CAY BAY--- Shell service stations in St. Maarten are performing to very high standards. In recent weeks Shell stations in St. Maarten scored well in cleanliness and presentation, and in customer service, prompting commendations from both Shell and its Caribbean representatives Sol.
All stations in the St. Maarten network were deemed worthy of awards for cleanliness and presentation, after an audit in July by Luis Wong, Shell’s Brand Licensing Relationship Manager Caribbean. Mr. Wong carried out a thorough review of St. Maarten stations and concluded that St. Maarten boasts a world-class network of gas stations that can hold its own against any network in Europe, the US or elsewhere. “I only found a few small things that needed fixing. I am very impressed,” Mr. Wong said after his visit from his headquarters in Guatemala.
Shell audits its gas stations annually on “state of repair” and “cleanliness”, explained David Antrobus,
General Manager - Northern Caribbean for Sol Group, Shell’s representative in the Caribbean. The auditor looks at how clean the station is and how well Shell’s brand is represented. “These audits are tough. What Mr. Wong could see was that there is a good competition going on amongst the stations in our network,” said Mr. Antrobus.
He reported that since all seven stations in the network achieved the threshold of 80 %, they were all presented with awards at a special ceremony at Duzong in Cole Bay. R & R Tackling in Cole Bay, which had a close-to-perfect score with a 97 percent report-card, received a special commendation.
The ceremony also served to present Shell Madame Estate with a silver award from Sol for customer service. As part of a program called “People Make the Difference Real” 84 Shell gas stations in all 14 Caribbean countries where Sol is present were visited by mystery shoppers from the beginning of the year. The stations were judged on a number of customer service criteria.
Shell Madame Estate achieved the 80 % threshold in the second quarter of the year. Of the 16 awards -5 Gold and 11 Silver- that were given out over that quarter, Shell Madame Estate claimed 14th place and a silver award.
Sol GM Mr. Antrobus was proud that stations in his network claimed the achievements and got the appropriate accolades. “They excelled in service, cleanliness and presentation, which is what we expect from our partners. That they were awarded with prizes speaks for Sol’s core belief that excellence should be rewarded,” he said.
