The customer is king. This maxim was a reality to me for many years. I no longer believe the customer is king, certainly not in Jamaica. I believe businesses are now the kings. This is a most terrible regression.

There was a time when businesses would compete for customers. Punishment is often the reward these days for customers who spend hard-earned money to help keep the lights on for many local businesses. Whatever happened to service with a smile? What became of meeting and greeting the customer when he/she enters the establishment? The realisation that customers determine an employer’s ability to pay workers was once conspicuous even to the most junior employee. That former obvious sense of self-preservation, by workers in particular, has been slain by nonchalance. The pall-bearers of rudeness, lateness, unreliability, irascibility, blatant disdain for the principle, “You will eat bread by the sweat of your brow,” and the habit of doing the bare minimum have dethroned the customer as king. The gravediggers of weasel words laced throughout the fine print and ‘gotcha’ clauses are the palace staff now. This is cause for mourning.

Those who have yet to realise that the relationship between customers and businesses has changed for the worse must be living under a huge rock. Many local businesses evidently operate from the default position that delays and excuses are par for the course. Customers like me who refuse to accept these deficits as normal are often treated as overly demanding, fussy, and even fastidious. We are the bad guys.

I do not accept this dishonest inversion. I firmly believe that when a business is contracted to provide an item or service the contract should always be honoured, except in cases of legitimate extenuating circumstances. Is this too much to ask? I think not!

“Better late than never,” “If me did know,” and “Ah suh di thing set,” are cultural expressions which have seeped deep — extremely deep — into our daily behavioural exchanges and practices. Jamaica will take aeons to become the place of choice to live, work, raise families, and do business, as long as we continue to nationally embrace and further solidify colonial mindsets and practices that are hugely anti-growth and anti-development, especially now.

Ponder this: I decided to divorce one of the local telecommunications companies quite some time ago. Why? I became convinced that our differences were irreconcilable. Frequent dropped signals, lost calls in the middle of conversations, and the all-too-common difficulty hearing the other party finally got the better of me. I had had enough. So I decided to terminate the contract. I was told the termination could not be done over the phone and that I had to go physically into one of the company’s service centres. I found this strange because the contract had been entered into over the phone.

Anyway, for reasons that should be obvious, I arrived at a service centre just two minutes after opening time. The company’s representative was attentive. She calculated how much I owed. Understandably, I was required to pay any outstanding balance before the termination could be effected. When I was told the outstanding amount, I gave her my debit card to swipe.

“Oh, no, Sir, you have to use the kiosk machine to make the payment,” she courteously informed me.

“Why?” I asked.

“That is the company’s policy,” she advised.

So I went back to the car park, got cash — all $1,000 notes — and returned to the store.

I was assisted by another helpful representative. He volunteered that the kiosk did not accept coins and did not give change.

“What?” I exclaimed.

“That is correct, Sir. The machine does not accept coins and does not give change. Also, if you make the payment to the wrong account, you will not be refunded.”

I made very sure that I did not make an error, for I am not a rich man.

Anyway, the long and short of this story is that I ended up giving an interest-free loan of nearly $300 to a company that makes millions of dollars in profit each year. I don’t envy the company for making a big profit. I understand and accept that businesses are set up to make a profit. However, making a profit should not include tactics that effectively operate like a one-armed bandit.

The company allows customers to settle other debts using a debit card at its service centres. So why the exception when a customer wants to terminate a contract? It’s all about making the divorce harder and more advantageous to the company, I figure.

MERE SUPPLICANTS

The relationship between customers and businesses has been totally inverted. This is bad for everyone.

Some days ago I called a utility company and asked to speak with a supervisor. I was told none was available. I asked when one would be available and was told I could call back in about an hour. I did. I was then told the supervisor was dealing with another customer. I left my number for a supervisor to call me back. I waited like Bob Marley, as they say in the rural parts. In the end, I was forced to make a physical visit. That meant more costs.

Have you noticed how extremely difficult it has become to speak with a supervisor, manager, or anyone who can actually make decisions in many businesses? I don’t think this is an accident. It’s part and parcel of sidestepping responsibility and ducking accountability.

Speaking to someone with real authority now feels like an obstacle course. The millions of dollars many companies spend on corporate branding and related activities could be better used by simply stopping the practice of building huge fortresses to hide decision-makers. Branding cannot defeat the results of ‘tekking bush’ and secreting away.

These days technology makes it possible for companies to be paid for services — sometimes not even rendered — immediately. Customers pay because they believe the services will be delivered as contracted. For some companies, however, their obligations go into slow motion the moment the money hits their account. Why? The company has already been paid.

The process of getting a refund for shoddy or undelivered services is often a severely painful ordeal. Customers are frequently required to visit an office in person, fill out forms, and present multiple pieces of identification. Then come the endless follow-up calls and e-mail while you wait… and wait… and wait. Who pays the price in this rotten scenario? The customer!

Businesses need customers.

Despite all the talk these days of technological and branding improvements, many customers have been reduced to mere supplicants.

Once upon a time, businesses chased customers. Now, customers must chase businesses to get them to honour the terms of the contract or issue a refund. You need a great deal of patience for this game — just as the great Black Uhuru sang: “Fit you haffi fit.”

As I understand it, this is how business should work: The customer pays, and the supplier delivers as agreed in a timely manner. “Timely” cannot mean many days after the contracted period. It simply cannot.

Poor business practices have become the norm in far too many companies. The complaints I hear on radio talk shows about businesses treating customers like mere supplicants reflect a wider cultural problem that is seriously retarding Jamaica’s growth and development.

A friend of mine says that workers often deliver poor service because they are badly paid. They pretend to work, she says, because the owners pretend to pay. While I accept that some employers can afford to pay better wages, I also believe that any worker who subscribes to this mindset is simply being dishonest.

One does not need a degree to understand that customer satisfaction is the lifeblood of any business. A satisfied customer is the greatest advertisement a business can have. When customer satisfaction plummets, public trust declines and society loses one of its most critical values: Excellence as a daily standard in human exchanges.

OUTSOURCING

In recent years, some businesses have been outsourcing parts of their services. I understand the reasons. While outsourcing may well be massively improving profit margins, I doubt it is doing much to facilitate customer satisfaction.

Some months ago I called a bank’s customer service line. After listening to an automated voice instructing me to press this and that, I eventually selected the option to speak with a human being. The representative was not Jamaican. It was a great struggle to converse with him because he clearly had not mastered basic English. I am not referring to accent.

We operate in a global environment, so people must compete for jobs internationally — I get that. But certain basic competencies must still exist. In their absence, the customer experience suffers and customer retention is damaged.

Businesses need to put this in their pipe and smoke it: Without customers, there is no business. Any system that businesses put in place should ultimately serve the comfort and convenience of the customer.

Like many other customers, I have long realised that service representatives are often given a script or template to follow. Many of them slavishly read from it. I understand why some businesses do this. One thing I find particularly irritating, though, is the tendency of service representatives to apologise repeatedly during a conversation. Companies need to understand that while an apology is appreciated, what ultimately counts is honouring the terms of the contract. That is the key.

It bears repeating, businesses exist to serve customers. Customers do not exist to serve businesses. Call me old-fashioned, but efficiency must never be an excuse for impersonality. Good customer service is as much about respect as it is about commerce — respect for people’s time, for the money collected, and for the commitments made to deliver.

Companies should earn every red cent they collect from customers. When customers do not get what they pay for they have the right to demand redress. That demand must never be treated lightly.

SERVICE VS SERVITUDE

No reasonable customer expects to be worshipped by businesses. Some representatives, however, conflate a customer’s demand for good service with a demand for servitude. The maxim, “The customer is king,” is not a statement of infallibility; it is simply a reinforcement of common sense.

Customers want to feel valued when spending our hard-earned money. Whatever chips a company representative have on his/her shoulder need to be left at the door the moment a customer enters the establishment. Basic courtesy is a must.

I have walked into businesses and seen attendants busy chatting about private matters. When I asked for help the response I received suggested I had interrupted something more important.

Customers have choices. So I exercised mine and took my business somewhere that valued my money. We all have an obligation to efficiently deliver the services we have contracted to provide, whatever our position. That is not servitude. That is basic human decency.

GREEN SHOOTS

Happily, it is not all doom and gloom in the Land of Wood and Water when it comes to customer service. There are some local businesses that go the extra mile — and then some — for their customers. Their attitude should be the norm, especially since Jamaica is largely a service-centred economy these days.

Relatedly, I was very happy to read two recent pieces of news: ‘BOJ puts banks on notice — Tighter timelines as complaints become boardroom risk signals’ ( Jamaica Observer, July 10, 2026) and ‘Banks phasing out cheques’ ( Jamaica Observer, July 12, 2026). Recall that in my The Agenda column titled ‘The struggle with the banks’, on May 10, 2026, I detailed some of the daily problems ordinary Jamaicans face when transacting business with local banks. Evidently someone is listening. I take absolutely no credit for their work, but I eagerly await implementation. Then we can truly celebrate.

PULL QUOTE

Some months ago I called a bank’s customer service line. After listening to an automated voice instructing me to press this and that, I eventually selected the option to speak with a human being. The representative was not Jamaican. It was a great struggle to converse with him because he clearly had not mastered basic English. I am not referring to accent

Garfield Higgins is an educator and journalist. Send comments to the Jamaica Observer or higgins160@yahoo.com

Garfield Higgins