Arabic must for customer care centres from January 1

Dubai: Arabic language will be mandatory for the commercial and service sectors from January 1, 2015 and it has to be used by call centres and customer service centres, according to the Ministry of Economy. All invoices have to be in Arabic if the customer demands so.

In its statement, the ministry said December 31 is the deadline given to the commercial and service sectors to introduce the option of issuing bills in Arabic and use the language in all transactions and dealings if the customer wants, after which the ministry will impose financial fines on the defaulters.

“Many call centres and customer service centres still continue to communicate in other languages, as there is a shortage of staff — be they Emiratis or Arabs — who speak Arabic, and these centres are functioning in a way that allows only non-Arabs to submit reports, suggestions and complaints,” said Dr Hashim Al Nuaimi, Director of the Consumer Protection Department at the ministry.

Dr Al Nuaimi stressed the importance of making it incumbent on the customer service centres to provide the opportunity to the customers to choose the language, including Arabic, in which they want to speak as well as file reports and complaints by phoning the call centres of the establishment or sending an online message to the customers service or sending an SMS.

“The insistence of communicating in Arabic comes as part of quality assurance, protecting the consumers’ rights and high performance in customer service,” he said. He criticised the companies in the commercial and service sectors which do not use Arabic though they depend on modern and safe technology that is capable of absorbing an enormous flow of information from the customers and keep their privacy and safety.

“This will make the companies work in a professional and faster way,” he noted.

Dr Al Nuaimi cited a recent study conducted by the ministry which showed that on 36 per cent of the staff at the call centres and customers service centres across the country do not speak Arabic. It also showed that only 48 per cent of the employees in the call centres of trade agencies and maintenance centres of electronic items speak in Arabic, as compared to 65 per cent of trade centres, sale outlets and cooperative societies and 82 per cent of medical centres.

“Call centres of the education sector have 85 per cent staff speaking in Arabic, those of car agencies 90 per cent and hotels 95 per cent, while all employees of the telecommunications sector of Etisalat and Du speak Arabic.”

The study was conducted at altogether 100 call centres of all these sectors. The study also showed that 85 per cent of the staff at these call centres are women.

salah@khaleejtimes.com