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Whether you worked or spent the holidays with your
families and friends, I do hope you had a great Christmas and enjoyed the New
Year festivities.
Looking at the job stats leading up to the holidays, it
certainly was very busy. Normally during this period because of the excess
work, both drivers and Call Centre can expect a myriad of customer complaints
and the Accounts department personnel brace themselves for an onslaught of
queries. This could be cabs turning up late, excessive costs, tetchy drivers
and impatient passengers mainly due to traffic conditions. But because letters
were sent to all clients to make them aware that there may be delays in our
service during this period and with the Call Centre being exceptionally helpful
to customers, the numbers of complaints were greatly reduced.
However, there were some issues, one in particular that I must
mention. This is a different complaint than I would normally receive and it is
important that I report it so that you are aware of the client’s concerns. I am
unable to give the name of the company, but their representative was extremely
upset in telling me that some drivers, when picking up members of their staff
or clients, in innocent conversation ask the passengers what job they do within
the company or if the passenger does not work for our account client, where
they do work?
The example could be that there is a potential merger and the taxi
driver could innocently mention to another passenger about an interesting
discussion he had in the cab! Then for example, say your passenger was a
journalist who |
when getting back to the office
decided to make a preliminary
investigation from the conversation, adds 2
and 2 and
makes 222. An innocent banter with the
passenger could have a profound effect on the
business activities of that organisation.
Hopefully you would have thought that the
passenger had enough sense not to divulge any
secrets, but it’s not impossible…?
Many companies are very protective about confidentiality, some even
request no name board to be displayed and this
would be indicated within your trip details.
During this lengthy conversation with the
client, I mentioned that our drivers can be
great conversationalists but some might be a
little ‘over playful’. I did make it quite
clear that they should not be unduly worried
about our drivers using ‘insider’ information
for their own gain. Far-fetched? Sounds it,
but nevertheless the following situation
occurred…
One of our drivers had a chat with passenger A and then picked up
passenger B to whom he retold the conversation
he’d with passenger A. Unbeknown to the
driver, passenger B worked for the same
company! Fortunately no damage was done, but
it did prompt a phone call to me.
Please be mindful of conversations with your passengers and try not
to be too inquisitorial. |
Electioneering to Clients!
With customer conversations in mind, I had another call from a passenger, this
time stating that she had a conversation with a driver about the forthcoming
DaC elections. The driver was eager to speak about the fact that he was seeking
to become a Board member and the changes he proposed should he be elected.
The passenger told me that she was very concerned at having to
listen to the driver’s issues and that there "might be a change in management."
She was unaware that we have elections every two years. Having explained the
structure of Dial-a-Cab to her and apologising for the driver’s comments, the
matter was dropped. I do however think it inappropriate for any prospective
Board member to engage in this type of conversation with passengers. If you are
a candidate in the forthcoming election and feel you have a need to lobby
members of the Society, I am sure this can be done without the need to speak to
our clients. Hospital Trips
I had a complaint from one of the administrators at the hospital stating that
an able-bodied passenger suffered a minor injury while accompanying a patient
in a wheelchair. It appeared that the wheelchair was not secured and the able
bodied passenger had an injury caused by the wheelchair hitting his leg. These
hospital accounts are valuable, so please make sure when you do have a
wheelchair passenger that they are strapped-in and secure.
Mike Son
Customer Services
/ Special Projects |
