It's time the customer got a better deal

This week's Independent News & Media Irish regional newspapers' column.

Michael Commane

Two weeks ago Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary got into litres of hot water as a result of one of his classic performances on RTE’s Morning Ireland. He was critical of his usual old chestnuts, government, the EU, and this time he added Nphet to his list. He also implied that people who were complaining about not receiving refunds were being economical with the truth.

Later that day Joe Duffy picked up the ball and ran with the story. That led to an avalanche of listeners phoning in with their complaints with Ryanair.

At least one listener mentioned that he found it impossible to get through to a human voice when he phoned Ryanair.

And just as the listener was making his point I was trying to get through to Virgin Media.

I was told there was a waiting time of 30 minutes. I was at my lunch and decided to stay on hold. I kept the phone beside me, while listening to Joe Duffy’s Ryanair complainants. 

After 25 minutes of waiting a recorded voice told me that if I left my number with them they would call me back. I stupidly fell for the trick and gave my number. I had left my house after my lunch so I never got speaking to them.

Some days earlier I was confused with the new Bank of Ireland app so I unwisely decided to phone Bank of Ireland. I am fairly certain I spent at least 20 minutes before my call was answered.

It’s not that this was my first time to be left hanging on.

A friend of mine tells me he spent 50 minutes waiting to get speaking to someone at Sky. He closed the account and went for Saorview instead.

This behaviour by so many companies has now got out of hand and someone needs to stand up and shout stop. We, the customers need a better service than this. Where are all the regulators who are meant to be keeping an eye out for us?

It is outrageous that someone is asked to wait 30 minutes on the phone before they can speak to an agent. Virgin Media are doing a good business in Ireland and I believe that it is an insult to treat me in the manner they did two weeks ago. Indeed, in the end I gave up and my query has not been answered.

And so too with Bank of Ireland. Why should I have to wait so long for someone to pick up the phone? Some days later I queued for 30 minutes  at an AIB branch before getting to the teller’s counter.

What about this; if Ryanair, Virgin Media, Sky, Bank of Ireland, AIB employed more staff might it be possible for customers to get a better service? I imagine there is a very simple answer to that question. Or might it be that I am naive or a little stupid and don’t understand such matters? 

But of course it’s not just these four companies. It’s right across the board.

Why are we, the customer, allowing ourselves to be treated so badly. I’m thinking of the late Feargal Quinn’s words that the customer is king. Guess what, he believed it and acted on it.