Blue Bird style of business

Blue Bird style of business

Earlier this month a Blue Bird taxi smashed into the rear end
of my car while it was stationary at an intersection. In a city
like Jakarta, relatively small collisions of this sort are
inevitable and can easily and routinely be dealt with if the
parties behave with a degree of honesty; unfortunately that was
not the case with Blue Bird.

My secretary called the Blue Bird office to sort out the
problem. Rather than apologizing and making good my losses, in a
clear attempt to intimidate, the company sent someone called Heri
Pramono to my office. His only purpose seemed to be to
acknowledge that his company was completely at fault and to
refuse to pay for the damages.

When asked why his company wouldn't do the right thing, he
just laughed and pointed out that there was absolutely nothing I
could do about it. Three days of phone calls and attempts at a
reasonable settlement went nowhere.

Sadly, this is a case of one of Jakarta's highest profile and
most visible companies demonstrating contempt for the public and
an utter lack of business ethics or integrity. Having since done
a little research, I have found that this way of dealing with
their negligence is Blue Bird policy and is apparently part of
their business methods.

PATRICK GUNTENSPERGER
Jakarta