We Serve

Our country and our people are known for hospitality and service. Few smart men realized how this innate quality of us Indians can be transformed into an entrepreneurial opportunity; thus the birth of service industry which we are so proud of and has been fetching us money; market growth and helping many of us to lead a decent standard of living.

The service industry started with IT and spread its horizon across medical, knowledge, biotechnology, banking, finance, law......Are we really hospitable? Are we service oriented? Indians are known to be polite, understanding and serve with care. Well, take another look Maybe the commercialization has ripped our quality of its sheen.

No one has time and the resource to channelize; at least in the after sales/service sector. Its all candy and honey when you first try to acquire a new product - be it internet service, a new car or a telephone connection. You are promised freebies, assistance at any hour of the day and other sweet-nothings. The marketing guys must be spending time in grooming their communication etiquette and learning the art of charming.

Once the money reaches their hands; thats that. You are at their mercy to get things working. "Sir, I am just sales, I dont know technical things. My customer service will get back to you". Numerous calls to the customer service, each time talking to a different person and trying to explain your problem beginning with history is sure going to wear you out. When 'they' trust their computer database history records more than the trust on fellow human beings, its more of walking on nails.Numerous follow-ups before you buy a product and not even a corpse to care after you have bought them! They behave as if they are doing you a favor and you dont have a choice but at their mercy.

Its obvious that the chunk of their funds goes in hiring famous celebrities to market their product. When it comes to customer service, it takes a U-turn. Incapable agents, poor communication, commitment less and more. Raise a complaint and they raise a ruckus! The service person attending to you is going to take it personally and try to convince you with a "Mistakes do happen". I wonder if such lax attitude is allowed when Indian service companies serve offshore clients? I have heard of stories when these executives get abused by clients at the first chance of knowing they are being attended to by Indians.

An after sales service is as important as selling a product. Its not a favor or a charity but part of business. You not only pay for the product but for services as well. Not to blame the executives but the policy of companies have to be changed. Why are these companies not giving importance to service as they give it to marketing?

There are reasons. We are not taken seriously. The "I'll adjust" attitude - they can get away. The service policy is not defined and if defined not adhered to. Mistake is not theirs alone. How about us? Give us a penny and we rob the bank!. Dont we take advantage of anything free?

Imagine having a 90 day return policy as in USA? What would we do? Each one knows the answer. Somehow its ironical that the best service industry is in India and we cater to the world when we cannot cater to our needs.

Add On

May I take your order ma'am?
Cappucci.....
(even before mentioning it)...With cream or chocolate syrup ma'am?

All these with a plastic smile. I definitely am sure that these folks are trained in etiquette and behavior to woo customers and how to sell a product in 5 seconds. Its so void and its obvious.

Such mundane activity like ordering a coffee has become such a big task these days. Most times its an unpleasant experience to the customer. Not to forget the extra expense incurred. You may ask whats the extra expense here in just ordering a cappuccino.Well, the cream or the chocolate syrup is not for free. They are ADD-ONS and they carry a price.

The customer is bombarded with assortment of options, he is, at the end of it all, confused!! All I want was a coffee, now why does it have to be so complicated? I dont want coffee anymore!!

Not only coffee shops, pizza corners -  extra cheese and toppings, beauty saloons - pedicure, facials?, our banks as well!! Add-on credit card! As if its for FREE FREE FREE!! Even hospitals are offering add-ons!! Take that :-)

The way these options are presented to the customer makes one believe that these are included as part of the package, without realizing that it could as well dent the wallet. And if you dont specify the small, medium, large...you have bigger hole in your pocket, as the billing is done for the largest portion.

You would go to a coffee shop for a leisure and to de-stress. Well, at the end of your order, you wished you never went in there. Its irritating when you exactly know what you want and yet have to listen to the systematic order in which they present the products.

At one point, the marketing is so aggressive; trying to sell a product so hard that you forgot your primary intention!!
Tell a NO, and you are a mockery.

"No extra cheese for your burger, ma'am?"

"Dont want any drinks along with your pizza, Sir?"

"No facial? Your skin looks so tired"......

Cannot then stop feeling positively depressed!! And we get a nice HEADACHE as an Add-On :-P

Jeans on EMI!!

I recently saw an advertisement and it caught me off-guard. I was bewildered for a moment. Most of them who did come across this ad would have felt the same as I did.

Levis and Co which invented Jeans and made it so popular and trendy that everyone wanted to own a pair, has come up with a unique concept to beat the slow sales and keep its cash registers clinking.

They are it seems offering jeans with an EMI option for 3 months with 0% interest. Its a pilot project that's been started first in Bangalore and it will be introduced to other cities as well if this scheme works out. They have a tie-up with ICICI credit cards. Minimum purchase must be of Rs 1500. So if I buy a pair of jeans for Rs 1500, then I have to pay Rs 500 each month for the next 3 months. And the jeans company takes care to pay the bank's service charges for these 3 months, so you need not have to shell out anything extra. Isn't this cool? Its weird too. It does seem to be working out for them. It seems the sales has gone up by 50%. So just keep your eyes and ears open; for you might just end up discovering the same scheme in your city.

Maybe the company is doing it due to downturn. People are not spending on apparels as much as they used to spend earlier. But apparels in India is not value-priced. Or is this scheme available only on nominally priced jeans? What if I want to buy a cool pair of jeans with Swarovski crystals embellished on the rear or real diamonds maybe?

It would have taken everyone by surprise, the retailers, the competitors. It seems to be the first of its kind for apparels. I am not sure if this has been already tired anywhere else in the world. But does it make sense? How about the returns, the transaction charges incurred? Would it work out for the company? Would it work out for the franchisee? We have seen EMI options being offered for cars, consumer durables where their value is high and the product can be recovered if the customer defaults.

But Jeans??
What would the bank do by repossessing Jeans? Wash them again, redo the embroidery, stud in crystals if they are broken or worn out, fix the fly and resell?
I wonder what would they do if someone defaults payments. Would the bank's recovery agents chase that person wearing the jeans and strip him off on the road!!!!

Talk about new ways of selling!!

Credit Card Nuisances and Non-acceptance

I got my first Credit card 3 months after I started working. It was a Gold card. I was very happy with it, flaunted it to my friends. Was proud about it. Alas! as everyone else, I learnt it the hard way.

I have 2 issues which I think is not unique to me alone.

Nuisance

I always believe that its all in your hands to handle stuff. One cant really blame anyone else but you. I have had more than 1 credit card; its never been a problem for me to use them prudentially. I am a spendthrift, yet I have always paid my bills on time. You know; the bills - i.e. exact amount that you swiped for; which is negligible but other exorbitant fee like interest, service charge, hidden charges and all other blah..blah...blah...

One particular Indian bank really does this well. Today morning, I get an alert on my cell phone

"Dear Customer, effective 06 May 2009, the cash limit on your XXXXX Bank Credit Card xxxx007 will be Rs 0 and the total credit limit will be Rs.. XXXXX/-"

I did not care as I cut the card into 4 pieces and threw it away long time ago. The account was still active though. This particular bank has been doing dubious stuffs; and I have always taken it. They would charge extra amount and quote it as defaulter fine and so on.

One more instance2 years ago - I received 2 credit cards from the bank at different intervals. It was attached with a Congratulatory message - "As you are our privileged customer....blah..blah..blah....we are offering you an extra card....."

I called them to enquire why they sent the card as it was nothing special. As such, the account and the credit limit is still the same. This was something like an Add-on card. Whats the hoopla about it? I asked them why didn't they intimate me before sending and why didn't they have the courtesy to ask me if I would require it?

Phat comes the reply from the customer service executive - "We called you ma'am. You approved it and hence we sent it".
I asked when was the call date and to which number I was contacted.

He mentioned "21st August 2006, Ph number 91xxxxxxxxxx". (My cell phone)

The truth was that I was not in India at the mentioned date and I had got my phone service suspended during my absence in India.

I thought enough of this and never really used those 2 cards. Recently I got a mail from the credit card department that as my card was inactive, they are going to suspend it. What big deal! Go do it!

Yeah, so after all these nasty experiences, I decided to confront them today after I received this message. The executive told me that they review the payment history regularly and it is bank's policy. They have decided to nullify my cash limit but my credit limit remains the same. He also added that this would get affected only if I used the card to withdraw cash.

Even though I did not use the card anymore, I wanted to know the solid motive behind it. I persisted and said "I might want to withdraw cash during emergency. And moreover, I have been holding the card for almost 4 years now. Was there any payment delay from my side? Whats exactly the reason? You guys did not even intimate before deciding on this. Do you only review credit and payment history to strip off privileges? You have never increased my credit limit while other banks have done it"

Having said this, I asked them to cancel my account and the card. Anyways, I learnt the hard way of having these cards and their nuisances. They charge huge interest and all other nonsensical changes.

The executive has sent my case for review and to see if my cash limit will be revoked - in spite of me being adamant to cancel the card.

Non-acceptance

Due to the recent market downturn, lay-offs and in these times of credit crunch, everyone prefers hard cash. If you are someone who prefer plastic when it comes to spending; it might leave you fuming when you figure out that the restaurants, lounge bars, malls, don't accept credit cards anymore; flashing your card would rather leave you embarrassed.

Otherwise also, there are these so called technical glitches, power failures, phone lines down and so on. Aren't they supposed to intimate as soon the patrons walk in rather than put them in an awkward position later?

Talking about one such experience, when it was time to pay the bill at a coffee shop, the waiter came back with my card and said "Its barred madam". It was so embarrassing. He said it loud enough for everyone to hear. I immediately called the card's customer care and they assured me that the card was fine from my end. It ought to be that the swiping machine was probably malfunctioning

I had to pay through cash later.

Maybe, these new rules and updates are due to recession!! They want to save themselves from paying tax as much as possible as card transactions mean that the money is routed through bank, making if accountable for tax.

PS : My ethical sense has restricted me from quoting the bank's name but I am very disappointed with them.

Calvin & Hobbes Lemonade Stand's business perspective

I got this as a forward few days ago.

This cartoon strip was created about 15 years ago. But the explanation of the business perspective has a resonance to the American Auto industry's position in the economy even today!