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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