- StarHub Scores for Retail Courtesy Award and Excellent Service Awards; Awarded ISO 9001:2000 for Customer Service Division as well -
Singapore, 27 November 2002 - StarHub announced today that it had reached another historical milestone in its quest for premium customer service quality. In addition to the recent wins at the 2nd Annual Call Centre Awards 2002, StarHub also recently won a whopping 50 awards for the Retail Courtesy Gold Award (two awards) and Excellent Service Awards (48 awards). These awards are testament to StarHub’s passion for quality service delivery to its customers at its StarHub shops and Customer Service Centres. In addition, StarHub’s Customer Service division was also awarded the ISO 9001:2000 certification this month.
Retail Courtesy Gold Award
The Retail Courtesy Gold Award is awarded to organisations who believe in going the extra mile, by providing premium customer service to make customers’ shopping experience a much more enjoyable one. The winners were voted by almost one million customers, from 18 September to 20 October 2002. Despite stiff competition, two out of three StarHub shops (at StarHub Centre and Tampines Mall) won this much coveted award.
Mr K C Lai, General Manager for Consumer Sales at StarHub, said, "We are very honoured that our customers have recognised and endorsed the dedication and hard work that our employees have put in, to make their shopping experience with us an unforgettable and pleasant one. Although we have only been in operations for over two years, we have always believed in challenging the norm, in providing excellent service and going the extra mile to fulfil our customers’ needs. We are thrilled with these accolades as they boost our endeavour in bringing quality service to new heights in Singapore."
Excellent Service Award
Over 70% of StarHub employees in the shops and Customer Service Centres won at this year’s Excellent Service Award 2002, with 33 Silver Award winners, 14 Gold Award winners and one Star Award winner. Last year, StarHub won 13 Silver Awards and one Gold award.
Applicants for the awards went through a stringent qualification process where they not only had to meet criteria such as evidence of customer testimonials and duration of employment, but also went through intensive training and workshops, where they were assessed in role-plays and group discussions.
StarHub’s Star Award winner, Ms Karen Ng, is no novice to this award as she was the sole Gold award winner from StarHub last year. Having been with StarHub for over three years, Ms Ng was instrumental in service quality initiatives such as creating a tracking system for customer cases. With this tracking system, employees would be able to ensure that all customers’ requests were completed within the promised timeframe, by the on-duty staff. This fostered teamwork amongst the crew and also ensured a complete loop in terms of customer follow through. Ms Ng was also recipient of numerous customer compliments who commended her on her professionalism as well as considerate, friendly and helpful service.
The industry recognition of StarHub’s dedication and exhibited professionalism is in line with the company’s push towards providing the right customer experience for all its customers. StarHub’s two customer mobile clinics organised this year as a form of additional service for customers were very well-received as they served as platforms for fun-filled activities to entertain and reward customers.
StarHub customers will also be familiar with the personal touches that the company has put into its outlets like the Customer Service Centre at StarHub Centre. Whilst waiting for their turn in the queue, customers can enjoy StarHub Belgium chocolates and sweets and a variety of hot drinks such as tea and cappuccino. Such focus on details forms the cornerstone of StarHub’s customer service culture as its employees live by the credo of delighting and exceeding customers’ expectations.
ISO 9001: 2000 Certification
StarHub’s Customer Service has also successfully garnered the International Organisation for Standardization (ISO) 9001:2000 certification. Conducted in November 2002, the certification audit concluded that there was zero non-conformance to the standard. StarHub had always consistently met customer and regulatory requirements, and had enhanced customer satisfaction through the effective application of the system, including processes for continual improvement of the system and the assurance of conformity to customer and regulatory requirements.
In addition, the certification auditors had also commended StarHub’s Customer Service for its active collection of customers’ perception on a quarterly basis, as this would facilitate timely quality service improvements in the quality system. StarHub’s Customer Service training program for new staff was also commended for being well organised, as staff were systematically verified for their understanding of the products and skills taught during the training sessions. StarHub was also complimented for their subsequent close monitoring and measurement using the report card method plus motivation concepts as they were skillfully done.
Ms Jeanette Liau, Vice-President for Customer Service, Communications Services said, "We are very happy to have been awarded this certification, as it affirms our delivery of service to be of international standard and recognition. We had aligned over 250 processes, spanning a diverse spectrum of products and offerings across our customer base. The audit scope was also extensive, ranging from our call centres and provisioning to the various support teams. We are proud that our employees’ attention-to-detail and highly focussed attitude, coupled with excellent team work and passion, have contributed to this resounding achievement."
- End -
