Dear Directors of Passport Services,
Firstly I was NOT going to write about this until after my passport was received. Now I MUST.
You offer several options of passport services. I opted for the EXPEDITED service. I chose it because I had trips lined up. I chose it because it’s the option that was most convenient for me. But above all, I validated my preference by paying a premium above the standard collection process.
First of all sir, madam – I believe 3 days of reviewing your application submission process at the Accra centre would allow an easy FLOW to be established via Process Re-engineering. Currently sir, madam, it is haphazard and scattered and your staff do not deliver any “Customer Experience” – I was almost scared the whole time I was there and my very old mother whom I brought along was so on edge not to even sneeze. The Police or Security officers involved in the submission process are FEAR rather than CARE enhancing.
But the real issue is this: when I arrived to collect my proudly Ghanaian passport today (because that was the date given and written on our collection receipt), the gentleman at the collection window bluntly just told me “it is NOT ready” – oh, that’s after asking me why I hadn’t come with a photocopy of my receipt. I told him nobody informed us we were required to come for collection with a photocopy of our collection chits. In the meanwhile, his lady colleague sitting on another counter was hurling remarks at me as to why I had to question them when I was told “it wasn’t ready”. Eventually, the gentleman asked me why I had come if I hadn’t gotten a text from the passport office.
You see sir, madam. I READ the process on your website. It didn’t tell me I had to come with a photocopy. I read the processes on your website and it didn’t tell me I would get a text. I read all the instructions on your website and it didn’t tell me a text message will override a handwritten receipt I was issued which clearly stated the collection Date. Sir, madam – what if I had travelled some distance to be in Accra for the collection? What if I TRUSTED the collection date issued me and had thus made travel arrangements?
You see, you also forget that TECHNOLOGY DOESN’T LIE. I applied online and as such, had been tracking the progress of my application on your portal and according to your own portal – my application was 100% complete and processed as at this morning. You see, I thought that was so seamless that I had typed an earlier message to give a stunning review of the service other than the lack of flow in the submission process and even offer suggestions how that could have been corrected. I can be a lovely citizen like that. But now di33!!
Dear Sir, dear madam – You offered a service, I paid for it. By contract law, I have provided my consideration. You haven’t delivered. Premium is premium. It’s not a favour being done me. I did my part. Yours?
Mi passupɔt no wɔ hɛ??
Da, Mi passupɔt no wɔ hɛ??
Ma, Mi passupɔt no wɔ hɛ??
writer :Marricke Kofi Gane