During one of my weekend shopping, at a local retail store, I spotted
a brand of wafer biscuits that I used to love during my childhood days. I was
surprised to see that brand of wafers after such a long gap. I was in the
assumption that the company was no more in existence. Out of my interest to
give my children the happy experience of crunching delicious wafer biscuits, I
bought 5 packs of 5 different flavours and took it home. To our
disappointment,wefound that the wafers were not crisp. The product wrapper indicated
that it was very much within the expiry date. I cut a sorry face in front of my
children, to whom I had raised a high anticipation. I felt bad.
At moments like this, our normal tendency would be to stop buying that
particular product again. But, something within me told me that I should not
just leave it there, but take it to the notice of the manufacturer. So, I
decided to write to them. Now that luckily most companies give a customer care hotline
number or email id, it made it easy for me to key in an email to the company
stating my experience.
Within just a day, I received a mail from them which read as under: “We are in receipt of your mail and noted the contents. We were sorry to learn
that the wafer packs you purchased recently were not crisp. To help us to find
the reason, please let us know the variety and packing of these packs and also
when and from where (name of
shop and place) you purchased them. We shall take remedial actions immediately.
We sincerely thank you for writing to us.”
I was glad to see a positive response from them, so I send in the
details they had requested. After a week, I received two packs of complimentary
wafer biscuits along with a thank you card. This time, the wafer biscuits were
truly good and it ended up as a delightful experience.
The idea behind me sharing this incident with you is to emphasize the
fact that, “Good quality products and services in our country is not
just the sellers responsibility, but also the buyers responsibility”. It
is only through a good feedback mechanism can any product be improvised or the
standards be maintained. Many a times, we brood over having bought an inferior quality
product or getting a bad service. Does the experience feel good or bad? If it
felt bad, what can we do to change the experience? Are we OK with inferior quality
products and services in this country? If not, how are we going to bring about
the change.We could either continue to brood that Indian quality goods are not
in par with foreign goods, or we could take a proactive initiative to raise the
quality of Indian products to global standards. The choice is ours. The
initiative can be through our feedback. It is our social responsibility to give
feedback with an intention to raise the standards of Indian products.
In some of the restaurants, we find a sign board stating that, “If
you are happy with our service, tell others. If you are not happy about
our service, tell us”. I just wish these hotels, truly mean their words. If
they do, then it is really a good opportunity for them to raise their service standards.
The companies that will survive in the future, are the companies that are
sensitive to consumer feedbacks. If they are not sensitive or just ignore it,
it just goes to say that they have started to dig their own grave.
A famous quote goes, “If you refuse to accept anything but the
best, then most often you end up getting it.” This is the attitude with
which we need to approach customer service. Demand for the best. Never
settle for anything less. Don't buy inferior quality products because
it is cheap. Let the manufacturer realise that people are willing to pay
a better price for a better product. Soon, we will see the day, when
Indians and Indian products are not considered inferior or cheap. “Made
in India”, should be synonymous with high quality.
Happy Reading,
D. Senthil Kannan
Article Dated July 2012
