GHANA’S CULTURE OF POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE: REGISTRAR GENERAL'S DEPARTMENT AN EPITOME OF THE STATE OF CUSTOMER SERVICE IN GHANA

The Registrar General's Department was established under the Ordinance 1950 during the Colonial days. It became a department of the Ministry of Justice in 1961.With the aim of becoming a highly progressive department that efficiently serves it customers by becoming a highly strategic partner to businesses and stakeholders. Mandated by the Government to ensure an efficient and effective administration of entities inter - alia the registration of businesses, industrial property, marriages, administration of estates, and public trustees, to provide customer friendly services and accurate data for national planning. An investigation conducted by the ORGANISATION FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCE –GHANA, leading national advocate for customer service excellence reveals that, this department of the public sector which interfaces with the public, particularly the business community and investor both local and foreign, provides the most stinking and worst client service in Ghana. As an absolute microcosm of bad customer service in Ghana, you are met with clueless and rude staff and security Guards in blue and yellow shirts who do nothing but to throw their weight about, just shouting at clients without using the words please, excuse me Sir, or kindly move to this direction or that side Madame. Worse of all, clients can stand for more than thirty minutes without any personnel at that department approaching to asking if he or she can provide some help. The two receptionists there are so busy for nothing that they hardly sit on their chairs to attend to clients. The environment, both external and internal is not welcoming and not conducive to do business at all. So disorganized and congested, just as the water dispenser at the place, is full but had no cups by it for thirsty customers to drink. Their so called refurbished toilet facility and urinal stinks so badly like their client service, lacking running water. During our two weeks investigation ,we interviewed two hundred clients of the department of which one hundred and sixty were Ghanaians with the remaining forty being foreigners, who expressed their absolute frustration, outrage and total disgust of the quality of client service at this public sector institution. As the nation tries to position itself as a preferred investment destination and a customer service hub in Africa, the need to build a customer –centric culture in the public sector and among citizenry is very vital and relevant to business growth and economic development. We have video recordings of the Registrar General's Department, customer service investigation and will soon publish it on youtube for public consumption. GHANAIANS ARE FED UP WITH BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE! We can no longer accept the culture of poor customer service, either from Government institutions or Ghanaian businesses. JOIN HANDS TO FIGHT POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE IN GHANA! TO SPONSOR, KINDLY CALL HECTOR WULFF ON: +233-24-1877622 EMAIL: ghcustomerservice@gmail.com VISIT: customerserviceghana.blogspot.com

4TH GHANA CUSTOMER SERVICE AWARDS,2014

The Ghana Customer Service Awards,dubbed Voice Of The Customer Awards is the only national awards dedicated to Customer Service Excellence,best practice and innovation in customer service delivery in Ghana.They highlight the importance of providing outstanding customer service in today’s challenging economic climate.

3RD GHANA CUSTOMER SERVICE CONFERENCE

3RD GHANA CUSTOMER SERVICE CONFERENCE AND OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCE. THEME: CUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCE: A KEY TO BUSINESS GROWTH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT A national Conference for Customer Service leaders, executives, managers and all heads of customer service and quality control departments across the industrial spectrum in Ghana. ONE DAY IMPACT FILLED EVENT WITH SEVEN KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS AND HUNDREDS OF IDEAS FOR IMPROVED CUSTOMER SERVICE, TOWARDS BUSINESS GROWTH AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. OBJECTIVE: This conference serves as an annual platform for stakeholder in customer service delivery across Ghana from both public and private sectors across the industrial spectrum to share best practice and ideas in customer service delivery for business development and economic sustainability. DATE: THURSDAY 13TH MARCH, 2014 VENUE: ALISA HOTEL, NORTH RIDGE, ACCRA TIME: 8:30AM TO 4:30PM PARTICIPATION FEES: GH¢350.00

National Campaign For Customer Service Excellence To Be Launched In Accra

The Organisation for Customer Service Excellence-Ghana, a leading national advocate for customer service excellence, will, next year, launch the National Campaign for Customer Service Excellence. The two-year campaign, the first of its kind in Ghana which will be organised on the theme: ‘Making Customer Service a National Priority for Business Growth and Economic Development,’ forms part of its Ghana Customer Service Development Initiative. The campaign, dubbed, ‘Ghana— A Call To Excellence In Customer Service,’ seeks to partner the government of Ghana and the private sector to promote a national culture for customer service excellence through mass public education, advocacy and awareness creation, and to strengthen the capacity of the citizenry and players of the national economy to put the customer first and recognise him as a major stakeholder in service delivery. The campaign will undertake mass public education and awareness creation programmes across Ghana, including public lectures, symposia, conferences and road shows. It will also employ the medium of print, broadcast, online, and billboards to reach out to the general public, so as to encourage attitude and perception change by employees, employers and general public on customer service. Mr Hector Wulff, the Executive Director of the Organaisation for Customer Service Excellence-Ghana, in a statement issued in Accra, indicated that a survey conducted by the organization revealed that poor customer service delivery was widespread across the industrial spectrum and in all sectors of the national economy. The survey, Mr Wulff said, revealed that 9 out of every 10 persons interviewed at random were frustrated on the state of customer service delivery in Ghana. “Citizens are getting fed up with the way they are treated by service providers, particularly the public sector, utility services, telecommunications, services at our ports, shoddy projects executed by contractors, service delivery in our health and educational institutions, and the financial sector, among others,” he said.

GHANA CUSTOMER SERVICE DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVE (THE JOURNEY)

The Ghana customer service development initiative, launched in October 2010, gave birth to the GHANA CUSTOMER SERVICE AWARDS, the GHANA CUSTOMER SERVICE WEEK AND ANNUAL CONFERENCE and ORGANISATION FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCE-GHANA, of which Mr.Hector Wulff serves as the Executive Drirector. Many thanks to the Government of Ghana and Corporate Ghana for embracing the Ghana Customer Service Development Initiative and we shall work as partners towards making Ghana a leading customer service destination in Africa and the world at large.

CUSTOMER SERVICE ADVOCATE TO EMBARK ON A NATIONAL AWARENESS TOUR

The founder of the Ghana Customer Service Development Initiative, Mr. Hector Wulff, popularly know as Mr. customer service ,will embark upon a one man national awareness creation tour from December ,as a prelude to the launch of the national campaign for customer service excellence next year. The tour will take him to public centres and gatherings in all regional capitals across Ghana, interacting with citizens on the way forward with regards to customer service delivery in Ghana. Mr. Hector Wulff indicated that, the issue of customer service in Ghana is very critical to business growth and our national economy at large. In spite of efforts and investments made by government and corporate Ghana toward customer satisfaction, poor customer service delivery is widespread across the industrial spectrum and in all sectors of our national economy. Citizens are getting fed up with the way they are treated by service providers, particularly the public sector, utility services, telecommunications, services at our ports, shoddy projects executed by contractors, service delivery in our health and educational institutions, and the financial sector as well. Hence the need for this awareness creation tour as a prelude to the launch of the massive national campaign for customer service excellence in partnership with the government of Ghana and corporate Ghana. The Ghana customer service development initiative, launched in October 2010, gave birth to the GHANA CUSTOMER SERVICE AWARDS, the GHANA CUSTOMER SERVICE WEEK AND ANNUAL CONFERENCE and ORGANISATION FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCE-GHANA, of which Mr.Wulff serves as the Executive Director.

GHANA TO LAUNCH NATIONAL CAMPAIGN FOR CUSTOMER SERVICE EXCELLENCE

The Organisation for Customer Service Excellence-Ghana, a leading national advocate for customer service excellence, will, in December, this year, launch the National Campaign for Customer Service Excellence. The two-year campaign, the first of its kind in Ghana which will be organised on the theme: ‘Making Customer Service a National Priority for Business Growth and Economic Development,’ forms part of its Ghana Customer Service Development Initiative. The campaign, dubbed, ‘Ghana— A Call To Excellence In Customer Service,’ seeks to partner the government of Ghana and the private sector to promote a national culture for customer service excellence through mass public education, advocacy and awareness creation, and to strengthen the capacity of the citizenry and players of the national economy to put the customer first and recognise him as a major stakeholder in service delivery. The campaign will undertake mass public education and awareness creation programmes across Ghana, including public lectures, symposia, conferences and road shows. It will also employ the medium of print, broadcast, online, and billboards to reach out to the general public, so as to encourage attitude and perception change by employees, employers and general public on customer service. Mr Hector Wulff, the Executive Director of the Organaisation for Customer Service Excellence-Ghana, in a statement issued in Accra, indicated that a survey conducted by the organization revealed that poor customer service delivery was widespread across the industrial spectrum and in all sectors of the national economy. The survey, Mr Wulff said, revealed that 9 out of every 10 persons interviewed at random were frustrated on the state of customer service delivery in Ghana. “Citizens are getting fed up with the way they are treated by service providers, particularly the public sector, utility services, telecommunications, services at our ports, shoddy projects executed by contractors, service delivery in our health and educational institutions, and the financial sector, among others,” he said.