With the announcement on 23 March by President Cyril Ramaphosa of forthcoming nationwide lockdown guidelines, we would like to inform you of how these will affect Netstar’s delivery of services to you, our valued customers.
Dear customer,
We fully support these measures, which go into effect from midnight on Thursday. They are vital if we are to slow the spread of the Coronavirus and help our healthcare system handle the load of dealing with the pandemic.
With the lockdown period scheduled to last three weeks, the leadership of Altron and Netstar has adjusted our existing safety and operating procedures in line with the government’s plans. The well-being of our employees and customers remains paramount.
As an essential provider of security services, we assure you that the Netstar 24/7 Emergency Call Centre at 0800 11 22 22 remains open throughout the lockdown period for emergencies, theft and hi-jacking. Click here to view our certification to operate during the lockdown period.
Because of the new limitations on movement, and the exemptions for essential services, new installations and critical technician services will be limited to fleets essential to the transportation of food, basic goods and medical supplies.
We will also continue servicing the vehicles and fleets of municipal service providers, hospital and emergency services and other healthcare providers. We will adjust our operations to include all other services specified as essential by the government as such announcements are made.
Besides these specified services for essential service providers, any other non-essential customer installation scheduled during the 21 day lockdown period will be rescheduled in compliance with the guidelines.
Customer service and product support will continue being delivered remotely. Our call centre customers should contact us via email (and not by phone) on cs@netstar.co.za by providing their name or business, vehicle registration and details of the enquiry.
For basic invoice, statement, fitment certificate, vehicle location and test requests we encourage you to make use of the Netstar WhatsApp Service Bot on 066 306 1096. Full details may be found at netstar.co.za/service-bot
The central committee we have established at Altron Group executive level will continue to monitor the pandemic, government responses, and their impact on our business, employees and customers.
We will review our position accordingly and recommend appropriate action, which will be communicated to you, our customers, as quickly as possible. We wish you strength and fortitude during this challenging time.
As you are aware, President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared a national state of disaster and put drastic measures in place to arrest the scale and speed at which the Coronavirus is growing, protect people from infections and minimise the potential impact on society and business.
We wish to inform you that as the leadership of Altron & Netstar, we have implemented measures which are in line with the guidance from the Government of South Africa. The well-being of our employees and our customers remains of utmost importance to us.
We have further established a central committee at Group executive level that handles all matters related to the impact of Coronavirus on our business, employees and customers daily. The committee which I chair will monitor developments from the Government, review our position and recommend appropriate action, where applicable and relevant.
Our communication with our employees is ongoing, encouraging them to take all necessary precautions in the workplace and at home.
We are equally concerned for you as our customer and advise that we have initiated business impact analysis to ensure that the right contingency plans are in place. These always involve immediate and ongoing actions to ensure business continuity of Netstar operations and services .
Some of the measures relevant to you within the “Netstar Business Continuity Plan” include:
- Promoting good hygiene and respect social distancing by limiting the number of people entering and moving within Netstar facilities. Hand sanitisers have been deployed around our facilities and our remote field workers, supported by appropriate change management interventions and awareness amongst staff and customers.
- The Netstar Emergency and Support Call Centre work force is being split into mirror teams operating from geographically different sites to create more space between agents ensuring continuous service. These actions apply to our Emergency Call Centre, Planning and Customer Service departments. Therefore, our services to yourselves are uninterrupted.
- Our Netstar Technicians are provided with sanitisers and latex gloves for their own and customer protection. All equipment and vehicles will be wiped down after installation and other work.
- Netstar Customer Support and other interaction such as training will be done remotely by deploying remote workforce technology for the benefit of our people and our customers.
- Assessment of critical suppliers within the Netstar supply chain is ongoing to understand the exposure and impact to our business. At this point we have enough stock in hand to support our customers and their demand.
We are continuously monitoring and expanding our actions plans, ensuring uninterrupted services to our customers and the safeguarding of our people and the areas we operate in.
We wish you the best and please keep safe. If there are any changes which might affect you as our customers, we will communicate such in advance.
My regards,
Pierre Bruwer
Group Managing Director
