Who cares about what other countries are getting....look at the service and culture they have to offer first! Duh!
Providing service to ungracious customers is the worst experience for service industry!!!
What about rating the "worst customers survey"???!!!
First nationwide index on customer satisfaction is a start
By Alicia Wong, TODAY | Posted: 08 April 2008 0643 hrs
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SINGAPORE: You've heard or experienced it all, the good and the
bad that service in Singapore has to offer. Now, here are credible
statistics to back the anecdotes — and the numbers paint a picture of a
somewhat satisfied customer.
Based on a new, comprehensive measure of customer contentment, the
city of the smiling Singa scored a "healthy" 68.7 out of 100 on the
national average satisfaction scale. Other developed countries scored
in the 70s.
A first in Singapore, the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore
(CSISG) — developed by the Institute of Service Excellence (Ises) and
the Singapore Workforce Development Agency (WDA) — includes the views
of both residents and tourists, on eight key economic sectors.
Of the individual entities that stood out, the national carrier
took pride of place. Thanking its customers, a Singapore Airlines
spokesperson told TODAY it had invested "substantial resources in
training" its staff to keep customers happy and was "honoured to have
topped the survey".
Less satisfied, however, were those who ranked Singapore's two
healthcare clusters, the National Healthcare Group and SingHealth, near
the bottom of the overall list. For instance, in terms of polyclinic
service, they scored 60.5 and 64.7 respectively.
With the issue of long queues having repeatedly made the news,
consumers like band instructor Goh Koon Chuan, 36, were not surprised
polyclinics fared badly. "Their waiting times are long," he groused.
While the transportation and logistics sector was ranked third, one
of its sub-sectors — public buses — scored a low 64.3. SBS Transit
said: "We are of course disappointed that we did not do better and this
will definitely spur us to do better."
Most consumers were not surprised at the sector rankings,
especially with tourism coming in first. But market researcher Eugene
Fok, 25, did not expect telecommunications to take bottom place, while
housewife Ms Cynthia Sin, 47, felt the scoring for public buses was
harsh. "I depend on public transport, and I think it is quite
efficient," she said.
While Singapore's national average is healthy, there is some catching
up to do, said Ises director Caroline Lim. South Korea and the United
States, which use the same model, scored 72 and 75 respectively.
South Korea had scored 58.8 when it launched the index in 1998 but has
moved "steadily upward" since, said Ms Lim, adding that Singapore can
do likewise.
Interestingly, tourists gave higher scores than residents did. Most
tourists came from Indonesia, China and Australia, said Ms Lim, and
when they compare against their experiences at home, "they would rate
Singapore higher".
That Singaporeans could have higher expectations was also a
"possibility". Even so, only 6.3 per cent of respondents had complained
to a company at least once in the last three or six months — compared
with the US' 14 per cent.
This could be due to US consumers being more vocal, or there being more
well-established feedback channels and a faster service-recovery
culture in the US, said Ises, which comes under the Singapore
Management University (SMU). The key to customer satisfaction, findings
showed, depended on how well a company handled the complaint.
The CSISG is an international gold standard based on the American
Customer Satisfaction Index, said Ises, which co-funded the $1-million
survey with the WDA. Data was collected through face-to-face interviews
with 10,229 households and 2,159 tourists between May 1 and July 23
last year. The survey took into account how customers' expectations and
the quality of products or services affected their satisfaction.
Acting Minister for Manpower Gan Kim Yong said good service skills will
become a critical asset and a competitive advantage for Singapore. "The
CSISG is not just a barometer of customer satisfaction. It is a
diagnostic tool that allows companies to understand, compare, improve
and monitor their customer service over time," he said, challenging
companies to score above 70 within three years.
The results will be posted at www.smu.edu.sg. Data collection for CSISG 2008 will begin in mid-year, and will expand to include other sub-sectors, such as insurance.
- TODAY/so
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/340008/1/.html
Providing service to ungracious customers is the worst experience for service industry!!!
What about rating the "worst customers survey"???!!!
You hit the nail on the head. Singaporeans are bad customers. But there is probably also another side to it.
Some of the industries, like for example restaurants, have really high employee turnovers, and when new staff are put on the job, they are not given adequate training, therefore, bound to perform badly.
To add on, many Singaporeans also do not take pride in their jobs, only wanting to do the bare minimum just to get paid.
lets be fair. there are good and bad customer service
but we oni choose to kpkb on the bad ones bcos good service is �所当然
nobardie rber the good things.