Bula Vinaka, shoppers, Have you ever called an office only to be stuck on hold, trapped in long menus, or listening to automated voices that never lead you to a real person? You’re not alone.
Customer service in Fiji is slack. Across offices many people feel answering machines have replaced genuine human connections. Callers want someone who understand their issues—not endless button-pressing and being cut off.
And when you’re using mobile credit, every minute spent waiting or redialing drains your funds. Often the automated options don’t even match the reason you’re calling, forcing you to start over until your credit runs out.
When you’re dealing with something important—licensing, banking, immigration, police, shopping and big stores—this becomes even more stressful. Just this week, I called the Land Transport Authority to check on what to pay for car licencing renewal.
No one picked up, no matter how many times I tried the different offices in Suva. But a day later when I called their Lami office to complain about someone who had parked illegally in my slot, they picked up.
A couple of weeks earlier, I called the Police Station and kept put on hold with music running in the background. Despite several calls no one picked up. In our office Sophie and Serafina said Immigration was bad—they too simply never answer calls. Clearly, this is a widespread problem that frustrates many customers in Fiji. Some offices have no effective operators to connect callers to staff paid to provide a public service.
To get a sense of how common this is, I drafted a few questions for colleagues. Here’s what Harold shared:
1. How often do you struggle to get through to LTA, banks, Immigration, or government offices? He said banks are manageable because at least you expect to be in a call queue.
But being transferred and then left hanging is frustrating—and it happens with government departments and private companies.
2. What has been your most frustrating experience? He said some media companies showed the same laxity. Government departments, FNPF, BSP Life—he’s experienced it everywhere.
3. How much money or time have you wasted trying to reach these services? For Harold, it’s more about what unanswered calls revealed: poor service standards. He said Police emergency lines have been the worse in his experience.
4. What changes should these offices make?
He believes refresher training in customer service is essential everywhere. Whether at the counter or on the phone, every team should know how to assist callers quickly and efficiently.
Phones are meant to make communication easier.
Today, almost everyone has one—yet reaching someone feels harder than ever, all the time you need genuine assistance/service.
Business reporter Mereani struggles to get calls through and the most annoying part she finds is waiting on the line, only to be transferred around. Sometimes she holds for over a minute with no response at all. She shared one example:
After calling a government hotline for basic information about a health centre in the West, her call was ignored repeatedly.
When she finally got through, the operator gave her several numbers—but none provided the contact she needed.
In the end, she called a hotel, her call was answered in seconds, transferred immediately to their first-aid team, and had access to the information she needed immediately. Advertising Features reporter Anaseini who was on the receiving end of goods ordered online for pickup found it hard to change the store she preferred to shop in because no one picked up when she called the listed numbers. So, what needs to change?
Use humans instead of machines. People deserve to be valued—and that includes their time. Getting answers shouldn’t require multiple phone calls, endless on hold voice messages, as it drains your patience as a customer.
If service providers want trust, the solution is simple: pick up your phones.
Because at the end of the day, no automated voice, no menu and no on hold music can replace the simple dignity of a real person saying, “Hello, how can I help you?”
If any organisation or office wants to earn the public’s respect, they don’t need more machines—they need to answer the phone and treat everyone as customers by providing a good telephone service.
