A dissatisfied customer

posted by Woodooz on Wednesday, September 28, 2005 7 comments
Being in support for the last 4 years, I completely empathize with any customer-interfacing executive especially when it comes to dealing with customers on the phone. While everything, be it good or bad, happens at the back end, it is these executives who have to face the brunt of the customers. And the sad part – For no fault of theirs.

While I save all my anger for the guy who is directly involved in delaying my request, I try to be as nice as possible to the one picking up my call. Not just because it is invariably a girl, but for the fact that I know she is not responsible for my problem.

But today, I lost my cool. My call was received with a “HELLO”, something unheard of in the service industry and it’s been almost 25 days and I still haven’t got my Debit / ATM card. What they don’t understand is that I cannot be surviving on begging, borrowing and stealing any longer.

They don’t even realize that such small incidents can make me think twice about my 7 year loyalty towards them. And I am sure they have very little clue about my wanting to talk to someone here, if there is no progress in the next two days.
Woodooz

7 comments:

  1. Krish3:14 PM, September 28, 2005

    Somu,

    It's nice to note that you r courteous - for whetever reasons ;)

    In many instances, I have found the things to be working only if you vent your frustration to them.

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  2. Madhu3:55 PM, September 28, 2005

    yeah... sometimes, sound vitta dhan velai nadakum. being nice doesn't help. :(

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  3. Harish6:48 PM, September 28, 2005

    reminds me of my 4th rude call to Airtel, which managed to set right a problem. Something the 1st three courteous calls didn't manage to do!

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  4. Woodooz7:17 PM, September 28, 2005

    @Krish
    Very true... Infact I had to vent my spleen before I got a proper update from them ! My empathy is primarily because my function involves handling customers on call and I know how gory it can get for me if one of them were to lose his temper.

    @Madhu
    Very true... This is exactly the reason why there is a seperate section on "Handling Irate customers" in any soft skills training.

    @Limsa
    Well India is also service and customer oriented. But when it sometimes does not reach all levels within the organization, such issues crop up. This was my first call to the bank in 7 years and that's why I have now given them the benefit of doubt.

    @Harish
    Having read your posts, and having met you once, I just can't imagine how you would sound when you are frustrated. Next time around, how about a demo ?

    Jokes apart, it's true that courtesy might sometimes be considered as the customer's problem being not so critical and hence the response levels are poor.

    @Vee-Jay
    Now that's a nice idea. Always document one's anger through a mail so that it gets recorded.

    I did try to reach the Branch Manager through couple of calls... But unfortunately, he was just so busy to be there for his customer.

    Maybe, next time around, I wud have to definitely look at the mail option.

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  5. Amanda12:51 AM, September 29, 2005

    Sometimes you just have to yell to get what you want.

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  6. Ram C7:37 AM, September 29, 2005

    It happens sometimes.. But I am surprised due to ICICI involvement. I heard recently that couple of their services are becoming worse. Not sure how much is true.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Woodooz12:04 PM, September 29, 2005

    @Amanda
    First tell,
    then yell,
    then raise hell.

    Right ?

    @Ram
    Well I have been reading about them too. But anyways, since my debir card got delivered yesterday, I am gonna stick on to my current banker :o)

    ReplyDelete

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