Malfunctioning rating system at Telkom.

The rating system of Telkom leaves much to be desired in many ways than one. It is also self defeatist. Of the 3 questions that you are required to rate the service of call center Telkom employee, chances are that the number that you punch in will not be executed and worst of all, the system will continue to prompt you to repeat the rating, claiming that you have not punched it in. It’s is an irritant and I initially thought it was a once off systems problem.

Once the system does that, it invariably turns you off and you are most likely not going to rate anyone ever again. I gave it the benefit of doubt and sadly the last rating could not be executed. Employee rating is an important tool for any service provider out there and if the system is not up to scratch, don’t even think about using it because instead, it kills your brand and that what Telkom is doing.

In another weird instance, I wanted to give the employee a rating of 10 but instead the system accepted the first digit only, disregarding the other digit, invariably awarding a rating of a one. The employee then lost out. My take is, if you invest in the system, any system, test it regularly and if you do, and in the instance of Telkom, you will be able to pick up system problems such as in paragraph 1 and 2 long before they kill your brand.

The last one that I picked up with the system, is that the rating questions are are not properly structured; you are required to rate the employee yet they get penalized when you are not satisfied but not about their own service but because of the unfair inherently resolution of their employer, perceived or otherwise. Employees do not have a discretion in resolving disputes and if the policy is prejudicial to the customer, surely that should not be attributable to the service that the employee provided.

A good example is a situation where a customer on contract has purchased minutes, voice minutes, and they do not finish the minutes which then overlaps into a new month until they expire after 30 days. Allocated package minutes that kicks-in on the first of the new month, are utilized first, invariably interrupting the running 30 days of the purchased minutes. Surely it should be the other way round in particular when the package ones would be expiring at the end of the month. If you practice what Telkom is doing, then you cannot say that purchased minutes expire after 30 days.

While this practice is unfair, it also not honest and nonsensical as well. If Telkom persists with this practice, then they must be honest enough to disclose it and warn consumers against falling prey to this malicious practice.