Umlilo - I was hoping for your original letter to them to be pasted on this site purely to be able read and check on the tone of the request. I for one have had recent dealings with Margaret on issues that I have had of late, and no they are not of a general "my ticket was cancelled nature" but more of a technical one, and have received responses immediately. I focused on the tone of my request and approached the correspondence in a way that I would wish to be dealt with should one of my clients have an issue.
I have been involved withe service industry for many years, first in hospitality and now in insurance. My wife has been in hospitality all of her working life. Both very difficult industries to be involved in due purely to its nature. You may question the relevance of what we do in relation to this thread. Well it is simple. While we strive for greater service in this country, the consumer needs to also show some respect for the providers of service.
I give you examples:
1. A women bursts into tears because her meal is to big and causes a scene for all to see.
2. A customer who was fighting in the foyer was asked to leave by my wife. This prat turns around to my wife and tells her: "I will f..ng drop you"
3. A women pushed my wife (8 months pregnant) because she could not get a table
4. I have been told what snakes we all are in the insurance industry, followed by "make a plan with my claim bru."
The list goes on. We all have a right to complain, but at the same time we need to treat people with a certain level of respect and dignity. I am not implying that you did not approach this topic with dignity I am just questioning the tone and or agenda.
We run the very real risk of shutting the only door we have with P because of the way we posters deal with things. It almost feels to me as if we want to force them in to silence by being overly critical on these public forums so that we can have a go at them with absolutely zero response from them, therefore justifying our rationale to the world. I often question whether we approach issues with non racing companies in the manner that we do with the racing companies. I know I am not perfect neither is the company that I work for, in fact there is no perfect company but we can strive for perfection or are we posters perfect business operators.
I am quite surprised by this post from you as previously you have awakened me to some interesting topics as far as race relations go. I for one would be more than willing to join any conference or meeting as previously proposed by you, to be a part of or a delegate on race relations talks. I am, after all as AW would put it, from the Huntley generation. The truth of the Huntley generation though is that we are waiting in the wings and will be the drivers of the next economy. We need to engage in a rational an responsible manner. Which works better:
1. Walk in with an AK47 and say to all present -"Now we engage on issues"
or
2. Follow in the footsteps of a our president with a warmth an openness and invite people to engage in an open and warm manner.
The country is filled with the "parvenus". I am not sure whether this is true for Margaret or not, but CRM is CRM no matter which company you are with. Directors in SA can sit on multiple boards without having a clue what the companies actually do without a problem. From what I have garnered from my dealings with Margaret, there are strong efforts being made to improve customer relations with the company. P, I am sure, would have the ability to check on my Tabgold account and see that I am not a major contributor to the industry, but no effort has been spared by them to set my mind at ease on the issue that I raised with them. The results are not final yet, but the wheel is in motion.
I have the greatest respect for you and hope that you do no take offence to this post, but would ask that you re raise your concern with them. You may be pleasantly surprised.
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