POND ISLAND--After weeks of closure because of the coronavirus lockdown, TelEm Group says strict social distancing protocols will be observed when the company opens its stores from 9:00am to 12:00pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week.
“The concession to re-open has been granted by government to facilitate customers who want to make payment for services that they could not pay for online,” said TelEm in a press release on Monday.
On at least two occasions in the past week, TelEm said it has had to apologise for turning many of its paying customers away after they turned up at the main office location on Pond Island only to be told the office had to remain closed as per government instructions.
TelEm Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) Michiel Parent expressed his appreciation to customers for their diligence and promised that everyone will receive a warm welcome Tuesday and for the rest of the week on their return to make their payments, even though the opening hours are being kept short for now.
“We are also informing customers in advance that we will be putting some strict protocols in place to ensure their safety and the safety of our staff while the offices are open for payment,” said Parent.
Amongst the safety measures being taken will be a compulsory requirement for all visiting customers to wear a mask and/or face covering prior to entering TelEm locations. Customers will also be asked to obey strict social distancing rules inside the building while waiting to be served and outside the building while waiting to enter.
Parent said customers will be asked to sanitise their hands with sanitising solutions provided for them and to allow cleaning assistants inside the buildings to disinfect and wipe down countertops after each customer has been served.
For now, a limited number of persons will be allowed into the public areas at any one time. All TelEm staff will also be required to wear masks, with the use of gloves being optional. Similar to customers, staff will also be making extensive use of hand sanitisers as an additional safety precaution.
Parent assures that customers who arrive before the official closing time of 12:00pm to make payments will be served, but anyone arriving after that time will be asked to return the following day.
Parent reminds all that TelEm will be opening on the days also set aside by government for members of the public to visit the supermarkets, which this week are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday due to the public holidays on Monday and Friday of this week. The opening times next week will revert to Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, also as previously instructed by government.
“From Tuesday we will be focusing primarily on customers who want to pay their bill. Other non-essential staff will continue to work from home. Customers who want to report a service outage or customers with other service questions can call our Helpdesk which is open daily from 8:00am until 6:00pm,” said Parent.
Customers can contact the helpdesk via 611, 548-help (548-4357), 721-546-0100, and via WhatsApp 721-528-0100.
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