Customer Service and Macroeconoics

After my last blog on customer service, I had a comment from a dear student of mine, he mentioned “if we're given an inch we will take a mile”. The observation is right to a large extent. There is a tendency to take undue advantage and that becomes a problem in offering reasonable customer service. Again not everyone is bad but if there is a sizeable number then all are treated alike. The question came to mind why are we like this? Why this mindset does exist in many? Is it because of socioeconomic conditions, or decline in morality? Does these two have any correlation? Do macroeconomic factors affect our morality? Macroeconomic factors such as economic output, unemployment, inflation, do affect a large population rather than a few select individuals. There is an impact on habits, social conditions, physiological conditions, spiritual and/or moral values. Vulnerability of an individual or a group increases due to macroeconomic changes. Indian movies where the hero steals bread to feed hungry younger brother or robs someone to buy medicines for dying mother highlighted deteriorated economic conditions and unemployment. Many of the movies also show the exploitation due to micro-financing by landlords or moneylenders and resultant revolt by the oppressed. There exists a strong relationship between economy and human behavior.

Over a period of time Indian Rupee has lost value, inflation has increased manifold, unemployment is a major problem, migration from rural areas and backward states has increased, politicians have played tricks, given wrong messages and have amassed wealth. Role models have changed in the Indian society and all these impacted adversely morality and the value system. It’s unfortunate. I still remember the days when one would not steal or cheat. Going down the memory lane, but not very long back, I still remember my experience. It was in 1982. I was in Goa at Miramar beach enjoying nice breeze in the evening. While walking on the beach I had to kneel down to tie my shoe lace.  My awkward bending resulted in my wallet dropping down and I saw the currency notes flying with strong breeze. Money had a value in those days. I was helplessly watching a mix of one, two, five and ten rupee notes flying. I ran after them on the sandy beach and managed to grab few. I stood there for a while and started counting what has been salvaged. In the meantime few persons came to me and returned the notes that they could catch. Frankly I did not believe that this could happen, but it did. All that I had lost was about six rupees and got back 162. Today with rupee value going down I may not get back anything and I may also not run to grab the flying notes and those who might get the notes might run away from me. It’s sad, but it’s a reality today. If there is such a change in mindset, then it’s real challenge for marketing professionals to design customer service.

We are not doing badly in India, but there is a need to design customer services keeping in mind the customer base and changing mindset. Customization is a major challenge. Websites and emails can help a long way. I did had a good experience with Britannia for the complaint that I had for one of their products. Onjus sent replacement to my residence in response to my complaint. HUL responded but more out the fear that I would complain to FDA, rather than customer care. I had no response from Reliance fresh to my complaint for overcharging. Finally I had to lodge complaint with regulatory authorities. And I have no idea if any action has been taken by investigating authority. There is again a major problem as the email IDs of many government and semi government officers are invalid. My emails for certain very important issues to Home Minister of Maharashtra, Commissioner of Police, Navi Mumbai, FDA commissioner, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, Insurance Ombudsman, Mumbai and may other government authorities are not even acknowledged. So on one hand many from the private sector are striving to offer good service, while government is unmindfully ignoring. This impacts credibility of the service providers and the mindset of consumer. If one is not heard then it sends wrong signals and that is bad for the business and the society. If one is denied the legitimate dues then retaliation is a strong possibility, which can manifest in different forms. This can be another dimension that might affect behavior to counter the apathy of non-response.

There has been mix of experiences in USA. Remington replaced the electric shaver just by calling them. Hanes replaced defective vest but asked for some details. It was like probing, so different than Remington experience, but did respond. But not all are same. Bad experience has been with Sunkist, their roasted almonds. A jar purchased from Sam’s Club, was just bad. The almonds were rancid many months before the “best before date”. Complaint lodged on company website was never responded. This is another problematic area when a company wants the consumer post a complaint on their own website. There is no proof unless one keeps “Print Screen”. Not many consumers do this, thus there is no follow up. However it shows the mentality. As of now I don’t buy any stuff of Sunkist. They lost a customer and may lose many more.  Best aspect of customer care in USA is return policy of most of the retailers. I had no difficulty in exchanging a defective product or just returning the product for refund or for store credit.

Another good service available in USA is “gift receipt”. If one doesn’t like the gift, the same can be returned to the retailer, another one of choice can be exchanged or store credit can be taken. Macy’s return policy has been good and what I liked was the customer care. Once I had a bad experience with one sales executive, resulting in my wasting almost half an hour to get my stuff. I asked for the manager and explained the need to be more professional. The interaction with store’s manager ended in getting an apology with $25 store credit.

Returning to India, many of these practices are not feasible. I can’t think of replacement of a $100 worth electric shaver without returning the defective piece and supporting invoice by any Indian manufacturer. My experience with a Tata company to avail of extended warranty has been very painful. Dmart deducted 2.5% from the amount they refunded because I had made the payment by credit card. The dealership of Tata Motors in Nerul, Navi Mumbai, charges 2.5% extra if I pay by credit card, but the dealership in Pune does not charge anything extra. The company has to have clear policies in this regard.

Picsquare, the online photo print company, published certain rates on the website and charged 33% higher amount on checkout. I spent hours in selecting, editing, and uploading the photos after taking into consideration the published rates and while checkout I find I am being cheated by 33% overcharging. I had two options either to cancel the deal or pay more. If I cancel the deal then my time spent to load the photos and my ISP’s charges are wasted and If I checkout then I pay more. I chose the option to pay more and check later with the company. The customer service sent a mail that the charges have been revised and the one published on the official sites are not valid. They had no concern or any desire to refund the extra amount charged. They lost a good customer. As against this Amazon offered for a free unconditional return for an item that I was not 100% happy or 10% refund of purchase value, if I decide to keep the product. Can Picsquare learn something?

Indian companies have to graduate themselves and offer better service. At the same time the consumers have to be honest and try not to take undue advantage of service offered. Who should take the lead is like whether chicken first or egg first. The changing socioeconomic conditions and with technological advancement a win-win situation is certainly possible.

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