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BY KIMBERLEY HIBBERT Observer writer Tuesday, July 16, 2013THE Island Traffic Authority (ITA), which has for years been criticised for offering poor services at examination depots, says it is taking steps to improve its overall customer service.Ludlow Powell, director of the ITA — an agency of the Ministry of Transport, Works and Housing — said the authority has been working with a consultant from a company that deals specifically with training customer service representatives to develop good customer service rapport.The training, he told yesterday’s Jamaica Observer Monday Exchange at the newspaper’s headquarters on Beechwood Avenue in Kingston, was being implemented because of complaints from people who utilise the agency’s service for the testing of vehicles to ensure fitness, road-worthiness and general compliance with standards of safety, that they were being treated unfairly and with disrespect.“It is a well-established problem that we’re having where bad customer service is concerned. We have heard the feedback from individuals and we’re working to have it fixed. By next month or September we should get the training under way. We are doing a serious customer service intervention in the ministry and at ITA, and we want to ensure the best is being given,” Powell said.The ITA director added that the customised training would be mandatory for all employees at the Authority, bearing in mind that each person employed in the company will be held accountable for the treatment they mete out to the public.“Each individual will be held accountable for what they do or say to the public, therefore, we are making sure that they go through this training process to prevent further complaints of insolence,” he said.“Funding will come from the ministry’s recurrent budget and I expect to get feedback on the training, participation and implementation of the actual skills on the job. For now we will rely on the feedback and hopefully we will have good reviews,” he said.Powell said the customer service training would not be assessed on a pass or fail basis, but regular assessments would be in done to ensure that workers adhere to what is being taught.
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ITA vows to improve customer service
