Amol Bol 2

Customer ‘rare’ service

Gone are the days when service used to come first. When people used to know you by your face and your name. You used to be feeling at home being at the service providers’ places. They used to serve you just because they wanted you to be happy. They never put the typical management quotes like ‘customers are important. Let’s keep them happy’ or never put the taglines such as ‘we serve you better’. They didn’t even know what the customer service is, still they used to serve better.

While installing my internet connection, the service provider’s executive told me that I can register my complaint with an e-mail. If my internet is down, from where am I supposed to send an email?

You have to be extremely lucky to be taken care of by the selling companies. First of all you should have heart to call them and get entertained.

It’s sounding funny. But it’s true. Where does a customer go once he is sold with a product or a service?

Our desi companies have opened the call centres to attend the customers keeping their US counterparts as the role model. Once you call them, you have to undergo the process of pressing buttons. Most of the times you miss the buttons. If by chance you press a correct one, then a standard tone of ‘All our executives are busy at the moment’ keeps your irritation level high till you disconnect the call. (I think these people must have a hidden agreement with the pharma guys who sell the tablets for high blood pressure.) I celebrate with friends and family when I get to hear a telephonic tone of the lady or a man sitting with the mouthpiece and I hardly get a chance to do so.

If it’s about a complaint or an inquiry at a government office, then we are already used to it. But it keeps on happening with the private companies also. They call you hundred times to get your appointment to sell their product. But then you are a told story for them. You are not going to get any reward points. Each time you get a different voice to talk to. Then you again have to tell all your kundli to the person. He or she doesn’t know the whereabouts of previous conversation. (They also might have a mutual contract with the telecom companies.) Again you have to tell everything to them. Then they give you a simple solution which says your query will be taken care of in 48 hours. Now these 48 hours don’t include weekends, public holidays and other offs. The funniest part is they record your number. Previously I used to think this a very ideal system. But later on I discovered that this is an ideal system for them. They can easily understand you and your nuisance value. This doesn’t end here. Now it’s our turn to call them hundred times to get your work done.

If you go to their premises, then the customer care executives show you their efficiency. You are given a token and made seated for hours for the smallest work. They have only couple of executives to attend you. Ek free advice. Go to their place with eatables, magazines, water and some ice. Yes! You require it to put on your head. Otherwise you cant keep your cool. And above all, nobody can guarantee that this is your only visit for that work.

As a customer, least we expect is an assurance of a work done with a smile. Dont we deserve that? Globalization brought us opportunities. But are we really mature for those?