The Chapala branch of the Comisión Federal de Electricidad (CFE) is taking a stab at improving customer services with the opening of a new office located at the corner of Calle Zaragoza and Privada Zaragoza, about a half block away from the former location.
The sleek Centro de Atención a Clientes boasts enhancements such as air conditioning and an ample seating area with cushioned furnishings where clients can comfortably await numbered turns to be attended at one of the two desks where customer service personnel handle new contracts and other CFE business matters, along with general questions and common complaints.
A row of parking spots set just steps away from the entrance to the facility are reserved for use by handicapped and senior clients.
Standing in line to pay bills at the cashier’s window has been eliminated with the installation of an outside module that houses two CFEMatic teller machines, accessible 24 hours every day of the year. A third device placed inside the office is available during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, 8:15 a.m. to 3 p.m.All three ATMS are equipped for taking payment by three log-in methods. Users may either tap their account numbers into the screen, swipe the barcodes printed on standard CFE bills or insert a new-fangled tarjeta inteligente (smart card). Watchmen on duty in the nearby guard post seem to be well versed on the different procedures and quite willing to assist clients who are unfamiliar with using the apparatus.
According to CFE’s Chapala division superintendent José Rubén Santana, the smart card system is not gaining much traction, with only 10 percent of the region’s client base switching to the novel and notoriously unpopular payment plan since its launch late last year. And some customers who did sign up are now opting out in preference for conventional billing.
Santana revealed that CFE staff are taking over promotions for the smart card due to rampant complaints about salesmen contracted by IUSA, the company that virtually holds a monopoly on supplying digital electricity meters to CFE. Many consumers have reported that IUSA agents roped them in by employing deceitful, hard-sell tactics, presumably with the intent of boosting their sales commissions.
The official made a point of stressing that customers are free to choose whatever billing system best suits their financial circumstances and personal preferences.