UMEME “ate” my Yaka units

On 24^th February 2020, my husband paid for my Yaka and I totally forgot to load it on our meter that night since I still had a few units left. I remembered to load the units 2 days later on the 26^th February 2020, however I was not successful and simply received an error message as can be seen below. 

I tried to re-enter the digits of the token number from the SMS over and over but received the same error message. Now for clarity, I usually load the units for my Yaka meter immediately I do the mobile money payment aside from this one incident so I have never had an issue before.

Living in Uganda and working in the service industry, I understand that once in a while systems do break down but I also expect the people who man them to do their best to ensure that they get things running back to normal as soon as possible. 

So as a reasonable individual that’s exactly what I did and so I asked my husband to call the UMEME help line to follow up on the issue. After multiple calls and very contradictory information he was told that the units expired so there was nothing that could be done aside from repaying.

I decided to step in and went on Twitter for help which meant re sending the details of our entire complaint for a second and even third time because I realized that the UMEME account has different respondents over day and night time shifts which is understandable.  So via Twitter I spoke with 3 digital personnel for UMEME initialed (OE), (BA) and (NB) who did not resolve my issue.

Usually I let such things go but it is because of the manner in which the UMEME help line staff and online (digital media) team did not resolve the issue/ give feedback/ try to buy time in a bid to wear us down that baffled me an already very aggrieved customer. That aside see details in the screen shots below where I was told token remain valid for 3 months.

Now please note that today is 10^th April, Yaka was paid for on 24^th February those are 46 days gone already. Usually my blog provides comic relief but today I intend to get accountability for a service I am owed and for which I need some resolution. A paying customer should not lose 100,000 worth of their hard earned money for no good reason so I will ensure to follow up on this issue.

A part of me is consciously sorry knowing that from this point onward that as a result of my persistence in following up, someone will indeed get in trouble for my relentlessness. However, in these times when every shilling matters, it is important that we go back to the basics and service providers must remember to value every customers’ business even when they are a monopoly.

My fuel tank cover is missing.

2018 was a whole lot of a year for me with many personal and professional milestones achieved which meant that I made huge strides forward. However, this also meant I needed to step back from one of the things that I love the most which is blogging, the expression of my thoughts/ self and use of myself as a muse to mirror the silent conversations/ start conversations that are often felt as mundane.

In short, I have come back to my passion of writing, I do not know how regular this will be but I am seeking to push myself to experience and make my life as colorful as before. So stick around and you might read a few things that you may like and come back for more.

On 27th December 2017 my car third party insurance expired and so I did the responsible thing and drove to the Total Kira road station across from KFC for renewal. I paid for renewal and as the lady replaced my old sticker with a new one and given that I only fuel from total, I decided to kill 2 birds with one stone. I am a creature of habit so I usually go to the same restaurants, fuel stations and supermarkets that I like so I decided to fuel up with my usual full tank for the week. Everyone who knows me well knows that I hate having to stop to fuel up mid-week given my full schedule. Everything went well and the third party insurance lady was helpful so I drove off without a second thought that anything might be wrong.

A week later at my second usual station at Total Najjera, I saluted my favorite pump attendant and the following conversation ensued;

Me: ‘’Happy New Year sebo.’’

Pump Attendant: ‘’ Happy New Year madam,’’ he responded as he opened my car fuel tank cover.

‘’Eh madam, please come out and see this before you say I stole your cover?’’

Me: ‘’What are you talking about?’’

Pump Attendant: ‘’Your fuel tank cover is missing. Where did you fuel up the last time, I know you fuel weekly?’’

Me: ‘’Total Bukoto.”

Pump Attendant: ‘’Oh, if you have a receipt and remember the day that you fueled up you can go back to them and they help you.’’

Me: ‘’Thank you very much, so fill my tank not to full capacity though and then let me head there.’’

So I headed to the Total Bukoto and asked for the manager (Indian) I was told to wait for the supervisor (Ugandan) since the manager was not around. I was given the run around the whole afternoon with claims of the fuel pump attendant was off that day, then the supervisor was sick, then they did not know who the pump attendant was.

To cut the long story short, I was told that the manager was off then the following day in the morning, he had resigned and in the afternoon the station mechanics and pump attendants avoided me like the plague. Now those who have met me know that I am very agreeable and often let things go which is why when I decide I have an axe to grind with you I go all the way. So I told them thank you, played the bigger fool and showed up the next day mid-morning and headed straight for the manager’s office and he was in.

He asked me for my details and I relayed what had happened and after he proved that I was indeed at their station that day since I had a third party sticker purchased at their station he referred me to their other branch on Wampewo avenue. So, it is at this point that I realized that the 2 stations are owned by a family and 2 Indian brothers run them. I was given a note to hand over to the office manager of the Total Wampewo location who then referred me to the station supervisor and he immediately began to grumble under his breath as he made a beeline for the storage space.

Station manager: "Naye bano ba kyali teba tegera." (but this fellows they do not understand/ stubborn.)

I realized later that he was speaking about the pump attendants from the total Total Kira road location since this seems to have happened before. I know this because I was given 3 fuel tank covers to choose from depending on which fit better. So as all this was going on I asked myself;

1.        Did the pump attendant actually resign or had he been fired for something else?

2.       Where did these fuel tank covers come from?

3.       Was another customer driving around without a fuel tank cover because I had gotten my replacement?

As he replaced my fuel tank cover the Indian station manager walked up to me and said, "My apologies for the inconveniences madam."

I thanked him and decided not to meddle with their internal processes but decided to remain a loyal customer since they had followed through. Now, I am not tribalistic/ racist but let's be honest if the owner of the station had been Ugandan the conversation would have been something like this,

"Are you sure you even came here for fuel?"
"Well no one says they took your fuel tank cover so I don't know what to do for you."

Then I would have been ignored the very same way that the Ugandan station pump attendants and mechanics had done earlier. We often complain that Indians are taking over everything business related leaving nothing for Ugandans. However, my note of caution is, if we spent more time fixing our lacking customer service, poor work ethic, bad attitude towards work and actually showed our customers that we valued their business we might be better candidates to succeed.

Food for thought.

DFCU Banking Hall Etiquette

Many a time you have been in a situation where you need to make a quick dash to and from the bank in the middle of a hectic work day. This trip to the bank should be relatively seamless aside from the fact that you live in Uganda a third world country where the number of cars exceeds the available facilities for parking or driving within Kampala’s city center and outskirts. However this is a discussion for a whole other post, allow me to focus on my recent trip to the banking hall.

As I walked into DFCU Bank Acacia Avenue, I rushed to the general area where I could quickly fill out my check details and head for one of the 5 tills in the service area. When I got there I found a queue of about 6 people and even though I was in a hurry I decided to wait patiently in my spot. I sat down in one of the chairs as 3 other people quickly filled the remaining seats that were behind mine.

5 minutes later

It was 5:35pm and the lady seated just before me began to grumble under her breath how it was possible that only 3 out of the 5 service counters could not be serving anyone. I shared her displeasure but as I looked at my watch it occurred to me that the rest of the tellers must be balancing their books on the days’ transactions in the back office as they constantly interrupted the front office counterparts with pleas for them to break the bigger notes into smaller denominations. However, my neighbor was having none of it.

Neighbor on right: ‘Where are these people? They think we want to stay here all day?’ she said as she shot up and paced back and forth to each till just to make sure that none of them was open even though we could clearly see that they were not.

She eventually sat down for less than 1 minute before attempting to jump queue and rush past the people ahead of us in line - It did not work.

Silence (5 minutes later)

Neighbor on right: ‘Eh owaye, I am not going to sleep here!’ she said as she shot out of her seat and headed back to the customer care desk.

While she was away a mature Moslem male in prayer garb arrived and took the last seat available in queue as 1 individual at the service area had successfully completed their transaction.  My neighbor returned to the queue but not in her designated spot she stood behind the last individual (the Moslem man) and began to speak loudly to someone in the distance and the general direction from whence she came.

Neighbor on right: ‘Njagale okugenda nyabo, jangu onyambe!’ she said to the customer care lady from a distance.

Please note that this former neighbor of mine was not elderly and was in no way in any dire health condition so I did not see why she was causing such a fracas. The customer care lady stepped away from her desk and walked to the lady took check leaf out of her hand and handed it to the gentleman at the till closest to where they stood in full view of us all. Then interestingly, the mature aged Moslem man in prayer garb also waved his hand toward her.

Moslem man: ‘Muwala, kwata check,’ he said pretty softly as he answered a telephone call and stepped aside for privacy.

Please note that out of the 9 of us in queue 7 had checks for withdrawals just like the 2 of them but we all sat quietly since the gentleman who received the checks still had a customer in his seat. However, my former neighbor did not take her seat and continued to stand right behind the customer being attended to as she fraternized with the customer care lady who still stood next to her. At this point it was pretty evident that she was well acquainted with or even friends with the customer care agent.

A short while later, the customer left and my former neighbor slid into the seat as the customer care agent went back to her service area. As the minutes progressed many of the individuals in line passively expressed their displeasure on what was going on but before anything could be done, the Moslem man returned from taking another call just in time to get into her seat.

Neighbor on the left: ‘Kyoka this girl, hhmm’

Me: ‘hihihihi’ I chuckled under my breath

Neighbor on the left: But what is going on with these people?’

Me: ‘I think we are invisible.’

Neighbor on the left: ‘What they are doing is very improper.’

Me: ‘Yes, but not many Ugandans were taught manners,’

Neighbor on the left: ‘Especially the younger generation.’

Me: ‘Let us hope that no one else follows suit.’

Neighbor on the left: ‘Yes.’

Now my neighbor to the left (which means she followed me in the queue) was not out to witch hunt any young people but she was clearly advanced in age and thus all of us present within her vicinity qualified as young people, the Moslem man inclusive. She is also quite the notable figure and I definitely knew who she was but I was greatly moved at how down to earth and posed she is. Most people in her shoes would not have queued up but she is a different breed of celebrity.

I was honored to have been seated next to Mama Mbire may you all teach your daughters and sons etiquette and manners, no amount of money is worth leaving them to the devices of the world to condition them.

The backbiting Customer Care Agent

Dear telecom customer care providers do not assume that all your customers are complete idiots. When a customer calls you with a query I understand that you must receive many silly requests from naive and ill informed or under educated people on a daily basis. However, do not punish everyone else for their shortcomings. Here is one such dialogue that I had with an agent from one of the leading telecom companies in Uganda.

Customer Care Agent: “Hello this is .... Customer care, can I help you,” said the agent in a bored tone.

Me: “Hello I have a complaint.”

Customer Care Agent: “Yes.”

Me: “I loaded a bundle a few days ago but today the balance on my bundle went from 630 mb to 220 mb in 5 minutes.”

Customer Care Agent: “Are you sure you did not use the bundle.”

Me: “No I did not; I don’t think checking for date bundle status uses data does it?” I said sarcastically.

Customer Care Agent: “Okay, Is this number?”

Me: “Yes!”  I responded.

Customer Care Agent: “Let me check...” she said and responded after about a minute of holding the line, “Hello, you used the bundle.”

Me: “When was that?”

Customer Care Agent: “I am seeing here there is no problem with your account you used your bundle. I can even see an additional 500mb today.

Me: “Yes I activated a new bundle when I could not utilise the old one.”

Customer Care Agent: “Okay, but madam you used the bundle. I don’t know what page or site you opened but it took 400mb.”

Me: “400mb on one page.”

Customer Care Agent: “Yes.”

Me: “Are you aware that I could not use my data bundle from yesterday late evening from 8 pm to today 6 pm about 10 minutes ago because your network was undergoing technical difficulties.” I could not even find a signal or make any phone calls!”

Customer Care: “I don’t know about that but I know you used your bundle.”

Me: “So in other wards I am not getting a reimbursement for the bundle I lost.”

Customer Care: “But you used the bundle so how can I replace it when you used it,” she said.

Having wasted 30 minutes trying to get a hold of customer care and an additional 10 minutes on the line waiting for her to check and recheck my account with no positive feedback I decided I had better allocate my time to other more important things.

Me: “Alright I don’t want to waste time, thank you and good night.”

Customer Care Agent: “Thank you for calling ....  Telecom,” she responded but did not hang up I assume expecting me to hang up.

She then turned to a college and began to back bite me without hanging up the phone.

Customer Care Agent: “Eh also these people who don’t have money and want free airtime all the time, bankowa nyo.”

Me: “...” I decided not to even indulge her further and simply hung up to give her enough time to gossip with her colleague. So is this why we cannot get through to customer care most of the time and dear agent if you think your job is tiresome and such a bother why don’t you resign and leave it for someone else who is in dire need of employment and save our souls.

The woes of processing a Driving Permit in Uganda.

It is the norm in every country for the citizens to be expected to have official paper work for company registration, cross border travel and to also be able to operate a motor vehicle.  I am usually one to comply and make sure that I have all these documents in order but for one reason or the other I did not renew my driving permit when it expired after 3 years. 

This is greatly due to the fact that 3 months before its expiry it was stolen with all my documents in a mugging and the process of replacement was pretty tedious. I decided that the most important documents I needed for the time being were the ones I would replace right away such as ATM cards, work identification cards etc.

So my permit expired and I did not renew it for about 2 years and 2 months and when I finally got around to it I really expected the process to be painless since my details were already in the system. I picked up the paper work, got a police letter, advertised the lost permit in the new vision news paper, filled in the renewal paperwork, paid the necessary fees and proceeded to the URA office in Bwaise for processing. It took some time for the processing but I decided the weekend was not a long wait so when I went back the following week and the paperwork was approved with the URA sticker that possessed the bar code I assumed all was in order. On I went to Face Technologies Kyambogo and followed the queue all the way to the service area not expecting to have any issues.

Me: “Good afternoon.”

Face Technology Female Staffer: “Good afternoon, do you recall your previous driving permit number?”

Me: “I am afraid not this is a replacement from a theft.”

Face Technology Female Staffer: “Go back to the customer care counter and they will assist you. After which you will come back.”

Me: “Okay thank you.”

Now please understand this, I moved out of this service processing area to the customer care queue and was assisted with my previous permit number after I gave the lady my details for date of birth. She then sent me back to the processing area from which I had come. However, I did find a queue and did have to wait in line.

Face Technology Female Staffer: “Do you have the number?”

Me: “Yes I do, this is it.”

Face Technology Female Staffer:  “Okay, give me a minute.”

So after less than a minute of keying in my number she began to vigorously scribble on my paper work and handed it over.

Face Technology Female Staffer: “Go to customer care desk.”

I looked down at the cover sheet from my paper work only to see written in red “CANCELLED.”

Me: “What does this mean – CANCELLED?”

Face Technology Female Staffer: “Go to the customer care desk for more details, next!” she said without even butting an eyelid with a vacant look on her face as a robot would.

I walked back to the reception and found a different lady manning it.

Me: “Hello, I was sent to the reception for further clarification on this,” I said as I handed her my paper work.

Receptionist: “Oh yes, your permit is cancelled.”

Me: “Yes I can see that, but what does that mean. What is the implication of that?”

Receptionist: “You start afresh!”

Me: “Excuse me what does that mean, start afresh from which stage.”

Receptionist: “No it is like you have never had a permit before. So you have to get a learner permit, do the driving test and then reprocess the temporary permit.”

Me: “Why, when I am already in the system. Why did they cancel my permit in the first place? What about the fees I have already paid for replacement.”

Receptionist: “You know it is because you delayed to replace it.”

 Me: “So how long between date of expiry and replacement for it to be cancelled.”

Receptionist: “If you exceed 2 years, then it is cancelled no win your case if you had come 2 months back in May we would have processed a renewal.”

Me: “So when did this take effect? Did you inform the public of this change?”

Receptionist: “It is not us it is URA who instructed us to cancel the permits after 2 years. This is the new system. I do not know if they did but it was changed recently.”

Me: “So I begin the process like a learner – is that even fair.”

Receptionist: “No it is not but that is the system.”

Me: “Okay thank you,” Is all I said as I walked away stunned at the time, effort and hoped not also money I had wasted.

I decided to visit the URA office in Bwaise to attempt to get a refund so that I could contemplate restarting the tedious process; only to be told that since it was coming to the end of their financial year in June it may be extremely unlikely I would receive the refund. I did due diligence and went to the relevant offices and got bounced from one desk to another and they all agreed that the payments were captured and my receipts were in order but I never did receive my refund. However through this messy process, I was fortunate to find out that the fees were going to be revised and increased by the end of the financial year as well so I begrudgingly took advantage of this information and quickly redid the entire process. I picked up my permit this week but all I wondered as I held it in my hand is whether this process should be this difficult in the first place. In Rwanda, if you have all the necessary documents in order an individual can register a company in one day.

So when someone is pulled over for not having a driving permit I completely understand because the system is broken and I do not think anyone is even trying to fix it. Only in Uganda. queue

Even Telecom Technicians need Customer Care training

Everyone in Kampala knows how stressful it is when it comes to dealing with Telecom companies in Uganda in order to get the service which you deserve or paid for. But nothing beats the headache when activating your bundle or better still when you need to get your phone settings done in the event you upgrade to a new device.

 I recently purchased a device from an authorized dealer in Kampala and it was activated before I left for the MTN Lugogo store. I walked up to a free counter and asked which counter I could go to get my MTN internet settings configured. I was directed to a gentleman in the waiting area who had a line of people following him around like a swarm of bees everywhere he went. I decided to do the same until 15 minutes passed when I finally took a seat as I waited for him to return from behind the counter or where ever he had gone. He did not return so I decided after an extra 10 minutes to head to yet another free counter and asked for assistance – the lady asked me to hand over my device which I did and in less than 5 minutes I was on my way home.

I was glad that she had been so helpful and everything seemed to be working fine for about 30 minutes only for my device to stall and finally refuse to connect to the internet with 1 hour.  Therefore I returned to my telecom provider and this time the internet setting gentleman who was too busy the previous day did my settings and I waltzed out thinking that would be the last time I was going to have any issues but boy was I wrong.

After about a week I had problems with my settings once again and for a while I thought my data had run out and I quickly reactivated a new bundle but this did not help. It was funny how I was charged for the bundle but could not activate it. So I called customer care and they made it seem as though the problem was with my device so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and returned to the authorized dealer where I purchased it and after a while of checking he insisted there were no issues with my device. In other wards I was sent back to my telecom provide which I promptly did a few days later when I had the time; this is how these events transpired when I got to the telecom service center.

Me: “Hello, I would like to get my Internet settings done?”

Female Customer Care Staff: “Okay, kindly go to the second last counter and speak to the gentleman with a Nokia shirt.”

Me: “Thank you.”

There were about 7 people in line waiting to see him but I decided I had rather wait than come after all I had been suffering with this issue for almost 2 weeks now. It was eventually my turn after what seemed like half an hour but was only 15 minutes. I explained my case.…

Me: “I came here a week ago and my settings were done and I had to return the following day because the lady did not do it properly and now a week later I am back with the same issue.”

Telecom Internet guy: “Okay so is it just internet that is the issue?”

Me: “No it is internet, I also lost about 50 MB data and 10,000 airtime yesterday – is there a network issue with MTN.” “You informed me the last time I was here I would not have any more issues with my Internet settings.”

Telecom Internet guy: “Ok let me begin with the Internet setting issue – I do not know you. This is my first time to see you.”

Me: “Really, should I give you the day and time I was here last and we could check in your records – after all you always make customers sign after settings have been done.”

Telecom Internet guy: “No madam let me do the settings.”

Me: “Fine!”

I decided to calm down and let him deal with the issue at hand as I patiently waited.

Telecom Internet guy: “Is this a dual sim.”

Me: “Yes!”

Telecom Internet guy: “Can I switch MTN sim card to sim 1.”

Me: “Yes.”

20 minutes later

I turned away from the TV monitor in the lobby where I was watching a series that came to an end only to catch the telecom internet gentleman hand over my device to a more senior individual next to him who had a pile of mobile money registration forms to enter.

Telecom Internet guy: “Where did you buy this phone?”

Me: “From an authorized agent.”

Supervisor: “Which sim is for MTN?”

Me: “Sim 1”

Telecom Internet guy: “You did not buy your phone from any of our shops – huh that must be the problem.”

Me: “No it is not, I purchased it from an authorized agent and I have already double checked to make sure that the problem was not with the device.”

He also had a go at sorting out my settings for a while and after a back and forth interaction between the two of them and irritated stares from the line of 10 people behind me, I stepped aside and the more senior supervisor began to deal with the people behind me.

Telecom Internet guy: “I am taking your phone to the tech department let me come back madam,” he said as he disappeared through a side door.”

He did not even wait for me to respond he just walked off in haste as if things were really tight for him at that moment. The entire line of customers was attended to and even more individuals came and went before the internet setting guy returned and during this time I had watched two 30 minute Nat Geo mini documentaries as I stood at the counter waiting for my issue to be sorted.

No I was not offered a seat, I was not updated on progress, I was not told what was taking so long and no I did not get an apology when the gentleman returned.

About an hour and 50 minutes after I had walked into the Telecom customer care center, the gentleman returned from the tech department and handed me my device.

Telecom Internet guy: “Eh finally, here is your phone.”

Me: “So is everything sorted out?”

 Telecom Internet guy: “Yes it is.”

Me: “So what was the problem? I am asking this because I do not want to come back for a fourth time.”

Telecom Internet guy: “It is very technical even if I explain you will not understand.”

Me: “wow,” I responded sarcastically, “Okay So I will not be coming back for anything to do with internet settings? What about my bundle I lost and air time?”

Telecom Internet guy: “Eh I had forgotten there was also that. Okay write down your phone number here and your issues and we will get back to you when it is sorted out.”

Me: “Okay, but I hope it is sooner than later.”

I picked up my phone and walked out but I left thinking – the staff at this customer center need a refresher course in customer care ASAP. There are simply something’s that you should never say to a customer – what happens when you are dealing with a customer who is a telecom and software engineer?

“It is very technical even if I explain you will not understand.” – Really!