Tecom’s chief marketing officer Michael Foley made an important statement on the day when the Maltacom annual general conference was held a couple of weeks ago.

Speaking to The Malta Independent, Mr Foley said that “consumers don’t actually care about technology but they care about the quality of the service they receive”.

He’s right, and not only from the telecommunications point of view.

This is because companies boast about improvements they make in the technological sector, that they are the first to launch this kind of product and the other and that they are conducting research into further development – but in the end, it is the service that is offered to clients that counts the most.

Sadly, in Malta we seem to give little importance to services. Although it must be said that there has been improvement in this regard, this has been slow and not as wide-ranging as it should have been. We did not get far enough.

In this respect, the comparison between what tourists get in five-star and four-star hotels and what other services they receive once outside the hotel is perhaps the best that one could do. Tourists get premium services in top-notch complexes, but once they move out it is not the same thing. This is something that has been said over and over again, and it certainly is one of the major setbacks of the tourism industry, and yet things never change.

But the list is endless. Food might be excellent in a restaurant, but why should one wait for an hour or so in between the order and the serving?

A car might have the latest gadgets and is the most comfortable of its kind but why should it take so long for spare parts to be imported?

A fridge might be spacious and economic but why should it take a week or more before a repairman is sent over when something goes wrong?

Companies might boast about having an excellent after-sales service but why should customers be kept waiting for 10 minutes before someone answers the phone?

Professional people might be the most intelligent there are around but why cannot they keep to their appointment schedule?

And this is where those who offer a service are wrong. They think that the customer would be back no matter how bad the service is.

But the Maltese are learning and they are learning fast. In the past, the phrase “the customer is always right” existed only on paper, because, generally speaking, people were afraid to complain and simply accepted fate. This is no longer the same today, as more and more people are exercising their rights as customers and not accepting everything that is thrown at them.

They have learnt what the word competition means. They are bound to be loyal to a shop or a company that gives them good service, but they are quick to change it if they are not happy with what they get. Today, there is so much to choose from and people are no longer conservative in their approach. If they find something better, perhaps cheaper too, they will go for it.

This is what businessmen have to understand. If someone buys a pair of trousers and they get torn for no apparent reason a week later, then the buyer will probably try to get his money back and will not enter the same shop after that. There is also the Consumers Division that will get a letter of complaint from this annoyed buyer too.

Entrepreneurs have a successful business only if they take care of their customers. They must look into every detail that could go wrong, and take precautions so that it does not happen. If it still does, then they should spare no effort in trying to make up for the mishap.