Letter of the Day | NCB, do better for your customers

THE EDITOR, Madam:

I was very happy to hear of the net profit that the National Commercial Bank (NCB) reported for 2019. I said to myself that I hope that the lion’s share of those funds would be directed in securing a vastly better customer experience for the banking public. Unfortunately, I was wrong – as a matter of fact, I was egregiously incorrect.

From the “temporarily” out-of-service ATMs, and drive-thrus to their under-serviced online platform to the length of time you wait to be answered by their customer ‘care’ contact centre is just plain alarmingly disappointing. The ATM on Red Hills Road at the Lasco complex is always, always out of service; not to mention that their ABM and drive-thru facilities at their state-of-the-art location on Constant Spring Road are all a joke.

I bear witness to customers’ frustrations and annoyance, including my own, when we go to the Constant Spring location to find only one of their three ABMs sluggishly working and the drive-thru out of service. Also, I have a personal experience of being unable to find a working ATM to conduct my transactions, having visited three non-working NCB ATMs. And, for some transactions, you have to go to the particular bank ATM and not a MultiLink.

I am suggesting that NCB dedicates the J$1.6 billion to do the following:

n Create dedicated mobile teams to service their ATMs, and drive-thrus instead of a third-party company (which is obviously not working out) in order to improve the response time to repairs and maintenance.

n Employ more individuals in the Customer Care Centre and train and retrain them in world-class customer service techniques, particularly to deal with angry and frustrated customers.

n Find more hassle-free ways for customers to register compliments, complaints and suggestions – this could be, for example, a one-minute video booth with the press of a button in your locations. NCB may be very surprised with the information they could gather to help with their decision-making and actions.

n Ongoing review and changes to the customers’ experience when transacting business with their bank in general.

NCB, I believe in you, despite all the challenges. I know you can do much better than this. Your customers are eagerly and impatiently waiting to be thoroughly impressed!

I am,

THE CUSTOMER SERVICE

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