customer's time?
extracted from ST forums.
I walked into DBS Bank at Suntec City on November 9 at 9.10am to
make a partial withdrawal of my Fixed Deposit into a cashier's
order and renew the reminder of the FD amount.
I was glad that there was no queue and was immediately served by a
trainee officer. After I gave the instructions on my transactions,
the trainee was not sure about the correct procedure and he even
had difficulties using the computer.
After 10 minutes of uncertainty, the trainee consulted two
colleagues who spent the next 10 minutes teaching the trainee what
to do.
I asked the trainee whether the bank had trained him before getting
him to face customers and the reply was no. The trainees were
supposed to learn on the job.
A supervisor came and guided the trainee to complete the cashier's
order. This took another 10 minutes. The supervisor took another
five minutes to handle the paperwork.
I can understand that trainees need to gain experience dealing with
customers. But at the very least, they should get basic training
first and then on-the-job training with experienced
colleagues.
When I finally walked out of the bank 35 minutes later, I was not
confident the trainee had done the transaction competently. Such a
transaction would normally take about eight minutes at other banks.
I cannot imagine what the situation would be if I was there during
peak hour and there was a long queue.
Is it acceptable customer service for the trainee to be trained at
the expense of my time?
Choong Tien Siong
