Banking on online complaints system
CONGRATULATIONS to former Port Elizabeth advocate Clive Pillay – better known today as the Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS) – because he is the first ombudsman in the country to introduce a facility where complainants can track the status or progress of their complaints online.
After all, how often have you not laid some kind of complaint, only to fear that it has disappeared into a void, never to be followed up on or paid attention to?
The Banking Ombudsman adjudicates disputes between banks and their customers in an impartial, independent, confidential and speedy manner.
The service is free and Pillay himself has often featured in The Herald Fair and Square for his informed comment on consumer affairs.
Pillay said that a study last year by the Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, found that consumer behaviour is becoming more demanding in respect of a greater expectation when it comes to service provision.
And he is completely correct, even in South Africa where consumers have only recently started to actively use their voices, the average Joe or Jane Public expects better service.
He said that the Scottish study found that consumers have greater expectations specifically in relation to speed, simplicity and online provision.
He said to meet the greater expectations of consumers and as part of the OBS’s commitment to continuously improving its systems, it has launched its new interactive website.
The launch of the new interactive website is just another step in the OBS’s continued operational drive for efficiency in terms of maintaining complaint-handling, reputation, trust and avoiding backlogs.
The new website is, through the use of technology, completely interactive.
It enables a complainant to complete the application for assistance form online and to submit the completed form directly to the OBS’s customer relationship management system (CRM).
A complainant, once he or she has logged on, is also able at any time, to track the status or progress of his or her matter.
In pursuit of further enhanced speed and simplicity, the OBS is through its new website, also able to auto-populate the application for assistance form, thereby making it more convenient for a prospective complainant to submit a complaint.
The OBS has also reduced the length of the application for assistance form from six pages to three.
The new website also has, in addition to internet accessibility, full mobile accessibility. The site is a custom-built framework which is fully compatible with all mobile, tablets and personal computer devices.
This compatibility includes all web-browsing sites such as Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome.
This is not the first time that the OBS has been at the forefront of technological innovation.
Three years ago, the OBS was also the first ombudsman to introduce a “paperless office” dispensing with paper files. All complaints are electronically loaded on the OBS’s CRM system.
The CRM, which uses technology to organise, automate and synchronise, is used by the OBS to manage its interactions with current and future customers.
CONTACT INFO
HERE is how to contact the Ombudsman for Banking Services: ý Tel: (011) 712-1800 ý Share call: 0860-800-900 ý Fax: (011) 483-3212 ý E-mail: info@obssa.co.za ý Website: www.obssa.co.za