Guarding

An SIA assessment

by Mark Rowe

I was recently invited to take part in a survey about the SIA as a result of my dealings with them through our ISO9001:2015 and ACS certifications, and the initial request actually made me scoff, writes Paula Mathers, Assistant Director of SIA-approved guarding company Coverguard Services.

For those who have recently had to deal with the SIA in any way, you will know how amazingly difficult every single aspect of the organisation is. It doesn’t matter if you want to ask a simple question, renew your SIA license, or send off your Self-Assessment Workbook, the whole process is enough to make you want to give in.

When I first booked our ACS assessment, I had to complete a Self Assessment Workbook (SAW). It took almost a week to complete this fully and properly. I was incredibly proud of everything I had written – I felt I had really covered every aspect of what was being requested. I then had to send it through to the SIA. That’s where my troubles started. A week or so after submitting my SAW I received a telephone call from the SIA, the customer service representative telling me I “hadn’t bothered” to complete the SAW for Coverguard Security. The lady on the phone was rude, obnoxious and absolutely horrific to deal with. I actually felt like giving in there and then – already I was wondering if the ACS was a route we wanted to go down, was it actually worth the effort? About 25 minutes into the argumentative phone call, my “customer service” representative informed me that she could now see our workbook – that I had just sent it there and then. A fabulous feat for me from my position within the car park in Milton Keynes! From there, things just got worse and worse.

We then had our assessment … every single detail that I had written in the SAW was disregarded and re-evaluated. To this day I still don’t understand what the reason for us to complete this workbook was – it wasn’t used at all. It felt like an utter waste of time, which a lot of small businesses just can’t afford. Every minute is precious and impacts on your ability to try and move the business forward.

Once we had passed our ACS accreditation (December 2016), I decided to chase up why we hadn’t appeared on the register. I was expecting our appearance to be instant – after all, the efforts companies go to to achieve this are incredible, and so should be recognised as such. I couldn’t get through on the phone – despite being on hold for over an hour each day and my ‘customer service’ representative wasn’t replying to any of my emails – despite reading every one of them.

By mid-January I was getting increasingly frustrated but finally managed to get hold of my contact. She then informed me that I “hadn’t bothered” paying for our certification. Obviously, after all the trouble I had already had with them, this got my back up straight away. Again, during my phone call with her, the money magically appeared in their account and she was able to add us to the register. However, she only did updates on a Friday, so I would have to wait until then. Friday came… and went. Then at 19:00 hours I received an email telling me we had been added to the register! Great, I was over the moon – I wouldn’t have to speak to this woman for a whole year!!!! And then I clicked on the link on the register. She had linked our website to a totally different company. I rang her and she saw her mistake, however, she had decided that her day had been long enough, so we would have to wait until the following Friday before she would make the amendment.

The service I received in this one example of needing to contact the SIA speaks for itself and I know we aren’t alone. Regardless of what position you are – a job seeker trying to renew his/her badge, a director trying to achieve accreditation, not one of us has the time to be on hold for hours or to spend weeks and even months on some occasions trying to chase things up. Most people these days have Apple products – iPads, iPhones or Macs, which aren’t compatible with the SIA website. I had to go to the library to use an old Windows machine to even apply for my SIA licence! The system is archaic, the customer service is appalling and they are a severe detriment to the industry. The entire system needs a complete review from start to finish.

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