Customer care in Malta

Customer care counts when things go wrong. As of yet, I have only had two experiences (both Vodafone) and they fixed the problem immediately over the phone in both instances. In both cases they had either mislaid or failed to process documentation, leading to a threatened loss of service, but the way in which the service team dealt with the problems was exemplary.

I believe everyone here made good and bad experience with local customer care. In my opinion it strongly depends on the person you're dealing with, not on the company/authority. And it's not only Maltese who are responsible for bad customer experience, unmotivated (for whatever reasons) foreigners (call centre agent, sales person, waiter etc.) can be even worst ... 
Since there is so much (equal) competition on this island, good customer service makes the difference - but it seems employers/business owners have not yet heard of this.
After all it's not the price only, it's mouth-to-mouth recommendation about quality and customer satisfaction that can boost business success.

We've experienced a real mix. We've had great service in our local band and society clubs -friendly, polite, prompt etc.

We've also had some really rude service in supermarkets and in restaurants in more touristy places.

One thing that seems to happen a lot here which I really hate is when someone is serving you but talking to someone else at the same time. You don't have their attention and I find it quite insulting!

But these things could happen anywhere, you get good and bad service in all countries.

I was in the US recently and when I first arrived I found the customer service attitude really positive and refreshing - you know, the 'Hi I'm Susan and I'll be your server today" and "Have a nice day" type of thing. But by the end of two weeks there I was finding it a bit annoying, it seems quite false. For me so long as someone is attentive, prompt and helpful then I don't need them to be over-familiar.

No problems with general service in shops etc, but a massive issue with Go Mobile and completely terrible support, poor response to emails and loosing customers does not bother them one bit !!

Based on Experience of setting up Customer Service Operations throughout the rest of Europe with very few exceptions Malta ranks as one of the worst for the general lack of customer care. It is very unlikely customer services will reply to your e mails or phone calls they had little if any attention to details and in general the country is Change Resistant which is why nothing happens quickly if at all. I found that pushing the problem and not giving up and if necessary escalating the issue to senior management of the PM office in case of Government may sometimes work but is not always a winner.

Compared with other European countries Malta is at the bottom of the table and will need to improve considerably before the level of customer care could be regarded as acceptable

Lothianba wrote:

... which is why nothing happens quickly if at all.

This is the reason why even customer service in Malta is quite a relaxed job. 

The front line clerks/agents are depending on the willingness of other departments/persons within the company. And since all of them show the same attitude and motivation, it would be very very stressful and exhausting (and most of the time still useless) for them to chase each and every case trough all involved departments. Therefore, if they do not know what to answer, they prefer not to answer at all ... or postpone the matter week by week ... I also did this after some time, when I've learnt there's no other way to get things moved without becoming frustrated - and for this the salary is way too low.

As long as the respective management does not change the attitude to customer service, there's no space for improvement. And as long as the competitors do the same, there's no need for a change.

What you can do today, you can also do tomorrow 

The advice that I have received and experienced, to some degree, is that e-mails are often not responded to, due to lack of staff and the phone is often not answered for the same reason. I f you deal with people face to face, they seem prepared to move mountains as the Maltese are nothing if not kind by nature.
Dealing with organisations is crap, but dealing with people works well, if you meet them as people and not an outward expression of a faceless organisation. so far,if given the benefit, everyone has come through, despite the system they have to work in. I have seldom met such kindness from so many people.

On Gozo customer care is probably better than Malta with it being so small, our local shops are very good
and friendly with the exception of a couple of shops in Victoria I have no complaints.  We have bought
several electrical items from one shop and each time have been given a discount which probably would not
happen in the UK.

Hi Pricilla,
I have had holidays in Malta since 2007 and looking forward to moving there. The service I have had, from groceries to information on transport and areas to visit has been excellent. I was on holiday there last month and salespeople in Malta and Gozo actually saved me money on transport by either not charging for my grandchildren or advising me the cheapest way to go places. Overall, I have been served by local people and English alike and never been disappointed on the service. Be polite to them and it is returned.
Goodison