The Falling Service Standards in India...

Even as I decided to write this piece, I am wanting to pull out my hair in exasperation. Unfortunately I cannot even risk doing so for the fear of losing whatever little remain :). Let me come to the points of frustration which has got all to do with the falling service standards and an unscrupulous market place.

I bought some recliners from one of the so called biggest and most reputed manufacturer "Recliner India" which claims to be equipping everybody from the PVR's of the world to the Richest. I fell for this and from Day one I have been battling one problem after the other, first the movement was fixed in such a way that the faux leather tore, this within 15 days. I complained and the resolution happened after 2 months of constantly pursuing them, during which time we did not use them for the fear of damaging them even more. Finally we got them and thought that at least now we could enjoy the seats.

But to our horror after using them for around three months, the foam collapsed. We had to pursue this for more than four months before we got a resolution. The standard response of the Manager out there was I am busy, we are busy, we are fulfilling huge orders, we have set up a new factory in hardware - so everybody is busy there, we will get it done in 2-3 days ---------.

I, who had shelled out close to 70K, was made to feel "that it was my fault for buying these products. I started cringing at the mere thought of calling these guys, but these guys were totally shameless. Finally I got these rectified, but the story does not end here.

About three months back the leatherite started peeling suddenly and again I called in horror. Horror - since I had never experienced this and this was despite the fact that our usage of the recliners was minimal - at the max 2 hours a day. I am still pursuing.

The response - you are lucky, most customers have had the peeling within 6 months - I guess I am lucky. It is a manufacturing defect in the leatherite but we do not guarantee the leatherite, so you have to pay. My question: Any guarantees on repairs. The response: What? You must be crazy asking for guarantees. Get it replaced Man, at your risk. My statement: I will take you to courts. The Response: many have tried. My reaction - OK, OK point taken , help me. Their response: That is better, we will do something. Can you optimise the cost. Sure we will try, how many days will it take - within a week. A week has gone by and I called today - we will send the sample of the fabric by the evening and it shall be done soon.

HOPE - a big thing and I am again forced to rely on this.

Now the second incidence - Sent a courier by BLazeflash (a so called big Courier Company) to Chandigarh on 23rd and it was supposed to be delivered on 24th. We tracked it online and on 24th it said out for delivery. Good, but WAIT. On 26th we get a call from the prospective client to whom we had sent a contract for signing saying they had not received the courier. WHAT - we screamed, went back online where the status again showed - Out for delivery. We told the client that it will be delivered by the evening. However today all hell broke loose, when the client called to say that the courier had still not reached and they would cancel the contract.

From the morning we have been frantically trying to chase Blazeflash. None of the numbers given respond, when one of them gets picked up, we are given another number to call. Finally at 1.00 p.m. we managed to get through to the Chandigarh branch for the phone to be picked up by a girl who bluntly and rudely told us that yes she had the courier packet number and we should call back in fifteen minutes to know about it. On being told that it has taken us three hours to get through, she very promptly told us that we did get through didn't we. So we could very well try after 15 minutes. I just hope that the science fiction stories could come true where we can be transported in time, because if this were possible I would have got out of the telephone instrument and smacked her bottom and taught her some manners. This Blazeflash is a company which has photos of its CMD with VVIP's on its website, I guess the customers are the poor suckers!!!

Now the third incidence - concerns the only piped gas supplier in Delhi, only so by monopolistic legislation barring anyone from supplying for a particular time frame. The company in question "Indraprastha Gas" - a listed entity. We have one connection on the First Floor and wanted another one on the Second Floor for which we made an application in Feb 2011.

The money was promptly debited from our account in March and still no connection.They have a beautiful (literally) call centre which takes your complaint gives you a reference no., which you keep referring to and they promptly assure you that within 72 hours somebody will call.Those 72 hours are still to finish. I wonder how many days are there in an hour :).

And the best of all is "Airtel". It is a recurring war with them on excess billing whenever bills come in - and we have 15+ Airtel connections at work... I firmly believe that only those customer service guys are employed who fail the most basic IQ as well as comprehension exams.

This brings me to the caption of this blog. Service Standards???

I sometimes wonder if there are any standards at all in India. Everybody takes the consumer for granted. I guess we all require an Anna Hazare or better still we all need to become Anna Hazare. Probably then we can expect India to change.

The other way to bring a change is that if we all start sharing our experiences with the maximum people so that all of us start boycotting, a la Gandhi style, or refraining from using the services of such kind of entities.

Internet is a powerful tool, we should all use it to bring about a change for the better. The way to go about is by exposing unscrupulous elements in our midst and possibly then things may change and we may get the services that we have paid for.