Experiences make good stories…and stories as all stories go have a moral…a point to learn.. Here is an experience of mine that has left we with some learning and lot of questions….
Last week, I was deputed as soon as I entered office with the supposedly simple task of procuring the diaries that had been earlier selected by my seniors from a reputed diary manufacturer in Paris. Off I went out with another colleague feeling all important to be doing a task which we know meant a lot to our company – getting personalized new year diaries out for our clients and well wishers!
We were told we just had to pick up the diaries, make payment and come back to office, and all this would take an hour and half’s time. The firs impression that this may be far from truth came when we entered the specified company owned retail outlet:
- The shop was empty with a few samples kept here and there.
- No stock was available on the selected item (despite being reserved)
- Price quoted to us was higher than the price informed to us earlier
- In order to print the diary of our choice(the one already selected from sample) it would take at least take 30-40 days –making it middle of December.
After an hour of talking on the various options available to procure diaries the same day, the shop keeper ultimately suggested (we do not know whether it was intended well or it was to get rid of two persistent ladies) that we go to the factory outlet at Royapuram, where we will have ample stock and samples. We can also get the delivery immediately. He went one step ahead and gave us the GM’s number.. Further he alerted us that 1-2 p.m. was lunch time, and we would have to rush to the place before the start of the lunch time.
Though we rushed to reach by quarter to 1, the security informed us, as expected, that it was lunch time and we could meet the respective staff only after an hour. When we spoke to the GM over the phone, he simply told us that we had no choice but to wait for 45 days as the factory was also out of stock. However a chance running into a representative on our way out gave us hope when he said he will do an actual inventory check for us. We could see a light glow at the end of the tunnel as he told us that there was a stock of particular set of diaries but we need to wait for an hour for the staff to return from lunch. We resigned to the one hour wait and sat in the reception with no one bothering to offer us even a glass of water.
At 2:15 we were shown a catalogue and after a lengthy process of selection and negotiation as we gave in our cheque we were told the diaries we had selected were actually reserved for someone else and we have to change our choice.
At this point it seemed that we were trying very hard to be their customers while the representative seemed too preoccupied to spend any effort in retaining us on his customer list. Was it because our orders were in hundreds? Was it because they were anyway making enough money from the pipeline of orders that one customer requirement not being met was ok? Or were all staff at the organization so disgruntled that they were keen on the company to lose customers?
As we were mulling these questions in silence, our resolve to complete the purchase of the diaries of our liking on that same day kept increasing. On our way out we glanced accidently at a diary that appealed to us. One look at it we knew this is what we wanted this year – and it so happened there was enough stock of the diary in the factory. We did not bother to ask them why they had not volunteered this information to us earlier.
We were told that in 30 mins the packing would be done and the 30 minutes extended into two and half hours as the factory outlet system was busy making orders for larger orders that needed to be despatched. It did not matter to anyone that they had two customers in their next to nowhere factory outlet waiting for the 125 diaries to be packed. We were too tired, hungry and upset to pursue our case with them.
After spending nearly six hours we did return to our office to our worried seniors who were constantly urging us to come back and leave the matter to them. We did feel a sense of task accomplishment at the end of the day and felt the wait was worth it as now the diaries will get processed and reach our people on time as always. We had no qualms about having waited without food at an unfriendly place – when we saw everyone at office applaud the selection and our efforts. That was enough for us to even be willing once again to repeat this all over again.
However this experience also left behind certain question unanswered in my mind:
- Will the actual owner of the company be OK with the way we were treated as customers?
- Why is the last mile personnel apathetic to the customer while the vision and value of the company hails customer satisfaction
- Are we still in a supply oriented society that customer loyalty and retention does not matter?
- Just because the company has enough “customers” in its kitty, should they ignore a prospective customer?
- Is there a way of telling the customer he cannot be serviced – instead of dishing out ‘nightmarish’ experience
- Can companies put in a process by which confusing and contradictory instructions/statements are not given to the clients?
- Can a company ever stop being bothered about its image?
- Isn’t a large client of today – a smaller client of yesterday? Can a company then afford to ‘mis-manage’ its smaller clients?
- This piece was contributed by Ms.Shabana an associate with ichiban Business Consultants Pvt Ltd
