JoziBear 24/7: Customer Service Gone Wrong*

Earlier this week I became aware of a new startup in the taxi business, trying to compete with the likes of Uber and Zebra Cabs in Johannesburg. One of my gripes with Uber is they have no phone lines, so you have to reply on Twitter or email to talk to them.

Being cautious, I first asked if they had a phone number I could use. They replied and gave me the number 011-082-9825 which I duly added to my phone contacts, hoping I would never need to use it. How wrong I was.
I resolved to try using their service on my way home from gym on Tuesday. As it turned out I left gym early, and at 4.17pm I requested a ride from Victory Park Shopping Centre to my home.

Within seconds I got an SMS reply to say they would be finding a nearby driver. After that, nothing.
Bear in mind I'm sitting on the pavement outside the shopping centre, I've had a long day and I just want to go home. I check on the app and get this:

"Sorry, no trips to display". And a programmer's error message about a missing data id, or something. It was gone before I could get a screen shot. So at 4.23pm (after 5 minutes) I sent this tweet:

@jozibear247 Did you cancel my trip? What is going on? pic.twitter.com/3VOY296PeF

— Donn Edwards (@donnedwards) April 18, 2017

No reply, even though they tweeted at 4.15pm and again at 4.30pm. Turns out that was a Twitter bot giving the illusion of human activity. Clearly no service via Twitter. So I tried the number on the SMS at 4.27pm (i.e after 10 minutes). No answer from 086-001-5666, just an automated message that says "The user you are trying to reach is unavailable". I have yet to get any kind of answer from that number. Presumably faulty.
So I try the landline number, 011-082-9825 hoping at least someone would answer. After all, this is a 24 hour a day operation. I get voicemail. I didn't leave a message. I was already waiting for them to "get back to me" with no results.
Instead, since I was trying out alternatives to Uber, I decided to give Zebra Cabs another go. The first time I installed their app I didn't get the SMS code they promised, and a call to their call centre wasn't particularly enlightening either. But this time I installed the app and it worked. By 4.33 I had requested a ride and by 4.57 I was home. My first trip with Zebra Cabs was a complete success.

Sixteen hours later and still no response. I guess Jozibear 24/7 refers to a response after 24 hours or 7 days? #Fail @jozibear247 https://t.co/GY5kLho7TE

— Donn Edwards (@donnedwards) April 19, 2017

At 9.09am this morning I gave twitter another try and decided to try calling again. The 086-001-5666 number still gave me "The user you are trying to reach is unavailable", but I did manage to speak to someone (I think it was Kampa) who said he had no idea what was going on because he had just got into the office. I pointed out that they advertise a 24/7 service and he promised to investigate.
At lunchtime I noticed another tweet from @JoziBear247 and wondered why they still hadn't replied. I decided to reply to every tweet they sent out until someone replied. It took several hours but by 3pm (23 hours after my first "help!" tweet) they finally replied, saying their "internet was down". SAY AGAIN!?. What was the social media person doing all day on his/her phone? Playing solitaire? Oh, wait. This is an internet startup. Of course they don't have smart phones. What was I thinking?
At 2.57 they send an email that reads:

From: Jozibear Sales&Marketing <jozibearjhb1@gmail.com>
Subject: Apology
Good day Donn.
I wish to convey my sincere apology on behalf of JoziBear for missing your trip yesterday.
I wish to advise that we are still adding drivers to our system to meet the demand. We could not get you a ride as all our drivers in your area were busy being the peak hour.
Furthermore, we could not reply to your messages on Twitter as our Internet was down since morning due to maintenance that just ended a while ago.
I wish to again apologise for the inconvenience cause you. We hope to serve you better next time should you give us a second chance.
Kind Regards,

So I get a "sincere apology" that turned out to be totally insincere when he blocked my Twitter account, and a load of lame excuses and justifications. No sense of concern or urgency. And this is the PR guy! The person who is supposed to put the customer first. Completely oblivious to how arrogant his "apology" sounds. He wasn't able to call me during the internet outage? Or send an SMS? He's obviously a very busy man. Can't answer his cell phone at 3.27 or his land line. Instead I get passed on to Mandla Zuma in "Operations" who was just as clueless as to why no one let me know they couldn't find a ride for me.
But wait, there's more! Read section 6 of their Privacy page:

6. Direct marketing
We only use your e-mail address and phone number for sharing our product related marketing messages if you have given consent via Jozibear 24/7 app during installation and registration. If you no longer wish to receive direct marketing messages, please email us at support@jozibear247.com

Nowhere in the installation or registration process was there any mention of providing consent for direct marketing. None. Nothing. Nor is there any mention of it on the app page in the Google Play store. There are some angry reviews about this, and I have written to support@jozibear247.com but not had a reply as yet. I doubt I'll get one either. I have CC'd Craig Geswindt, their CEO, so we'll see what happens.
All I want them to do is fix their systems so that other people don't get left stranded like I was. I'm certainly not going to put their app on my wife's phone until they do.
*Update Thursday 10am: The CEO called me personally. He understands the issues and is working to fix them. I don't envy these challenges, but if they are working on them I will cut them some slack. I'll try again in a month or so and see how things have improved.

Joburg Water gets upset about their Logo, but not the water quality

Petty bureaucrats mystify me. They always focus on the wrong thing in order to try to "control" their "message". The Twitter account of the Joburg Water supplier is no exception. Last week I got a severe case of Gastro by drnking tap water. I tweeted:

@donnedwards Hi we will make a follow up on that,We will take this with our scientists at our labs at Cydna

— Johannesburg Water (@jhbwater) August 4, 2015

As is the nature of bureaucracy, nothing happened. They forgot about it, or the "scientists at Cydna forgot about it, or they realised that no one had tested the water in my area for some time and they weren't going to admit it.
Time passed and I eventually recovered from the Gastro after being on a drip and taking antibiotics for 3 days. I decided it was time to remind Joburg Water that they owed me an answer.

@jhbwater When was the last time you tested bacteria levels in Cresta Darrenwood Linden area? Doctor says lots of gastro at present

— Donn Edwards (@donnedwards) August 7, 2015

No reply. So I tried being a bit more direct:

@jhbwater @CityofJoburgZA Joburg Water why do refuse to say when you last tested the water in my area for bacteria? @lvz60

— Donn Edwards (@donnedwards) August 8, 2015

Still no reply. So I decided to warn my fellow citizens that Joburg water isn't safe.

Don't drink the water in Joburg without boiling it first. @jhbwater @CityofJoburgZA @lvz60 @DA_JHB @DavidCOJ102 pic.twitter.com/c1okJWzhaR

— Donn Edwards (@donnedwards) August 11, 2015

Still no reply. So I decided to post my nifty little graphic in a reply to everything they tweet, until someone notices. Eventually they noticed a pattern.

@jhbwater @CityofJoburgZA So you wait for people to get sick first? #WorldClassAfricanCity pic.twitter.com/UXTK5JH0fm

— Donn Edwards (@donnedwards) August 11, 2015

Finally they noticed. What a relief!
But someone at Joburg Water obviously had their pride injured. Because I started getting Direct Messages on Twitter. The first was to request the location of where my home is. Maybe they just wanted to turn off the water for a while, or dig up the road or something.
But I didn't get the gastro from home, because I drink bottled water or boiled water. I only drink tap water when I'm at the gym. (Not any more!) Then the officious tone kicked in. Nice of them to make up a new name for me:

So here we are. They want to sue me for ruining their "reputation" by using their logo in a tweet. I think they are over-reacting now to cover up how they failed to react before. Perhaps its time to get my City Councillor involved?

Gauteng Beach Party

In 2008 Aljazeera English did a documentary on the Soweto Beach Party, which I also showed on this blog.
This year it will be at a bigger venue to the West of Soweto, and everyone is invited to buy their tickets through Computicket. Click on the graphic for more info. Sounds like a blast!

Saving Soweto - 24 Hours of Trauma

"A woman born in South Africa has more chance of getting raped, than learning how to read".



Aljazeera English has produced a documentary series about "Bara", which you can read here. These videos are not for the squeamish. According to Wikipedia, "Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital is the largest hospital in the world, occupying 173 acres (0.70 km2), with 3200 beds and 6760 staff members. The hospital is in Soweto, Johannesburg. It is one of the 40 Gauteng provincial hospitals," and is under-funded and under-staffed by the callous, uncaring politicians who supposedly run this country, but who prefer to waste money on perks and dinners, while the people suffer. Our former Minister of Health has a lot of blood on her hands.



"We have no ventilators available, and no ICU beds available. We can't take rescuscitation patients at the moment because we have nowhere to put them."

"On average we see about 3000 trauma patients a month. Approximately 300 resuscitations a month. That's an average of 10 a day."

Soweto Beach Party

I was aghast at this video, which I saw last night on Aljazeera English TV. The traffic cops didn't show up, so there was traffic gridlock and a near riot. The newspapers I read didn't even mention the event! Is this how the city plans to host the 2010 Soccer World Cup?
I'm glad that a concert of this size has been a regular event, and just wish I'd heard about it locally. See you there next year!