Usually no one wants their names connected with the paparazzi-style Next Magazine (壹週刊), but yesterday the executives of 20 companies were all smiles upon receiving the Top Service Award 2004 organized by the Taipei-based media group.
Held for the first time in Taiwan, the annual service award competition received 30,011 reader ballots during nine weeks ending Oct. 10 to select the best performers in 20 categories ranging from banks, convenience stores and mobile-service providers to government agencies, hospitals and airlines.
Chinatrust Commercial Bank (
Big names such as 7-Eleven, Carrefour Taiwan, McDonald's, Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store (新光三越), Taiwan Cellular Corp (台灣大哥大) and Grand Formosa Regent Taipei beat out their competitors to be hailed as top service-oriented companies in their categories.
To prove these winners' real service quality, the magazine sent out picky "mystery shoppers" to try to find fault with the 20 firms.
Tactics used included spilling hot coffee during restaurants' rush hours, changing plane tickets twice at airport counters, asking travel agencies for several tour packages and asking to see luxury housing units despite being casually dressed.
The grand prize went to 7-Eleven.
Wendy Chen (
"It has tried to lighten its customers' burdens, such as collecting utility payments, and increasing its merchandize value, such as offering different types of lunch boxes. These are the two basic principles that can be applied to every company," she said, adding that whether staffers smile is no longer the sole requirement of good service.
Stressing that service is the key to creating a company's value and boosting competitiveness, Chen said most Taiwanese businesses, including in traditional sectors and the manufacturing industry, need to place more emphasis on attending to customers, citing examples of producing user-friendly manuals or providing maintenance locations in detail.
"Taiwan can still boast about its service quality compared with China. But if we do not make progress, we'll be second very soon in this field," she said.
Other champions also include the G2000 clothing chain, Aloha Transportation Co (阿羅哈客運) -- a long-haul passenger service provider, Far Eastern Air Transport Corp (遠東航空), EVA Airways (長榮航空), the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (台北捷運), government agencies and Cosmos Bank Taiwan (萬泰銀行), which issues cash-advance cards.
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