22 Oct 2007

Customer orientation; the Indian way

"Customer is the king" !!!
I bought my Digicam Sony DSCH3 from Sony World in Aundh. The first time i went inside and looked at the digicam made me feel dizzy with a lot of varieties to choose from.I, with the help of my fren choosed this one, apart from the little research i did on the net before going there. The attendant there was a young Marathi girl of early 20's and did not speak English well. Anyway thats not my concern. The problem occurred when i could not swipe my card on their machine and had to go to ATM for cash payment and yeah i had to come the next day as i could not en cash more then 15K at a time from ATM. The wonderful news is that even after payment of some 15K, was asked to come next day to open the package and see it and not at that moment.
Customer orientation !!
The next day we went with the remaining amount and gave the cash payment and opened the box. One of the attendant gave us a brief demo of the camera and he did not ave any idea of the features in details like use of ISO and all. I was pissed at that service i have been receiving since the day earlier. Even the lady attendant said "shit" when we did not make the full payment.It seems that she is more concerned how much she will get as a commission rather than looking for the needs of the customers. They did not even give me a camera cover to put it in so i had to look for one and the worst part is that they did not have the cover when they have the camera.
Simply wow! Instead the guy was showing a cover for handy cam which was much bigger and said u can use it and has more space and all that crap..to sell.

Customer wants variety !!
Today we went to look for the cover again and they did not replenish their stock since i visited the store weeks ago. I wonder how they make business!!! Well the lady attendant did recognize me though and asked what i was looking for,and upon knowing what we are upto just left the place neglecting us...to entertain other customers. The worst part is that i wanted a black camera and they had just a silver colour one. They did not find it amusing enough to tell me at least that there are other Sony stores in Pune and direct me there after knowing my wants. Instead they just tried to sell me what they have. After a few days i saw a black colour digicam of the same series and i said "shit" to myself. At least if the attendant had told me that there can be other colours i could have searched and bought from another Sony store.They did not care to tell me about the black version and overall i did not find them interested in entertaining the customers. The worst customer experience i ever had.

Give customer what he wants !!
Its not just about Sony world. "Dass" the electronic shop adjacent to it also did the same. When we asked for a camera cover and we let him know that we have DSC H3 they said they don't have it and stopped it there. We asked him to show us what they have got an all they did was denying us saying they don't have one. My fren from Marketing specialization got pissed and asked him "is it the way to treat a customer? Are you doing us a favor?" and asked for the manager. I asked him to leave it and we came along. Maybe Indians do not have this customer orientation at all..I have so many bad experiences in almost all shops. Be it small shops or big ones. though some are few exceptions. Indians are yet to learn that customer is the king and they need to fulfill the customers demands and they are there for that.

Customer preference!!
I have this typical north eastern look which can deceive one who doesn't know to be some Japanese,Korean or from some other Asian countries. It isn't just my problem but the whole North eastern people.And most of the times when i go to buy something in some shop, some even deny my question...maybe i am doing time pass or maybe they did not think i would be able to pay up or something like that. The feeling of getting neglected is hard on everyone's part i know.I am kinda cool guy who doesn't want to pick up any fight or argument though the other person may be wrong. Yet there are times when i get pissed off.

Once there was this driver in my institute who was making comments like "Nepal is a good place" on seeing me while i was going to class with tea in my hand in the early morning. I got pissed in the early morning and i said in a low voice.." yeah bhaiya.this very thought of yours will pull you down and you will never advance in life. you will always be a driver your whole life. meet me after 3 years and i'll employ you".

Do i hear someone say, "this is India sir" ?

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