Hong Kong - Laissez Faire or Lazy Fare?

Is it only me, or are there others out there who think the laissez faire of Hong Kong fame, and past economic success, has now transcended into lazy fare? Are we losing the plot somehow, with decreasing service standards and a lack of broad thinking? 

Take the mobile operator “3”. (In fact I wish somebody would!) A day doesn’t seem to go by without me hearing yet another horror story about the customer service provided by “3”. But then you start to think, surely the stories are all ‘spiced up” just to make them more dramatic?

Personally I use “3” for my iPhone and, okay, I do not find the service to be brilliant, and I do find the roaming charges to be exorbitant (so I don’t use them for that any more). However, if I have to deal with them, I recognise that I am not dealing with people for whom the English language is their mother tongue. I try and ensure my questions are easily understood and, at the end of the day, I often get the job done. If not, I head back to the office and enrol the help of some Cantonese-speaking staff! I am fortunate to have them. 

But I have now had a “too close to home” experience with “3” over the last six weeks which has led me to conclude that the horror stories are not exaggerated. The company actually does produce the worst service in Hong Kong and, cleverly, they have created a situation where there is no one to complain to – or if they offer to call you back, they don’t. And they’re a telephone company for goodness sake!! Or they say they called you, and when you show them all the numbers that have called your phone in the last month and theirs doesn’t show up; there is not even an apology.

Here we have a company that seems to be interested in getting, but not in keeping, the business – so we won’t be keeping them as service(?) providers any longer. Not that they’ll care!!

But moving on, what about the prospect of attracting business to Hong Kong? A subject that has graced many a discussion in various Chambers of Commerce, InvestHK and at Government level, but how seriously proactive are we about it these days?

Commentary in the last few weeks has indicated, by way of an example, that two or three of the larger non-Government funded British banks (well Barclays is British, whereas in my view Standard Chartered and HSBC are only British in name, rather than business) were threatening to headquarter some or all of their businesses outside the UK if the British Government carried through plans that would seriously restrict their business. The next thing you hear is that Australia is a possible location. Why? Look, Australia is a good place to live, work and operate – I’m a fan but come on, why has Hong Kong not put up its hand and said publicly to these institutions – “if you want to move, we would like to talk to you seriously about coming here”. Why not? If you don’t show you are interested, then you can’t expect people to second-guess your views. I am sure that representations are being made by other Governments to entice them in the event of a move. And we don’t need to provide concessions – we are already competitive (with the possible exception of property).  But be bold Hong Kong. Say we would like them to come here (well, we would, wouldn’t we?). Especially HSBC – which would be a proper homecoming.

And if we get more investment, more diversity, we need more culture and we need more support for the arts. Another area that we do not seem broadly focussed on. Sure, we are building West Kowloon but this is not quite the same as supporting some of the smaller cultural activities in Hong Kong that could make us major players in the arts world – and bring more tourists to our hotels, more spenders.  An example? Hong Kong’s annual but privately funded Arts Fair. An event that is gaining worldwide credibility; 46,000 attendees this year over 5 days, many from overseas. One hundred and fifty Art Galleries from overseas.  In fact I was talking to a Middle Easterner just today who is very involved in this arena, and who has plenty of promotional ideas to put forward, but the extent of Government assistance to help promote the event, courtesy of InvestHK? A couple of advertisements on the side of a tram!

Point of disclosure, I am not entirely unbiased when it comes to the Art Fair – but this is just one event that would benefit from some Government support, that would then repay itself by bringing more people into the city.

I fear we have stopped thinking laterally, or considering the bigger picture. It seems to be just too hard, whilst property is just too easy.

With the exception of our hotels where I think service standards are generally pretty high, elsewhere we are not doing so well. Our tour guides (often Hong Kong’s first face to the visitor) don’t seem to be doing themselves any favours by berating tourists for not spending enough (which probably impacts their commissions). Similarly, our services on the ground like those being experienced by customers of “3”and, I am sure – others, but I quote from recent experience – do not fill one with confidence. And what appears to be a rather laid back attitude towards attracting new businesses and people for Hong Kong that is being adopted by bits of the administration, suggests we are losing that edge for which we were once so famous.

Comments

[David Eldon]

Thank you for your recent comments. On the subject of "3", I have switched to Smartone and find their customer service so far has been way ahead.
Thank you for taking an interest in what I write.

[Helen Tsui]

Dear Mr Eldon,

I just checked out your above posting and I would like to share with you my recent experience in dealing with 3. My $51 monthly plan turned out to become a $300 bill in September and $388 in October. Next, I checked the bill details and discovered that 3 charged me for data downloading service which I never use. After several attempts of phone calls and a lot of perseverance, I finally managed to negotiate my Sept & Oct bill payment at $98.

What strikes me is the fact that there is no government department (excluding Consumer Council which don't have any regulatory power) where I can lodge a formal complaint about the ridiculous practice of 3.

In terms of attracting business in HK, my personal view is that the entire administration is adopting a knee-jerk reaction without giving in-depth thoughts about the strategic goal of the city. e.g. What is the end game for HK in 5 years' time , how to do it and what are the quantitative measures to track the progress etc. It is useless to count on a single department to promote HK if the entire administration is divided with different vested interests and misaligned priorities, not to mention the incompetence of some senior officials.

[wzwz13]

My customer experience with HSBC Hong Kong has been superb considering its not face to face. I get calls from HK on queries raised within 24 hours and my problems sorted. Perhaps the service is exemplary because of the Global Premier status. Banking issues across borders when resolved relfect the international standards of a golbal bank but then again its probably not extended locally to other segments ...shouldnt be the case.

[Mr. Ho]

Hi David,

I deeply understand what you are saying here. I often heard people are moving to "smartone" after their contracts have ended. Well, the reality is, whether "smartone" really offers better customer services to its client - I have no clue.

However, I do believe that, to a certain extent, all businesses in Hong Kong nowadays are more Mandarin-orientated, rather than English-orientated. If I am the employer of "3", and if I need to choose 1 out of the 2 candidates, I would definitely pick the one who speaks better Mandarin. Whether you (or we) like it or not, is irrelevant. This is more of a fact already (at least, commercially).

I generally think that every brand in the market aims different class of customers, even they (ultimately) own by the same parent company. Likewise, HSBC and Hang Seng Bank; or Cathay Pacific and Dragon Airline.

If you really want better customer services, you should choose CSL1010 instead.

Perhaps, "3" is not just a brand name, it is also an indication of the class of service, ie. a brand of a THIRD CLASS of service.

[Cristina Eldon]

Yeh I have to admit, I have had some SHOCKING experiences with 3- AND.. i have someone who is supposed to be my 'personal account manager'. I do agree though- I try to remember always that these guys are dealing with people in their second language and so its not always so black and white. I would do 1000 times worse if i was trying to conduct myself in Chinese.

Good article pops- and i totally agree that the Arts should be getting more support from HK!

[Nikolai]

Richard - you must be on of the lucky ones. Three are an absolute joke! Everyday I regret having signed up to them. I used to think PCCW was the worst customer service company in Hong Kong, but these guys are miles ahead in terms of overall incompetence.

[David Eldon]

It's not the first time I've heard that one too - which is a pity! Maybe the voice on the telephone recording should say "If you are still confused, Press 8"! The trouble is, the line might go dead.
The messages seem to be, use technology as long as it works. My problem with the example I quoted relates more to actually speaking to a human being and STILL not getting answers, which suggested they couldn't be bothered to pass the messages on - but maybe that also happened to you in the Bank.

[Sung Nee]

David I cannot resist but say that I find the same comments can be applied to HSBC Hong Kong!

I know you've been retired for a long time but one simply cannot help make the connection.

Someone at Hong Kong Bank decided that they could best serve their customers with only one telephone number, for the whole of Hong Kong! I have long closed all my bank accounts with Hong Kong Bank but I had to handle some banking for my client. What a hassle!

[Michael]

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7f6bf1ca-be95-11df-a755-00144feab49a.html?ftcamp=rss . First Barclays, now, Julius Baer. This is discomfiting, everyone seems to be overlooking HK.

[David Eldon]

Sadly Brian, been there - done that. More than once over the same issue, culminating in a further wasted visit yesterday lasting over an hour with more promises of calls - to follow the previous promises of calls that were never made.
There comes a point when you just don't know where to turn next.

[Brian Renwick]

David, a little unfair on 3 I think. I find their service is excellent. BUT you do need to go to see them. If you do you will always find someone who is prepared to spend endless time helping out.

I don't think 3 (or Hong Kong come to that) is any worse than elsewhere at telephone service but we are MUCH better at face to face service.