An Interaction with Vodafone Customer Service Raises Other Questions...

My first customer service interaction with Vodafone got me thinking - "Where does India stand when it comes to Customer Service? Further, where do we stand while solving problems for those not personally related to us?"

Vodafone Service?

I bought a voucher from Vodafone (the one of bonus SMSes), which had a distorted code when I scratched it. I called Customer Service who told me to visit the vendor. When I did, the vendor said the process had changed. I had to visit a Vodafone Store. That was delay no. 1. I visited a Vodafone Store, where the rep, Laxman, asked me 100 details before telling me it would take 48 hours for Vodafone to put the SMS pack onto my account. No amount of discussion with him helped, so I walked out and thought I’d try elsewhere. This was delay no. 2. I was en route to meeting a friend in Dombivli, where I sawa another Vodafone service centre. I decided to try my luck there. They took my details and told me the same thing – 48 hours. I tried to reason with them, saying I didn’t make them wait 48 hours for payment when I bought a voucher from them; that I would lose money (1 buck per SMS) for those 2 days. I expected some empathy; instead I got apathy. The manager at Dombivli, Haridas, even went to the extent of saying it was my fault the voucher was screwed. He made it sound like he was doing me a favour by going through the process; a process which was more harmful to me than useful. In the end, exasperated, I gave in and walked away. Living up to their reputation, Vodafone recharged my account in – DRUMROLLS PLEASE – 72 HOURS! This drove the final nail in the coffin.

What if the customer involved was someone who couldn’t afford the amount lost over the next 3 days? I’ve worked for an international telecom organization, where we had the option of adding some credit, SMSes, etc. to make life easier for customers when such system generated issues occurred. Can’t the same thing be done in India? When it comes to providing Customer Service here, we often take a beating.

The Expected circle includes what an organization is expected to offer, while the augmented circle includes features/aspects which go beyond expected offers. When an organization blends aspects from the augmented circle into the expected one, it will achieve success and leapfrog competition.

Whole Product Circles

The same applies to Customer Service (CS). When CS goes beyond what a customer expects Brand Equity and credibility improve exponentially. That’s one reason we’re losing the BPO business to Philippines. They focus more on customer satisfaction and finding alternate methods to help, which enhances the customer experience with the brand. We, on the other hand, are still stuck with the concept of... you guessed it... PROCESS!

The PROCESS said I must wait 2 days (actually 3) for a recharge I had paid for; PROCESS says a car cannot be repaired urgently in a workshop though the reason may be genuine; PROCESS is what hurts most of us even in the corporate world. Being accommodating seems to disappear when we have to give; it appears when we want. Giving me 10 free SMSes would’ve cost Vodafone barely anything (10 SMSes x 10 p/SMS = Re. 1). In trying to save that 1 rupee, they’ve lost out on lots of good publicity they could’ve received through customers like us, which is priceless.

My professor told us about a rule in Wal-Mart where anything can be replaced/refunded in 8 days! No questions asked. However, most people who take undue advantage of this rule in USA are Indians. They use something purchased from Wal-Mart and return it in less than 8 days saying they don’t need it. My professor wanted to have a razor blade exchanged he had purchased in Manhattan when he went there again. He had no bill or service number, etc. The rep simply told him it was a defunct piece, no longer in production and replaced it with the latest model. No questions asked, no answers given! On the other hand, when he tried to use the warranty option at CROMA for an article he purchased, he was made to run around so much that he let it go.

 

VODAFONE and other Indian brands, are you listening?

"I Don't Want It."

This is probably the most powerful sentence in today’s environment; exactly opposite to what people believe gives them power i.e. “I want it!” How often do we use these words today? And do we know what results it yields?

Google exposes us to new things almost every day. The world has become a much smaller place. New Apple/Android phones can be purchased even before they are officially launched in a country. Our desires have increased, and so have our wants i.e. our desire to own something backed by the ability to purchase it. But this increase in disposable income for us has also been beneficial to manufacturers and service providers. Not just because their sales have increased, but also because the surplus demand has gradually allowed power to shift to their hands. Impatience has become an innate tendency amongst buyers and sellers are cashing in on this.

Scarcity of a particular item has led to, amongst others, rise in prices, increase in waiting periods and outrageous demands by the providers of products and services. Sometimes these demands include extra charges we consumers must pay for issues which they (sellers) create. I have come across 2 such examples in the past 2 months. The 1^st one was when I was buying a new cell phone. The shopkeeper increased the price saying it included various taxes. When my friend said we were getting a better deal elsewhere and got ready to leave, all their taxes vanished and we got the handset cheaper than what was quoted at the other store. The 2^nd one was when I was buying a new car. The dealer told me about 3 – 4 ridiculous clauses and said I had to adhere to them as it was part of standard procedure (Details of those may prove very boring). Since I was not desperate for the car, I told them I didn’t want the car. They kept saying I would have to follow the procedure and that it was for my own good, and I told them I would approach another dealer who could see things the way I do. Once again, all clauses were done away with and my terms and conditions were accepted.

We pride ourselves on being the impatient generation. TVs, cars, durables, laptops, consoles, mobile phones, etc; we want them at the push of a button. Sometimes, maybe out of desperation, we pay a premium and also may end up being harrowed by sellers for more money under the pretext of ‘setting’. All this extra money is pocketed by sellers while we are made to believe they united heaven and earth to get our work done. Similar is the case of telecom service providers (TSPs) also. They do not care how much we complain about poor service or billing issues (as long as we are adding to their ARPUs). If one threatens to leave the service, they don’t mind; they believe they’ll find many more. But the same applies to us too. True, it is an oligopolistic market (few sellers, many buyers) for TSPs, but we have the option of other providers too. MNP just makes it that much more convenient for us.

India has evolved, or rather revolutionized, since the early 90s when we had to wait years for everything. Barely any company has a monopoly in the market now; the market is far more competitive and there are people implementing good business models to meet our needs. So we do not need to depend on someone for selling us what we can buy from anywhere. If our desires have increased, so have the options to fulfil them. Let’s use the best information source – Google, to find alternate people/places/techniques that will fulfil our needs without us having to cater to their whims and fancies. If we can induce some patience in ourselves and remove the cap on the time limit to fulfil our needs and wants, we will end up realizing we got what we wanted and it was a bargain. We save money, are more knowledgeable and feel good about it. Besides, it will once again dawn upon sellers that the customer is king. We just need to know how and where to prudently use the words “I don’t want it!”