Dubai Customs' customer complaint management system receives international recognition

The practice is set to be published on Lloyd's official website alongside the big firms' practices including: General Motors (cars), Boeing (airplanes) and Fedex (cargo). Allowing other parties to view the achievement, Dubai Customs' customer complaint management ISO certified practice was also published in specialized European and American magazines.

It is worth mentioning that Dubai Customs has obtained this certification for the second consecutive year by maintaining the high standards and committing no violations or inefficiencies whether minor or major. It has also benefited from this certification in improving its customer complaints system and reduced the period of handling complaints from 7.4 days in the first quarter of 2008 to 1.5 days in the first and second quarter of 2009. It was able in fact to handle 100% of the received complaints and thus enhanced its customer satisfaction level to reach 100%.

For the purposes of reaping better benefits from the system, Dubai Customs has launched an awareness campaign about customer complaints system which comprised giving out brochures, putting up signboards and announcing the system through a specified link on its website. It has also conducted special meetings with clients to demonstrate the system and get their feedback and opinion about it. Consequently, the clients were able to use the complaints system more frequently and have more trust in it.

Mr. Ahmed Mahboob, the Executive Director of Clients Management Division at Dubai Customs, said:

"Dubai Customs is one of the government organizations that plays a key and vital role in the regional economy in general and Dubai's economy in particular. Therefore, it is extremely important to pay special attention to clients' needs and requirements in order to reach a high level of customer satisfaction. Hence stemmed the idea of implementing a distinguished system for managing customer complaints. The (ISO 10002:2004) is an internationally renowned system and is completely aligned with the main requirements of the system used at The Executive Council."

"The system was completely developed in-house by Dubai Customs employees without any outsourcing. And, following this great success, the Customer Care Office at The Executive Council decided to adopt a proposal for implementing the Dubai Customs practice at all Dubai Government departments in preparation for earning the ISO 10002:2004 certification and appointing Dubai Customs as the project consultant," he added.

In addition, Mohammad Faraj Abdullah, Director of Clients Management at Dubai Customs said that "Dubai Customs recognizes the right of its clients to complain and indeed welcomes complaints as a valuable form of feedback and input that would help it improve its services. This system outlines the commitment of the top management at Dubai Customs towards managing complaints effectively and efficiently. It also contributes to enhancing the clients' satisfaction with Dubai Customs' performance which in turn increases Dubai's regional competitiveness."

"As the customer service charter has been issued with the aim of improving the standards of clients servicing, business and trade have increased and flourished even more. It is also worth mentioning that the system has definitely given the customers a real opportunity to express themselves and their concerns freely with no constraints whatsoever," he added.