The doorman opened the door with a smile doing the customary "namaste" albeit fake. As I stepped inside, a lady dressed in an elegant sari enquired about my well-being. After directing me towards the section where I would be "looked after", she went on to attend another customer. The minute I entered "the section", I was offered a drink. I felt like a prince alright.
Five minutes and three attendants later, I was seated in front of the executive who would attend to a "complaint" about my phone bill.
I'd stepped into a network provider's showroom and not a fancy Hotel.
Mind you, this is after obvious attempts at getting a resolution through their 1800 number call-centre.
We, the "customers" are to be blamed for this appalling situation.
Today, this provider is literally wasting money at creating services to supposedly delight us at activities that is not it's core.
Invariably, for these very delightful services, they will charge us in all direct/indirect ways.
The whole theory of "customer delight being the new customer expectation" is a marketing farce that should STOP and almost immediately.
I want a phone that functions well in all possible areas of the city.
I don't want a low/weak network patches during my commute where the call will most certainly drop.
In the mornings, when we go to a milk-booth or the street-side newspaper vendor, do we expect any sort of frills?
Then why do we fall prey for such gimmicks elsewhere?
What is the need for customer service? Why spend on infrastructure for a call centre?
Why can the companies not focus on giving us a product that does not ask for any customer service?
The same or less money can be "invested" in research and development instead of marketing and service.
I'm not against customer service centres or call centres. They are necessary in some sectors. But they should be limited to those sectors alone.
Remember the old bike ad from the 90s? Fill it; Shut it; Forget it!
I currently dream of a confident product where they say, "Come, Look, Buy and simply refer us to your friends". I'm sure, they don't want us to "Forget" them. :)
Five minutes and three attendants later, I was seated in front of the executive who would attend to a "complaint" about my phone bill.
I'd stepped into a network provider's showroom and not a fancy Hotel.
Mind you, this is after obvious attempts at getting a resolution through their 1800 number call-centre.
We, the "customers" are to be blamed for this appalling situation.
Today, this provider is literally wasting money at creating services to supposedly delight us at activities that is not it's core.
Invariably, for these very delightful services, they will charge us in all direct/indirect ways.
The whole theory of "customer delight being the new customer expectation" is a marketing farce that should STOP and almost immediately.
I want a phone that functions well in all possible areas of the city.
I don't want a low/weak network patches during my commute where the call will most certainly drop.
In the mornings, when we go to a milk-booth or the street-side newspaper vendor, do we expect any sort of frills?
Then why do we fall prey for such gimmicks elsewhere?
What is the need for customer service? Why spend on infrastructure for a call centre?
Why can the companies not focus on giving us a product that does not ask for any customer service?
The same or less money can be "invested" in research and development instead of marketing and service.
I'm not against customer service centres or call centres. They are necessary in some sectors. But they should be limited to those sectors alone.
Remember the old bike ad from the 90s? Fill it; Shut it; Forget it!
I currently dream of a confident product where they say, "Come, Look, Buy and simply refer us to your friends". I'm sure, they don't want us to "Forget" them. :)
May be in these companies FMEA is done to keep tackling a problem than fixing and preventing a problem... :)
ReplyDeleteYep... and R & D is limited to "touch", "pinch" and "gestures" in the air....
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