Customer service Etisalat style

Etisalat is the UAE telecom provider. I want to get connected to the internet at home and so I filled an online application on their website. The form that I wanted to fill in asked for a landline phone number which I dont have. Since I had to write there something, I put there my office phone.

A few days later Etisalat technician calls me and said he will come over. Good stuff, I say. When the guy is about to reach the place he gives me a call to make sure Im at home. He tells me the address and turns out he wants to come to my office. I said well I actually used my office phone in the application, but I live somewhere else, 4 min walking distance from the office, so I can show him where the place is. He said "no no, wrong application! Somebody will call you". We didn't wait until someone is gonna call and called Etisalat ourselves - it turned out that as we dont have a land line at home we need to go to their office to show different papers that I live in the flat where I live and so on. As the flat rent contract is in my company's name, one of the papers I needed to get was a "no objection letter" from my employer. In Dubai all the people are the property of the company (yes, the country has made slave driving legal). No object letter says that my employer (owner) has no problem with me setting up intrenet connection at home. My employer, by the way, said that when he applied for internet connection at his home, he needed to create and sign a document also that stated that he himself has no problem with him getting internet at home. Welcome to Dubai.

Anyways. Once in the Etisalat office, I had to visit 3 different counters (and wait in line every time) in order to get what I need. In front of the counter there were 2 chairs. I went with my flatmate, but since it was I submitting the papers, the lady behind the counter told him to wait elsewhere. As my "no objection letter" didn't have company's letterhead, she refused it ("We in Etisalat don't do business with anyone, you need to have a letterhead!"). Letterhead shows something about the company? Yeah right. Luckily my colleague faxed a new document over. When I went to tell the lady that a fax was sent with the "proper" document, she said she will check it. At the same time another couple went to the lady and were about to sit down when she told the man "only one of you can sit here, I have another customer also". "Are you gonna service both of us at the same time?", the women asked. "Its my job and I know how to do it!", the lady behind the counter snapped.

After I got my things sorted out, she handed me a paper and said "If you liked my service, please put this paper in the green box on your way out". Imagine that! She thought she is doing a great job. Etisalat even hasn't told their customer service people what great customer service looks like.

Today when we called to check when will the technician come over to finalize everything, we got the answer that some time late next week and if we keep calling and put pressure on them, they will push the date even further back! I couldn't believe it.

Dear Etisalat, if you ever want to create good customer experiences, follow this simple rule: make making business with you easy and treat your customers with respect. It shouldn't be that hard.