NOTHING is more frustrating than waiting for your requests to be processed.

Sometimes, this leads to consumers being unsatisfied because of the delays in managing these requests.

This is common in the private companies as well as many government agencies.

There is an urgent need to upgrade service delivery for the betterment of consumers.

Consumers have shown frustration especially with the delay in processing applications.

The poor quality of customer services provided to consumers is an issue even with the council.

It has been inundated with complaints on poor service delivery.

A recent case involved a complainant who reported against a commercial bank with regards to its service delivery and the urgent need to streamline their processes to avoid delays.

John expressed his interest to purchase a property advertised for mortgagee sale by bank H in November 2014.

He managed to secure a loan and provided a copy of the offer letter to bank H.

Following this, John paid a 10 per cent deposit to ensure that the property would be secured under his name.

However, bank H failed to provide him with a copy of the sales and purchase agreement until January 15, 2015.

After accepting the terms and conditions to purchase the advertised property, John waited for the bank to proceed with the lodgment of the transfer documents and conclude settlement within the next few weeks.

The property that John wanted to purchase was built on a crown land, and John knew that his wait would persist for quite some time.

However, upon numerous follow-ups, John was advised that the settlement had not progressed.

This was because of the delay in the lodgment of documents to the Lands Department.

The delay was caused because of the outstanding land rates.

Town rates for the property had also been outstanding for some time.

It was not until July when bank H finally agreed to clear the rates within two days.

The clearance of the land rates was delayed for another two weeks despite numerous follow ups.

With the clearance of the land rates on August 8, 2015, bank H served an eviction notice on the previous owner on October 12, 2015.

By this time, the initial sales and purchase agreement had expired and a new agreement had been entered-into.

Again as there was no progress on the matter, John ultimately lodged his complaint with the council in May 2016.

Upon requesting for the status of the settlement, bank H advised that the delay in the settlement had been beyond their control.

The bank stated that the Lands Department took almost three months to grant a consent while the proceedings for the capital gains tax also took over a month for approval by Fiji Revenue and Customs Authority.

The council views streamlining as improving the efficiency and effectiveness of a process, business or organisation by simplifying or eliminating unnecessary steps, using new techniques, acquiring faster and simpler working methods or taking other approaches.

The council has found out that delay in processes will not only be time consuming and create chaos, it can also be a financial burden.

Consumers will have to dig more into their pockets to pay for lack of professionalism exercised by such organisations.

The council is urging, corporate bodies, government ministries and departments to improve its customer service.

Services need not be of the highest quality to satisfy customers.

Customers trade-off various factors in their assessments of quality and satisfaction.

For some customers, adequate service at a convenient location or a lower price may be more satisfactory than higher service levels elsewhere.

Consumers are advised to visit our offices in Suva, Lautoka and Labasa if they have grievances in relation to poor service delivery.