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GTT says complaints by customers significantly down
– boasts of improvements in response time to fixing faults
Kaieteur News – During the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the months leading up to the reopening of the country, the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GTT) Company recorded around 3000 faults from customers experiencing various shortfalls, as a result of the services provided by the company.
GTT’s Chief Operations Officer, Home Solutions and Fixed Networks, Mr. Eshwar Thakurdin
But to date, GTT said it has managed to effectively reduce those complaints and more importantly, solve the burdens of its more than 160,000 residential customers. In an exclusive interview with Kaieteur News, GTT’s Chief Operations Officer, Home Solutions and Fixed Networks, Mr. Eshwar Thakurdin explained that during mid-last year, some 3000 faults were reported to the company.
Faults, he noted, were anything that impacts the service provided to customers and can include billing issues, static in phone lines, issues with mobile services or wifi, among several others. To this end, Thakurdin said that, “We have heavy focus on getting faults fixed and getting installations done on time. Heading into last year we did have a huge spike in faults and what sort of spurred it, like any other company, we had procurement challenges as well in getting critical equipment. We had to find creative ways to get those equipment and those materials in and we did…about mid last year we had about 3000 faults that were outstanding…we have reduced that in November last year to 700 faults.”
According to him, the company has the capability to solve about 300 faults per day. When it comes to the installation of landline services, Thakurdin related that customers who still have an interest and are awaiting installation can expect the service before the end of April. The COO for Home Solutions and Fixed Network was at the time sharing some of the company’s plans to better serve its customers.
In addition to reducing and fixing customers complaints in a timely manner, Thakurdin related that efforts have also been made by GTT to increase its reliability. In this regard he noted that the company’s labour force has been ramped up, coupled with ongoing training sessions to ensure proper relations with customers. Additionally four more call centers have been employed by the telephone company to respond to queries or calls by users of the service.
On the other hand, the company’s Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Damian Blackburn was pleased to announce the introduction of electronic bills, an initiative which was birthed through the Pandemic as well. To date, more than 70 percent of the company’s bills are delivered via whatsapp or email, an option the company said has also helped to improve their service. “If you have to pay your bill on time, you have to get your bill on time,” Thakurdin pointed out.
He added, “We embarked on this programme last year by calling up all of our customers to update their information so that they can receive their bills through their devices. Today we have just over about 70 plus percent of our customers who updated to this service. That’s considering we have about 160,000 residential customers.” The CEO of the company made it clear that the virtual billing programme is optional and during last year, a three months test run was conducted where both soft and hard copy of bills were sent to customers. According to him, 99 percent of the customers opted for their bills to be sent virtually. Thakurdin noted however that if a customer so desires, their monthly bills can be sent hard and soft copy.
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