I went in vacation last year I decided to cook Adobo as my farewell. I planned ahead and went to my local Alosra to buy Belly pork. The freezer was empty. I asked the supervisor and he asked how urgently I needed it. I explained it was for the following weekend so he asked if I would go back on Saturday which I did. No Pork. They asked me to go back on Sunday- No Pork. On Monday, no pork so I asked to see the Manager and told him I spent 100 bd a week there (13,450.92 php) and I would now be taking my business elsewhere.

But the prize for the worst service in Bahrain goes to Sharaf DG. I have bought two laptops there in my 11 years here and both failed under warranty, one twice . When you guy the laptop the commission based sales staff ( about 20 at last count) swarm around you like flies around a cows ass with their little post its which they stick on whatever you buy so they get commission.

A few months later when it breaks down and you go back to complain ( at Seef Mall Muhurraq or city centre) you join a long queue to see the single after sales service person who eventually tells you they will send it away for repair and that the repairers ( JKL for HP and Computer world for Asus) will wipe off all your data ( in my case 3 months vacation photos form Dubai and Oman) . I ask them to take a back up and they say that's my job. I explain if it will not turn on because the boot up file is corrupted ( first breakdown) or the mother board is broken ( second) how can I take a back up? 

The actual repair companies are really helpful- JKL let me sit there for 5 hrs. to back up my data and on my third visit fixed up a faulty start up ( loose screw) in 5 mins while I waited. Computer world accessed my documents, saved them and then reinstalled windows ( although they wiped out Microsoft office) and gave me access to the saved files. 

As I said to the lady at Sharaf DG why don't you tell people its likely to break down twice and be in repair more than its working and you will loose all your data, and its 600 bd. Do you think people would buy from you then? I certainly never will again. 

Hard to believe, but its true. I sure hope the service in the Philippines is better!