Do you report bad AND good service?

It seems I am becoming an activist. Which is good. Thinking about what activist means, it is the opposite of being apathetic and apathy is the great enemy. Effective society depends on contributions of each member.

And so I've starting posting my service experiences on hellopeter.com

hellopeter.com is the customer service website started by Peter Cheales and I must say I am impressed by the people who post (there are a fair number who take the trouble to post good experiences) and the response of companies to posts.



What moved me to my latest activism was a day I had been dreading that worked out very well. I had to do three errands that every person expects to be a disaster. I had to apply for a post office box, apply for a new business telephone and file a change of address at Sandton Motor Vehicle Licensing. I expected to take hours for each.

My visit to the post office in Craighall (Hyde Park Shopping centre) was a dream. A young employee immediately issued me with a new post box and escorted me to the box. He explained the process for dealing with mail for the previous user. I asked him about a parcel I have been expecting from China to my personal address for some months. He told me how to phone parcel tracking and volunteered to monitor my personal address and put the parcel in my post box. All over in about ten minutes! Wow.

Then I went to the Telkom Shop in Rosebank Mall. This I expected to be a disaster. Surprise. The place was a hive of activity, but I managed to see a consultant fairly quickly. I signed and paid for my new business line and was out of there in about twenty minutes. At this stage I began to pinch myself.

Onto Sandton Motor Vehicle Licensing. Anybody who has ever been to this branch off Marlboro Drive might have just turned back when seeing the cars in the parking lot. It is heaving with people! However, I joined the queue hoping I might get lucky again and not have to abandon the endeavor before my next appointment. Instead of the hours in the queue, I got to the front and was processed in 45 minutes. Wow! Wow! Wow!!!