How does Puerto Rico Grade in Customer Service?
A few days ago I saw an article about how Puerto Rico’s Politicians had this great idea on how to increase Business travel to Puerto Rico from the U.S.
| If you want to join in on the conversation I gladly invite you to join the Friends of Puerto Rico Group on LinkedIn. If you would also like to add me as a contact feel free to do so regards, LinkedIn Public Profile – http://www.linkedin.com/in/raulcolon.
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The great thing about the group is that everyone has some type of Link to Puerto Rico but not necesarrily does everyone think the same which usually ends up in some good and heated conversations on a variety of topics.
On this ocassion one of the replies I got from someone (thanks Tony) who I have been sharing ideas for months and I truly respect really made a lot of sense.
These politicians are planning to spend or throw away ( I will let you be the Judge) our taxpayer Money on this great effort to market Puerto Rico.
My fellow FOPR group members thoughts where in line, with one of the biggest challenges I have every day as a Puerto Rico Resident bad customer service. He pretty much stated that for us to be attractive for tourism we needed to improve greatly our customer service.
I Could not agree more. I think Puerto Rico’s politicians are so into doing things the old way buying print ads, TV ads, and other Traditional Media they are forgetting about a key factor.
Things run very differently and if your customer service is not up to par there are so many websites, blogs, and ways for people to Express themselves they need to attack the root of Puerto Rico’s problems bad Customer Service.
Every day I try to fix bad customer service issues many times becoming frustrated on how many people on the Island have conformed to allowing bad customer service. When I am the Only one complaining or making constructive criticism most customers look at me like I am out of my mind.
Very rarely I get great customer service and that is why here in my blog I am saving up a space to highlight those quality customer service places. I will also point out those bad experiences where I have customer service has been terrible to save you guys from the headaches and the mental stress these places have caused.
I highly recommend this politicians to re-evaluate there investment which can quickly become an expense if not handled right and we continue with these bad customer service issues.
Here are my general recommendations to Puerto Rico politicians is to investing in attacking the problems Puerto Rico has keeping tourist away. (If you want to add more to the list, agree, or disagree on some please feel free to put your thoughts in the comments area):
- Market to other countries other than the U.S.
- Provide diverse content which can educate these possible tourists. We have so much Diversity on the island outside of San Juan.
- We need to connect with those potential tourist who don’t see Puerto Rico as an option.
- The Diversity in eco Systems we have here in Puerto Rico might be helpful in attracting various areas where people have different needs or interests.
- We really need to have most of our Small Business with online presensce most businesses here are so into using printed media, tv, and radio which has proven to be very profitable for Local Newspapers, TV, and Radio which just broadcast what their sponsors request to broadcast with the only purpose of strangling them for there Money with mediocre results.
- We need to start sharing and stop restricting the flow of information. I have seen how the printed press here does not give up on controlling information to their benefit instead of providing great content they focus on using strange methods of controlling the information flow.
Bosque Seco of Guanica an Example of Our Diverse Enviroments
I think that a well planned effort evolving current emerging Technologies can really reach out . We can put Puerto Rico in the spotlight of improving our issues and little by little becoming one of the key places to visit in the Carribean.
We need to work with the current Stray Dog issues and create education around adequate animal and pet treatment. When I was a teenager I build a small Business on animal care the reason I moved to other things was that very early I identified how our culture does not treat pets like Juanga (my 4-legged son) is treated or better said pampered.
Thanks for reading my post and I look forward to your comments. I will be staying these next few days at the @sanjuanmarriott and will use it as an experiment on how to gauge where we are at.
So if you visit this blog in a few days you will see my input.
What other areas do you suggest we need to work upon?
Think of where you travel and the main things you consider to actually travel to that location.
Please help me in my effort to get Puerto Rico Up to Par in what Good Customer Service Should be and feel free to ask questions if you are planning to visit so we can send you the right way.
I’ve had numerous occasions for business travel to San Juan over the past 10yrs (last trip in Spring 2009). I stayed at the Mariott Isla Verde each time, and for the hotel the customer service was always top notch. That’s not the case necessarily everywhere, but I would rank my experiences high in terms of friendliness and helpfulness in most of the establishments I was able to visit.
Did you stay at the Courtyard Isla Verde or Marriott Condado?
Rick, it is great that you where able to have such great experiences on my Island that is one of the purposes I write on this blog to get customer service enhanced.
Thanks for visiting my blog!
Isla Verde, with a view of the SJU runways 🙂 – my clients were in Hato Rey, short drive into the city. My trips were mostly Sun-Fri for business, so I did not do as much sightseeing as I would have liked, but my wife and I hope to come back sometime soon to do just that.
Rick,
When you and your wife are ready to come you can count on me as your tour guide so you can see the rest of the Island. I use to work in Hato Rey and have a few clients their.
The invitation is open.
Hello Everybody:
It is too sad that this type of things happen, just yesterday I went to Old Harbor in Old San Juan, it was a cruise Sunday and usually means a lot of tourist. There were not many waitress, service was terrible and food was not even that great. First impression from my perspective it was terrible for an expensive restaurant. Management should know better and for a busy sunday they should have enough people to cover all the areas. My waitress was so into cleaning the tables and serving at the bar she forgot I brought my whole family for lunch. I do not think I am going back.
Managers forget the difference between Consumers and Customers.
People like yourself make the difference in making sure these things don’t happen again. I will try to forward this along and see there reaction. It is bad that you could not speak to a manager as you expressed in a tweet.
Thanks for reading the blog and commenting.
I also agree that the key to tourism is customer service. I have lived on the Island for almost a year and I see bad customer service all the time. I go to Doral bank once a month to pay my rent and there has only been one time that I did not have to wait in line at least an hour. I have watched the bank tellers talk to other tellers instead of taking care of the next customer. The bank is always short on tellers and tellers go on break whithout anyone replacing them. I finally had enough and asked to speak with someone about the customer service. I was given a 1-800 number and told to press 4 for complaints. The next week I went back in the bank and only had to wait 10 minutes in line. what a surprise that they had one extra teller and one teller that was just on drive up banking.
the lines are loooong in all PR banks, yet, as slow and incompetent as they are, banks are an example of PR’s finest customer service.
wait til u experience any problem with a PR utility co. or go to a gov office like DTOP [dmv] or SS or the property tax place. you will think you are in a hellish nightmare. 10 desks, only 1 disappearing clerk, and a line of 100s of passive people who are willing to just stand there all day. they give bad service so they expect bad service. working is really not their culture.
[sorry, i just skimmed the article]
if you think service is bad for tourists, you have no idea how bad it is for residents.
There is none.NONE.
I am a resident 🙂
wow, this is from 7 months ago! that’s just 1 month longer than it takes puerto ricans to move when the light turns green.
sorry, i still have only skimmed this article. i just noticed you saying something about targeting other than US markets. i think american tourists are an underdeveloped market, but you could use more upscale stores. i dont mean like cartier or prada, just original artists and designers. the cheap souvenir crap the stores sell in old san juan is just plain embarrassing. you have artists and craftspeople, and they should be promoted and showcased.
another thing PR needs to do is work on the shipping. So many stores say ‘sorry, we dont ship to PR.’ nothing is made here, and nothing is shipped. why don’t you make cars or furniture? [oh, maybe forget that. i once bought a bbq made in PR, and it was total trash.] and grow your own damn produce and raise your own meat. why is everything imported from the US at 2x the price.
i cant stand PR .will you buy my condo Iin san juan? 2 bedrooms, usual stuff [a/cs washer/dryer, garage, etc] and a HUGE DECK with a nice OCEAN VIEW.