I fully agree with Albert. Service standards have been been spiraling down hill. I normally avoid banking transactions as much as I can. Queues often form in a bank not because of large customer volumes but because of slow, indifferent and incompetent and disgruntled employees. A Cashier will not attend to another chore other than cash and a Fix Deposit clerk will only attend to Fix Deposits which means there are queues at the Savings counter even though a Fix Deposit or other clerks are free. The staff are reluctant to accept soiled notes or coins but the have no problem in handing out soiled notes. It would be nice to have a a staff attended to you with a smile ; but the minimum acceptance level should be professional service. In Singapore where I work; banking is very efficient. With the exception of safe deposit lockers; there is one common queue for all transactions, cash, fix deposits, savings, foreign currency and other services. All counter clerks handle any of the banking tasks from pass book updates, deposit and withdrawal of cash, fix deposits and savings. Every clerk and customer is monitored with a surveillance camera. The KPI- Key Performance Indicator of the clerk is measured on Customer volume handled per hour; Complexity of task managed ; Innovative idea in dealing with a situation; customer feedback; aptitude and attitude to customers. Customer complaints are taken very very seriously - strong enough to get a warning letter or even loose the job. Even so every bank has at least one ATM in a 100 meter radius which can handle withdrawals, deposits and payments of bills. And there is also Internet banking which allows you non-cash transactions from home. Unlike in Goa ; banking staff do not have the time to gossip, knit clothes; sleep on the desk ; go for tea breaks ; drop children to school and back or run shopping errands during office hours. I once went to a bank in Panjim to open an NRI Fix Deposit only to be told that the Senior staff had gone for tea and could I wait for him? Nonetheless they lost my deposit and even my account. Not all bank staff are bad there are many good ones too; I found a friendlier staff at SBI Panjim branch; perhaps I was lucky because I happened to know her. But I prefer to deal with banks that are small and in the village area as service is excellent . Once foreign banks come to Goa ; services standards will improve. Alan _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
