Thursday, August 17, 2006

Google: Blanket Chennai With Wi-Fi

Google : Come to Chennai and blanket it with wi-fi coverage like you did for Mountain View.

I am tired of BSNL broadband dropping every other day and even more tired of their help desk. Many a times, the call doesn't get through after long waits and even after that, the response and attitude of the operators is far from professional.

India is becoming the help desk of the world but domestic call centers leave much to be desired. Why is that ? If India could provide world-class service to the rest of the world, why can't Indians have the same level of service?

I guess, it has to do with money and lack of service culture.

While the BPO operations bring in money and the quality / service culture is strictly monitored, Indian companies serving domestic market don't really pay attention to service and give it a shoddy treatment.

Its probably is going to take more competition to shake things up to get some focus on service. Now, every company is growing like crazy and they don't really pay attention to customer after they have been acquired.

9 comments:

  1. I guess it is the attitude.

    Many a times when I dial the 1-800 number from this part of the world for a service request, the call is answered by some one in India. They are very courtieous and have resolved my issues.

    I wish they did the same when serving their customers in India.

    Not sure what their issue is.

    Columbus Rao

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ram,

    The services offered by everyone in market is alomost the same. You can find only a very little difference. I have used one or other service from most of the telecom operators in the market. Everywhere, customers will get shoddy treatments only. Custmoer Care is very poor in Telecom and allied services. [ I have used or using BSNL, Tata Indicom, Sify, Hutch, Airtel and Aircel]

    I suppose, they are least bothered about customer attrition as the market is growing at a break neck pace. I feel, we will get good customer care only when the market stabilizes. These fellows will think about customer care only when there is very little room for growth and only when they reach a situation where the real growth lies in retaining customers.

    Just My idea:

    I feel there is need for somekind of movement focussed on Telecom players to get solutions for customer grievences.

    Shall we start a blog & Wiki for this and rope in others too?

    Please Mail me if U r interested. to jaggyscorner@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Disregarding the money issue (which is hard to do), it is sad that foreign customers get better service than local customers. I guess it would be especially hard for the folks who have experienced better service when they were out of India. Hope it will change.

    ReplyDelete
  4. i guess don know how tings function in india. if u do u wudnt write this post :)

    first help desk is useless,

    so there is a person cald JE in ur local office, get this persons number, its a WLL number, call them and they will sort out the problems.

    this service is better than airtels or ne private operators

    ReplyDelete
  5. Rao
    Like Jaggy says.. the market is growing so fast.. companies care very little about the customer or for that matter attrition.. But I will also add that the service culture has lot of room to grow in India.. and that will happen only when the the companies feel the 'growth' pinch.. and start thinking about customer retention..

    Jaggy
    Very true.. A wiki sounds like a good idea.. let me ping you separately on that..

    Nithya
    I hope the 'service culture' takes root.. soon..

    Ada-paavi
    You are right.. I am don't know and is not comofortable circumventing the process.. but then few more bumps might change that..

    Raman
    Why do I have to know the JE / DE to get my things done.. when they have a help desk..? Glad to hear that you had good BSNL connectivity.. Of late, our broadband is dropping ever so often abruptly.. when I call the help desk,1)it is hard to get connected and 2) they don't register my complaint and 3) give a stoic reply

    ReplyDelete
  6. Some google news...thought you might be interested.

    http://puranijeansaurguitar.blogspot.com/2006/08/audio-podcast-in-bbc-on-google.html#links

    ReplyDelete
  7. It is not the person who answers your call. It is about poor management.

    I manage Peta bytes of Storage from
    IBM. They use to provide excellant
    products and service which offered
    great value for the money. But, in
    the last 3 years none of their storage
    products are worth the dime (or $$s)
    we spend on. There are problems with products, design, availability, the support or even the peddlers (we don't even get lunches at expensive joints! only subway sandwitches; there is value
    - I lost 10lbs) When we complain to the mgmt, we end up with
    another meeting with the 'exec's to
    repeatedly assure us that we value
    your business speel. We do get free mugs, bags, banana clips. Surprisingly, no more 'Think' logo t-shirts or pens.

    But, next day we go back to the same old, same old.

    So, it is not the end guy in the totem pole, it is not the company size or the name, but it is about the management's
    understanding of what 'value' they offer to the customer is.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Hi Ram,

    I use Airtel broadband... and i've never had a connectivity problem so far, in the past 8 months.

    cheers
    kk

    ReplyDelete
  9. Balaji
    Thanks for the link..

    Anonymous
    agree.. it's the overall 'environment'.. rather than the individual on the other end..

    KK
    Thanks for the info..

    ReplyDelete