A Tryst With the Customer Care

I am a sucker for services. I don't buy stuff if it doesn't absolutely guarantees services in India in places which are accessible to me. One of the perks of living in Delhi, despite the traffic and cultural degradation is, it is a hub for all major brands (mostly concentrated in Nehru Place and Okhla for electronics, and offices and call centers for other services distributed throughout the city).

I have encountered the following Customer Service Centers personally:

1) Reliance Customer Care: Absolute morons and cheats. Go to any forum on internet, and you will find people who would be ready to rip the customer care executive apart limb by limb to vent out their frustration on their stupidity.

2) Tata Photon: If ever I called someone “thieving bastard”, it has to be these guys. They changed internal policies. Deliberately messed up my connection- pretended that it was a technical fault which would take up to a month to fix and still had the audacity to send me a bill for the entire month during which my connection didn't work.

3) Samsung Customer Care: Organised. Have proper systems in place, but sometimes behave as total morons. I actually had to prove that they were wrong by sending an email to VP, Customer Satisfaction South East Asia and argue with them that their Service Center was wrong on a point of technicality. Would never recommend Samsung. Though my second experience was quite smooth.

4) Vodafone: Thorough professionals, listen carefully and chances are you will never have to call them.

5) Flipkart: Just my luck. Only had to call them once for some order assistance. Customer reviews on website says otherwise.

6) Ebay: They take customers seriously, very seriously.

And of course I had to save the best for last.

7) Amazon: Where do I even begin? They are what you say, the ray of light, the place with eternal sunshine. Have encountered them twice. The first being, when I was considering buying a used Kindle Paperwhite device- I called up the customer care executive and requested them to help me with the process to ensure that the device I was buying was fully functional and not stolen. They could not have been more sweet, and helpful. I didn't buy the used device, but then I ended up buying a brand new one. People often remark, that Kindle has one fault, that you are forever tied to their app store, and can not move your stuff around with you. Even though I strongly agree with the statement, my sentiments are otherwise- why move when you already have the best?

My second encounter being, when the courier misplaced the delivery package which a friend of mine had ordered. Now, we shot a mail to the customer care requesting expedited delivery for the goods. Now to my surprise, the reply was kind and understanding, I was really left speechless. Yours truly in his entire lifetime has never been so dumbfounded by a reply from a customer care. They were so apologetic and understanding, I was humbled.

Customer Care are installed to help people. When executives don't do their jobs properly, because they are lazy, and because they get directives from their managers to log as few complaints as possible- complaints which they then try to dispose of on flimsy grounds, they put at stake the reputation of the company.

To my best knowledge, no company wants to tarnish their image. No company would like to just sell something and forget about it.

Companies like Samsung, exist because they are proof, and are living embodiment of the technological prowess that engineering and science have made. We are the at the cusp of what is a turning point in the history. And to throw it all away just because one manufacturing fault/ technical fault would set them back by a couple of hundred bucks is foolish.

Customer Care Centers often forget what they are there to do- represent the customers. They are the ones who give feedback to the company as to the functioning of a product and the feedback on the faults. If companies cheap out here, they can never stay in the market.

So many companies have the reputation, take HTC for instance, they were once a market leader when it came to selling high end luxurious mobile phones. But the continuous dip in their services made clients go back to the store demanding a refund from the store. Store owners often had to acquiesce to the demands to maintain their goodwill in the market which led to loss. When situations worsened, the brick and mortar stores collectively decided to boycott HTC, and they put up fliers warning customers that any HTC phone will not be returned to them and services are not not guaranteed. The drastic dip in the sales has literally kicked HTC in the balls, and they are on the verge of bankruptcy.

My point being, anyone can sell a product, what counts is the after sales service.