Dear Editor,
There is something amiss at Digicel, the international service provider which boasts of the high quality of service it provides to its clients in Guyana. While it may be true there are some areas of its service which it can take comfort in, for as long as the bigwigs in the company continue to deny the existence of a problem within the organization, which has seen a number of its clients being denied the benefit of “Top Up” credit purchased for their individual phones, the credibility of Digicel will, in my estimation, be tarnished.
It is known that I regularly appear as a guest on a programme – Walter Rodney Groundings (WRG) – which is aired on HBTV CH9 on Sundays at 5.30pm. A number of viewers of the programme have on occasions, raised with me their concerns in respect to the purchasing of Digicel credit and not being able to benefit from it. I have been assured that complaints have been made periodically to Digicel and these have been ignored. Along with other commentators on the WRG programme calls have been made to Digicel to examine its operations and to remedy faults, wherever they exist. Seemingly, nothing has been done by Digicel and the complaints of being robbed of credit purchased from Digicel continue with some degree of regularity.
Editor, if I had harboured any doubts about the validity of the complaints made to me they would have disappeared as a result of having suffered the same experience and being exposed to the most unprofessional response by Digicel’s representatives at its office in Barrack Street, Kingston, on Tuesday, May 8th, 2018.
My experience had its genesis in a purchase I made at approximately 9.15 am, on Friday, May 4th at one of Digicel’s authorized dealers on Regent Street, Bourda, near to Light Street. I requested and received a receipt #18834. After waiting several days for the credit and not receiving it, I rather foolishly assumed that the delay had to do with technical faults Digicel may have encountered, hence their inability to credit my account in a timely manner.
I returned to the place of purchase, (Digicel on Regent Street), on Tuesday 8th May for an explanation for the delay in crediting my account. Some checks were made and I was asked to visit the Kingston Office where the problem would be rectified. When I arrived there I was directed to an enclosure and spoke to five members of staff who did some initial checks and advised that within two hours of the purchase on Friday, May 4th, instructions were given by someone at Digicel to reverse the charges. I spent nearly two hours there and tried, unsuccessfully, to speak with the senior staff member who I was told was looking into the problem. Eventually, I was told that within an hour the credit would be sent to my phone. That was about 12noon on Tuesday, May 8th, 2018. It is now more than nine days since I purchased the credit and five days since I was told by a representative of Digicel in Kingston that the “Top Up” would have been credited to my account and nothing has been done.
What is wrong with Digicel? Is it that they are fortified in their belief that genuine complaints made against them by aggrieved Guyanese clients will not be addressed by the competent authorities here? Digicel’s behaviour to their clients on this matter borders on contempt. I sense that in all of the complaints made against Digicel none was accompanied by a receipt to prove the claim of wrongdoing on the part of officials of Digicel, their staff and or franchise holders. My case presents a different scenario for Digicel. I have a receipt, which was shown to them and they cannot ignore its existence, yet they refuse to act. It seems that Digicel has decided that the way to resolve this problem is to ignore it. In the process they are saying to hell with those clients who have suffered as a result of the acts of dishonesty on the part of their members of staff or franchise holders, if that is what the outlets are. This is the entity which is laying claim to greater market share in the industry. For what purpose?
I want to use this opportunity to signal to Digicel I will not rest until I receive the credit I have purchased from your entity. I will do whatever I can, including picketing your Kingston office to ensure I receive what is mine.
Yours faithfully,
Desmond Trotman
