Ever since the concept of new legislation to protect consumers was first discussed, we’ve been looking long and hard at every customer-facing aspect of our business in anticipation of the act being passed to make sure we were fully compliant. As a critical part of this process, we’ve been working closely with the relevant regulatory authorities.
Many of us at Vodacom were surprised to see a front-page article stating that we had been issued with a compliance notice from the National Consumer Commission (NCC) for refusing to bring our contracts into line with the Consumer Protection Act (CPA).
We fully support the aims of the CPA and have invested considerable time and effort wrestling with the task of making it a reality for our customers. In fact, we’d already agreed on an implementation date for updating our contracts with the NCC, so we were left wondering what the motive was for issuing the superfluous notice and who would benefit from such obvious grandstanding.
We had, until the date of receipt of the compliance notice, been in consultations with the NCC around the issue of updating our contracts to comply with both the CPA and the enabling regulations published at the same time that the CPA came into effect.
The final regulations published in April varied considerably from the draft regulations published in December, which we had used as a guide to prepare for compliance. We then had to revisit the steps we had taken, including amended contract terms and conditions, to ensure compliance with the final regulations. This is not a five-minute exercise.
After numerous consultations with the NCC, the date of October 31, 2011 was agreed for us to implement and roll out revised contract terms and conditions aligned with the CPA.
This agreement was publicly acknowledged by the national consumer commissioner in a Business Report article entitled “Phone firms told to amend contracts” published on July 18, 2011.
It is against this context that Vodacom deems the compliance notice as unwarranted. We will, therefore, address the matter with the NCC, and with the tribunal on any clarity of interpretation.
The CPA constitutes a critical intervention by the government to undo customer discrimination and to promote and advance the social and economic welfare of customers. It establishes a legal framework for the advancement and maintenance of a consumer market that is fair, accessible, efficient and sustainable.
However, its implementation appears to be a challenge. That customer service in South Africa needs desperate fixing is obvious to anyone who has spent hours waiting in a queue for service or tried to return defective goods.
But grandstanding is not going to win the battle on behalf of the customer. Organisations need to transform to put the customer at the centre of everything we do, and only this kind of rejuvenation – to which we are absolutely committed – will really ensure a better service environment for South Africans. Regulatory institutions like the NCC should govern with the dignity and decorum befitting their office.
The CPA has enjoyed our full support from the outset and many of its aspects are in line with Vodacom’s own corporate philosophy of giving our customers the power of choice to create a world of possibilities. However, the mobile communications sector is also governed by the Independent Communications Authority of SA (Icasa) on service levels and other matters and the overlapping jurisdiction between Icasa and the NCC has caused confusion for the sector.
From the outset Vodacom has championed the ideal that basic communication should be enjoyed by all people, and that affordable mobile devices are necessary to facilitate this access.
At the same time, we realise how critical it is that customers understand the products and services available. This empowers customers to know and exercise their rights, including among others, the right to make an informed choice to reduce misunderstandings and ensure improved customer experience.
Terms of contracts have traditionally been complex for the lay-person to decipher. In our bid to offer customers greater choice over the years, our offerings have in some cases become unnecessarily complex. The more sophisticated products and services became, the more difficult it was to communicate these terms simply.
Simplicity is one of our core values and we are interrogating all our business processes to remove complexity to make it easier for our customers to interact with us.
Vodacom is the country’s largest cellular operator with a customer base of more than 27 million subscribers within many market segments. In an era where the cellphone plays such an intimate role in our daily lives, customer dependency and expectation of service providers is high.
Social media is also challenging us to review our business models to become instantaneously responsive to customer needs. We prioritise the service experience not because of the CPA or the NCC, but because it makes good business sense. It is only if our customers are delighted with us that we will be successful.
The CPA is a good legal framework deserving of praise and support, but as with all things, business operates best in a climate of certainty and trust, and we would value a more productive relationship with the NCC as we enjoy with other institutions in the market place.
Portia Maurice is the chief officer for corporate affairs at Vodacom Group.