Service Excellence

I believe in giving credit where credit is due. Although I did not have an account with the Public Bank branch where I lived, I have always been impressed with the whole wall of awards that they have on display. The bank has always been famous for it’s excellent customer service and this branch has been winners of their internal customer service awards practically every year.

I have to give credit where credit is due.

I finally decided to open up a personal savings account with their bank today. So, I stepped into the bank and immediately proceeded to take my number at the machine. It is a common practice in Malaysia for people to take a number and wait to be called. We are notoriously bad at queues, constantly trying our best to jump them. So, this is the only way to enforce any sort of order to the chaos.

Normally, after taking a number, I would sit down and wait a few minutes before being served. However, in this instance, the moment that I pressed my number, I heard murmurs from behind the service counter of ‘customer waiting’ and before I even managed to collect the ticket, my number had already been called by the queue. I was very promptly attended to by a smiling employee at the counter and my transaction was quickly tended to.

Then, I went home to activate the internet banking facilities. I tried to log in using the secret password issued to me but without any success. So, I called up the internet banking helpline that was prominently displayed on the web page. Not many banks actually have this helpline number displayed on their web page, choosing instead to place it in some obscure ‘contact us’ page hidden under several clicks.

So, I called up the number and was greeted by the standard automated system asking me to ‘press 1 for English’ and so on and so forth. What typically happens with other banks once I have made all the appropriate menu choices, is that I get put on hold. With a good bank, I would normally need to stay on hold for a few seconds but with Public Bank, I did not even hear a single ringing tone as I was not put on hold at all.

This made me a happy puppy as I have never gotten this sort of immediate service from any bank before. In fact, I had just spent a half hour at a prominent foreign bank earlier in the day, trying to get some minor things done. I think that I will try to bank with Public Bank more, in the future. They obviously value my time.