On an early evening last week, I wearily drove home after a long day and found a neighboring boy riding his bicycle in the car park. As I reversed into my parking, I saw him to the left of my car, sitting on his bicycle and waiting for me to move my car so that he could get back to his solo cycle game. As soon as I parked my car, he rode ahead and flipped me a birdie. That 10 year old baby faced scallywag flipped me a birdie! In case you don’t know what that is, you need to google it. They don’t call us Black Mothers for nothing. I turned on my handbrake and burst out of my car seething with rage. Today was not the day for being disrespected. Tomorrow was not looking good either. I strode up to the boy and asked him why he flipped me the birdie. He didn’t miss a beat, “I didn’t show you that finger, I showed you this finger,” as he lifted up his index finger. “So you don’t deny that you communicated a finger to me, eh?” Was my furious response. The kid needs a lawyer to advise him about self-incrimination. Let’s just say that he won’t be doing that again soon to me or any adult in that compound. At least that’s what I hope.
Safaricom’s recent launch of the Simple, Honest and Transparent brand promise was a huge relief to many customers, myself included. I can’t remember how many times I have bought data bundles only to have them expire simply because I didn’t note the successful purchase message I received which stated the expiry date. Worse still, I don’t recall getting a reminder that the bundle was about to expire anyway. So a virtual product, with no biological attributes that could make it degradable, inedible or unusable was set to expire poof! Just like that. Buying voice and data bundles was also a nightmare as there were choices of minutes, tariffs, gigabytes and all manner of icecream flavors for what is really a vanilla product. But it’s all been simplified and expiry dates removed. The bigger question that the new brand promise evokes is: was the company not simple, honest and transparent before?
Not being simple or transparent I totally understand. It’s almost par for the course for many businesses. Many company products are anything but simple: ask banks and insurance companies. Many organizational services are anything but transparent: ask hospitals running up bills for surgical patients or patients at Intensive Care Units. Not being honest? Well, that tends to raise more than just eyebrows. It means we used to promise you one thing, but actually delivered something else. We broke our customer promise.
Are there other companies out there that are not simple, honest and transparent? Hundreds, probably thousands. Which is why consumer protection activists find a space to play in the judicial system. As does a regulator like the Competition Authority of Kenya which has the legal consumer protection mandate to investigate complaints related to false or misleading representations, unconscionable conduct as well as supply of unsafe, defective and unsuitable goods. As should the boards of the companies that provide these products and services. What Safaricom has essentially done is to get us to turn the spotlight onto our own organizations with three little words about everything we do. Are we simple in the way we give pricing information to clients and deliver our products to the market? Are we honest about all the promise we are making to customers and not leaving them to pay massive excess charges when they claim insurance after a risk has crystallized? And are we transparent about all the charges we are billing without leaving surprises at the end when the client gets the actual bill? The young scallywag of a neighbor flipped me a birdie and changed his mind about which finger salute he was giving me when he encountered the incensed, livid recipient. His dishonesty was borne of self-preservation. Is self-preservation the motivation for companies that promise one thing to the customer but deliver something else? Food for thought at your next board meeting.
Twitter: @carolmusyoka