You surprised me, Litrak

I took a few seconds to be convinced that the male voice at the other end of the line is a Litrak’s customer service officer. I emailed Litrak the day earlier about the ‘coin throwing’ incident. Amazingly, I got a call from Litrak the following day. Though Litrak’s customer service by toll operators is third class or rather, downright rude, I must say Litrak’s service recovery is first class. What made it first class was the customer service officer obtained all the facts from me politely. Then, profusely apologise for that rude treatment by the toll operator. I told him, “You don’t need to because it is not you.” He replied, “I'm apologizing on behalf of Litrak”. I was at awed!

Rarely do companies apologise unless it is Starbucks or Ritz Carlton. The most common reaction is to build up a wall of defense or give lame excuses. Worst of all is to simply ignore the complaint and complainant (regular toll paying motorists).

By emphasizing on service recovery, Litrak is building loyal customers for life. Importantly, it may even reduce the complaints or public protests during the next toll hike.

Well done, Litrak. Keep up the world class service recovery.

Toll phobia

I developed a fear recently. I am in fear when I approach a highway toll. Being in Malaysia, it is difficult to avoid a toll each time I drive. The non-toll roads are ‘designed’ to be so inconvenient or dangerous that you just don’t mind being insulted by the toll operator. I had that experience recently with a Litrak toll operator.

Since the increase of the toll rate by 60% lately, I had to give more coins instead of the usual RM1.00 note. As I was approaching the toll booth one lovely Friday evening, I searched frantically for the additional 60 cents. I stopped to pass the RM1.60 worth of coins to the toll operator. As I was about to drive off, I heard a ‘tuk’ sound. I stepped on the brakes instantaneously to check the cause of the sound. Then it dawn upon me that the toll operator threw a coin at me. The coin hit my car. I turned my head and asked whether she threw the coin at me. She replied sarcastically, “I got extra coins”. I realized that she threw a 1 cent coin because she didn’t want to accept the five 1 cent coins. I kept my cool and asked for her name. She just pointed at the signage with her name on it. I jotted her name and drove off to lodge a complaint at the Litrak office. Sadly, the ‘complaint office’ closed at 5pm.

It has been 3 weeks since the incident. I thought it is more convenient to ‘complain’ through a blog because a blog is open 24 hours, 7 days a week. In the meantime, I need help to overcome my new found phobia. Any good therapist out there?