Some of you may recall that I made a post last week Friday that made front page on Nairaland. In case you missed it, here's the link (https://www.nairaland.com/4010624/experience-carlcare-service-center-uyo). The post was about my bad experience at Carlcare's Uyo Service Center. Posting it on Nairaland was my own form of public complaint in order to draw attention to some of the issues that others and I have faced in the service centres. Nairaland did its part by helping me to spread the news to the wider audience and I really appreciate that. Others also helped me share the experience to Carlcare on Twitter and Facebook. Thank to everyone that shared and spread the complaint, Carlcare was able to reach out to me. This is a follow-up narration, or a sequel, to what I earlier wrote.


After my post reached Carlcare, I was called by one of the zonal heads of Carlcare who spoke nicely and was genuinely sympathetic to what I experienced. He told me he read my post after his attention was drawn to it by someone. He got my number after he reached out to the Uyo Service Center to confirm that my complaints were genuine. He had me reiterate the whole issue to him. After hearing from myself and Grace (the Carlcare staff at the centre of the whole saga), he apologised for the way I was treated and made me understand that Grace did not follow the due processes she should have followed in this matter, even though she didn't have any ulterior motives (according to him).

The zonal head was not happy about the N13,000 that I paid for the supposed "swap" to L9. He also asked me how I was coping with the Tecno L9 and I told him that I didn't like the device. He promised to get me L9 Plus, the higher 2GB ram variant of the device, in order to compensate for the money I paid. However, he said that device was not available at the Uyo centre but he would make some calls to know which centre in the South-South/South-East has it in stock. After about 40 minutes, he called back and told me that the L9 was unavailable but that Camon C9 was available. It should be noted here that I had specifically asked Grace, when I was supposed to choose initially, for any of the top gear Camon devices (C9 or CX). So when the zonal head said this was available, I told him I would prefer it. In the absence of L9 Plus or any other device within the same specifications spectrum, the Camon C9 would suffice for me because it has:
1. 2GB Ram (which is what I need)
2. 13MP front and back cameras (which are more than enough as I am not even a picture person)
3. 4G LTE (which L9 lacks entirely and which I needed as well)
4. 5.5' screen size (which is okay, even though I would have loved L9 Plus's 6')
5. HiOS (which I love for its simplicity)
6. Upgradable to Android Nougat and Oreon

The only drawbacks to the Camon C9 are its battery capacity of 3000MAH (compared to L9's 5000MAH) and the lack of fingerprint features (which I never fancied much). So the point to note here is that I genuinely liked the device that was on offer. Its current market cost is also in tandem with the original cost of my Tecno PhonePad II (7E).

The zonal head told me that this device was to come from the Port Harcourt Service Center (it wasn't available at the Uyo centre too) and so I had to wait till Monday to get it (since they don't work on last Saturdays of every month). He begged me to stay behind in Uyo till Monday. I thanked him for showing concern and felt a little relieved. I could now have a device that matched what I had (at least for the time being). I was also to return the L9 I was given by Grace earlier on.

Later that evening, I was also called by another person from the Lagos Headquarters (apparently unaware that one of the zonal heads had contacted me). The soft spoken lady called to inform me that investigations had begun based on my complaints and that everything would reach a resolution by Monday. She apologised again for everything before she ended the call.

Barely an hour after I was called from the headquarters, Grace (the Uyo centre staff) called me. It should be noted that she had called me earlier that day to register her grievance concerning my post. However, her evening call was apologetic. She apologised for everything and I indeed gave her the benefit of doubt (knowing full well that this experience may make her more customer friendly and careful).

Fast-forward to Monday morning, 28th August 2017, I received a call from Grace that the Carmon C9 was at the Uyo Center for pickup. I went over to the centre and met her attending to customers. Let me quickly add that I listened in on a conversation she was having with a client and she seemed to be calm, collected and helpful. Immediately I arrived, she quickly finished with the client before her and called me to come forward (this is in contrast to my previous experience where I would have waited for long, even though I wasn't on the new client waiting side). I quickly proceeded to the desk and she brought out a well sealed Camon C9 (picture of pack attached). Innocent, the staff that initially collected my PhonePad II for repairs when I brought it back the second time, was there to verify that I collected the device (as hinted by Grace). Innocent also spoke nicely and warmly this time around. I also got my initial N400 change (Innocent insisted on it).

After collecting the device, I personally unsealed it for the first time and I saw the Tecno C9. It came alongside all its accessories; a charger, an earpiece, a flipcase and a warranty card. I setup the phone with ease and have been using it well since then. Unlike the L9 I was earlier given, this device is fast, can multi-task and has good 3G and 4G bands. There isn't much difference between the C9 and the newly released CX, apart from the fingerprint scanner and double LED present in the CX.


After a while, I received a call from the zonal head who promised to give me the C9. I thanked him for his intervention and he permitted me to always beckon on him (via his personal number which I now have) should I run into any qualms with any of the staff at Carlcare. I was pleased with this gesture because it shows that the company is willing to rebrand itself and make things better. I only wish that they weed out the bad staff Carlcare has in all its branches. I am only one among a great number of persons who have had bad experiences with Carlcare staff. A lot of persons can not speak out or may not want to. The company should put measures in place to enhance client satisfaction. If I was treated and spoken to the way I was after my public complaint, there would not have even been the need for a complaint in the first place.


It is on this note that I commend Carlcare management, especially the said zonal head, for the way my complaint was quickly addressed. Many companies would see posts like mine and simply ignore (after all, my post will not stop people from going to Carlcare) but Carlcare chose to call me and tried to make me happy (whether genuine or not, I still appreciate). I still have a quarrel with the way their staff treat clients but I am satisfied with how I was treated by the management. I urge everyone who is treated badly at any of the Carlcare centres to quickly reach out to Carlcare via Facebook, Twitter, Email or any other means possible. If any of the staff displeases you in the way they handle issues or speak to you, request to see the manager in charge of the centre and lay a complaint. Do not go silent and expect things to change. Change begins with each and every one of us as we make those who should cater for the populace in one way or another be accountable for their actions.

CC:
Lalasticlala
Seun
Mynd44
CarlcareOpebi
CarlcareSophia

I am CCing some persons who showed interest in my initial report so that they can also know the outcome of everything.
DesireBenjamin
Mac2016
Brooke60
Curiousmind11
Nellyelitz
Alvyn69
Franky826 (thank you for your twitter post especially)
Lagosrd
Curiouscity
Chiraqdemon
Leopantro
Modsenemy
Lionofdjungle

Many of us don't understand the impact and efficacy of what we do here of Nairaland, most google search about Nigeria often refers u back to Nairaland, companies that would normally neglect your private massages and mails responds immediately once published on Nairaland.

I bet if we tone down the hate speech on Nairaland the whole country will follow...

We all should be glad KANU is speaking up against the Nigerian Elite and Cabal that would never understand the language of poverty, they have amassed enough wealth for their fourth generation...To perpetually manipulate you into fighting their battle online and offline...what a shame!!

We all need to learn to speak up, just like the OP demand your due, from the companies, from the Government and from your elders...

NIGERIA MUST RESTRUCTURE

BTW:
Oga u greedy ooo, u still write, still wan first me comment ni?

good. i'm happy with the way it was resolved. unlike you i do not give anyone that insulted me on top of my own money the benefit of doubt and if you check the prior post it was because of that issue that made me get angry and post it every where.
enjoy your new phone.
i would like to know how long it lasts before you have to have to return it.

Nice one from calcare; if every enterprises in Nigeria can take this measure, we less influencial will have hope.




. BTW My condolence goes to all Arsenal fans; may God give you fortitude to bear the loss.

Social Media wins again. I think every company needs a system that prevents issues from going viral before they are resolved. E.g A special/dedicated email or phone number to where customers can report/escalate issues when initial resolution attempts fail instead of going to social media.

Wow, i'm glad this whole thing was resolved. I so much love the effort put in by the zonal head. It clearly shows the management cares.

Leopantro:
good. i'm happy with the way it was resolved. unlike you i do not give anyone that insulted me on top of my own money the benefit of doubt and if you check the prior post it was because of that issue that made me get angry and post it every where.
enjoy your new phone.
i would like to know how long it lasts before you have to have to return it.

I have removed Tecno from my list of phones for now! Their products come with too much wahala. I wrote this post because I felt it was morally right to do so, especially with the way the zonal head spoke to me.

So this is not an issue of the new phone I got (I am definitely getting another one soon). This is about the fact that I shouted and I was heard by Carlcare. At least, that is a step in the right direction.

Thank you so much for your concern.

Congrats to you, Op. Commendation to Carlcare. I have been following your thread albeit not conspicuously. A faulty phonepad II + some wads of cash levelling up to 30 grand for a camon C9.... Fair trade... What more can i say, enjoy your brand new device.


PS: Do not forget to link this thread to your previous one.... Its a testimony of the sensitivity of the upper management at CC......

nenergy:
Social Media wins again. I think every company needs a system that prevents issues from going viral before they resolve it. E.g A special/dedicated email or phone number to where customers can report/escalate issues when initial resolution attempts fail instead of going to social media.

Exactly! Sadly, many companies will not take you seriously if you mail them privately. You may be forced to go public due to the nonchalance of many of them. However, a company that means business should have conflict resolution mechanisms and customer satisfaction guarantee via follow-up measures.

The social media is the hope for the common man who does not have direct phone numbers to the heads of organizations and companies. The social media always wins one way or another.

nenergy:
Social Media wins again. I think every company needs a system that prevents issues from going viral before they resolve it. E.g A special/dedicated email or phone number to where customers can report/escalate issues when initial resolution attempts fail instead of going to social media.

E kuku dey.. Honestly, I channel most of my complaints via electronic mail and the feedback, ranging from Olx, Jumia, Interswitch, Fidelity bank, Sterling bank cetera , has been impressive... Maybe it has to do with my format of writing. Maybe not. I haven't had a net negative feed reaching out to Major companies' CS via their respective contact emails.

wordproof:
Nice
Oga u greedy ooo, u still write, still wan first me comment ni?

You are still technically the first to comment. My post was only a continuation of the CCs on my initial post so it doesn't count. The mods may even hide it later on as they do sometimes (since I only mentioned usernames).

nenergy:
Social Media wins again. I think every company needs a system that prevents issues from going viral before they resolve it. E.g A special/dedicated email or phone number to where customers can report/escalate issues when initial resolution attempts fail instead of going to social media.

I pray and hope this happens sometime soon.

Good job OP. It is good that Carlcare management intervened in the matter. Like others have said, I pray and hope companies and businesses don't wait for such escalations before they take measures to satisfy their customers. One place to start is proper training. If your staff any direct or indirect dealing with customers, get them trained on international best practices for customers service delivery.

On the other hand, we the customers must know our rights and limitations. Customer is king as we were told in Economic class is real, but hardly invoked in Nigeria, partly we don't know our rights. Hence , we behave as if these companies and their staff are doing us a favour. Same attitude we extend to out thieving politicians.

We should use social media as a tool for positive change, not for fighting or demonizing people who don't speak or think like us.

This is the power of social media. Op I'm glad they responded to u. How I wish other establishments will learn from this.

I honestly don't understand why everyone is praising Carlcare for something they ought to have done from the very start.

Truth is, it does not prevent the next person who might not have social media awareness from suffering in their hands. The niceties and sudden love is because it has gotten out to the world.

They should call their staff in and retrain them, really, particularly on customer service management.

Nice one, am glad they resolved the issue.

Xiaomi is better than all these substandard phones but lack of spare parts in Nigeria is the problem.

Kondomatic:
And the funny thing is that Naira land Tecno marketers will give you calcare as the reason you should buy Tecno instead of Xiaomi. Tecno is under powered and over priced and calcare is technically useless.


They will soon contact you for compensation just to save face

My comment on your first thread.


What Grace did is what they do, forget all the nice voice and speech blaming her for not following due protocol. It is all to save face.

Nice one... Hoping to visit the uyo branch soon for screen replacement.... Will tease Grace small

This is great to hear, honestly Seun has really helped the voiceless Nigerians via this great forum, to air their voice and br heard


Carlcare you are great, and God bless you richly for the response and attention you gave to him.


OP, go and enjoy your new phone.

I love the way you write.

Too long to read.

[b]fratermathy, I am happy you got what you wanted. Congrats.
Nairaland is a big forum.

Cunninlinguist:
Xiaomi is better than all these substandard phones but lack of spare parts in Nigeria is the problem.

you guys should learn how to be a good user of Xiaomi, you don't just go to every thread about tecno to spill out Xiaomi is better than tecno, show some respect to its users, if not for internet and aliexpress you wouldn't know the phone existed. And if it get spoilt, u will definitely pack it aside

I need help here pls.... got a tecno phone with 12 month warranty but the phone started misbehaving in less than 4 months without any external damage..... I stay in Osogbo, pls how do I go about the "calcare thing"? is there any calcare office in osogbo or its environs?? pls help

OfficialUncle:
I need help here pls.... got a tecno phone with 12 month warranty but the phone started misbehaving in less than 4 months without any external damage..... I stay in Osogbo, pls how do I go about the "calcare thing"? is there any calcare office in osogbo or its environs?? pls help

CC: fratermathy

Techno na still techno you can't prevent the device from developing fault easily .. and from the looks them don turn you to their patsy just with a replacement device.. shey them add T-shirt join for you..

I'm just waiting when glo will respond to the complaint about their poor service
Useless company.
Instead they will be signing celebrities on huge contracts.

BiggyBamBam:


OP, I really commend your patience and your good English in explaining what went on.

If it were some people, English Language would have been murdered.

And you had to quote the the whole comment