U Never had an headache before and want one? Its simple, try any Customer service of company, both govt and pvt and u will end into a headache for sure.
The Reason is, Today most of the organisations in India, Indigenous or Imported, run their customer service/support by an outsourcing org.
Those day, India was mostly filled with Indian based companies which had their own Customer service centers and so we get the issues resolved without any hassle.
But today, its a total different story. The company’s today handle their customers by other outsourcing companies. And Its all due to the increase in population, increase in brands and products and Globalization.
But this outsourcing Customer service is actually a real pain. these below are some of my experience -
1) Vodafone Customer service -
Scenario - "Language problem and Non understandable"
Not so long but just few Days ago, I decided to but Vodafone M-Pesa from Vodafone Mini Center. The Registration was not successful but they registered my account with wrong name.
so to know further I contacted store again and they asked me to contact m-pesa customer support at 55400 to request to change the name. So I called them and they said, they cant do anything and asked to go to the same store, fill up an SR form and correct my name.
So I asked the customer support to File a complaint against the store, but they said they cant do that either. Then I ask them to give the location details of the other store near my location But they r asking me give the address of the stores near my house.
Thats Ridiculous. If I had to give them the Details, then why r they called as Customer service?
So after 20 minutes of explanation to the first person, He then Transferred my call to an another senior Executive, who belonged to an another department and he asked me all the details for the scratch and I had to explain him all over again!
And he was not able to understand my issue and was keeping on explaining something else other than my issue. Reason being, he was a malayali and so he could not understand me.
Since I spoke in English thereafter, he could understand I was trying to explain. But wat about a layman, who doest know English and only knows Tamil?
My Issue, still remains Unresolved and my M-Pesa account is still blocked.
2) Indian Overseas Bank -
Scenario - "Different executives different Information"
Few months ago, I got a new bank account with IOB and got an Rupay Debit Card. Well there is no problem with the account and even the Debit card was Working on ATMs. But I was not able to use the RuPay card for online Transactions like paying on Shopping site and so on.
So I contacted their dedicated customer service at 18004254445 and asked their help. The first exec told me that I have to register the card with Visa. The second exec tells me, Since its a RuPay card, I should do Visa reg and should do RuPay Reg. The third one asked me to contact the Tech Department for Further info.
So, their first I spoke with 2 exec. First they said, the Shopping site is a problem, so asked me to contact ebay and amazon customer service. I called them and their web was all fine. So I called back the techs and this time they said they r exp some Server problems.
Even after few days, The problem still was there, so I contacted the tech back again and they started to blabber and transferred to call to someone belonging to north India and he asked me explain to him everything from scratch.
So I explained him and he said, he would resolve the problem.
After few days, still problem was there, so I contacted the techs back on and they finally gave me a Mail Id and asked me to send a mail stating my problem.
2 days later, I got a reply from the mail that the issue has been forwarded. And finally 2 after receiving that mail, the issue was resolved and I could successfully make the payment on Ebay!
Also, I between, one exec suggested me to use the Debit card on Kotak mahindra but that info was not available on the Shopping site at all BUT now finally I could make the payment on RuPay payment gateway itself!
And another exec Suggested me to try PayTm recharge. I told him that, it wont work either but he did not believe me. I registered with PayTm and tried my Debit card for Recharge but it failed. And then only that Exec believed the problem. BSNL Customer Service -
Scenario - "24X7 connection but 8X6 Customer service and useless 1500"
This is the incident happened about 6 yrs ago. On Friday evening, my Landline and BB suddenly went completely dead without any warning. And the next week was pongal. So I contacted 1500 and said they, sir we are taking up the complaint and they will respond soon. But till Thursday the issue was not resolved and I could not use my Phone or Internet for about 6 days. Why? Because BSNL is Govt org and so they r out of office on Sat and sun and then comes is the Pongal holidays for 3 whole days.
On Friday only they started to intiated the issue but the issue was resolved only on next Monday. That means my issue was resolved after 9 days of black out.
Thou BSNL 1500 help line is 24X7, all they can do is take up the complain and nothing more. The real service personals are at Telephone Exchanges.
So After after, I got the My Local Telephone Exchange Phone numbers and when ever I get a BSNL line problem I call them directly and solve the issue within a day for sure.
But the problem here again is - Those Telephone exchange exec are available only between Monday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm and Saturday between 10 am to 1 pm and Sunday leave.
So u face difficulties between 5pm to 10am and on sundays, u can do nothing but only wait!
When their BSNL Connection is for 24 hrs a day and all days a week, why not their customer service too be the same 24X7!
Not only these above, I too experienced the same with other org like Viveks Ltd, LG, Airtel and so on.
The problem with all there customer support is -
1) They are run by Some other outsourcing companies who only have minimum or no access to actual service needed. Their job is only explain the company packages and book the complaints.
2) Most of the customer service have been automated which is so so irritating. Most of Org dont offer the Direct Customer service contact line. U have to go thru different selection and then only can contact the Executive.
3) Language is a big problem. Recently I faced problem with my Hyundai car when I was outskirts. I called their customer service and a guy from pune answered the call, he only could speak in broken English and could not understand Tamil at all.
Well it is not necessary that All Hyundai owners should know English.! 4) Most of customer service reply based on some common answer which is taught to them like "sorry for inconvenience", "Your issue will be resolved soon", "I am sorry we cant help u with this regard" and so on. They basically dont really understand the actual issue of the customers and only work for targets.
But still the physical customer service thou r slower than usual, they are all little better than the tele based customer service.. But most of these customer service are lazy and are rude. Only a few well established Org like Titan, Khazana and some well known hotel provide good customer service. This service actually depends and changes from time to time.
Verdict - The Customer service with various organisation are very irritating and are useless. and so needs to reform soon. Its better to have indigenous Customer support rather than depending on a outsourcing org.