Poor customer service example
Based on a recent experience at Orra Diamonds store, I have written 5 Rules which Businesses can follow to get rid of a troublesome customer:5 Rules to get rid of a troublesome customer :
- If there is a problem, tell that you would check with QC . No QC department exists.
- If the customer insists on sending an email. give the local email id. It would land up on your own mail box and you can reply back that QC had checked and rejected the claim.
- If the customer insists to lodge a verbal complaint, first ask him to call later. Half the customers forget calling later.
- If the customer still insists, call up your associate in another part of the store and let the associate tell him that he would get back later.
- If the customer doesn't fall for any of these tricks, tell him on the face that you do not want customers like that. They can report to who ever thet want.
Worst Customer Service Experience in recent years - ORRA Diamonds
It all started when I bought a diamond ring for my wife 6 months back at Orra Diamonds store in Hyderabad. A few months and one or two times after it was worn, my wife had complained that one of the Diamonds was missing. It looked for me like a manufacturing defect wherein diamond was poorly stuck into the Base ring. I checked the bill and found that it was within the warranty period though it didn't mention whether the warranty covers loss of a diamond.
When I took it to the Orra Diamonds Showroom , their first reaction expectedly was that the Diamond is not covered under the warranty. However I explained that it seems more like a manufacturing defect and that the Warranty doesn't state explicitly what is not covered.
Stage 2 - QC report : They had said that they will send it to their QC department in Mumbai and based on the QC report, they will tell us what can be done. Within a week, the Store Staff had promptly called up that the QC department had said that this is not covered and hence they can replace the diamond at our cost. When my wife asked for the QC report, the staff had diverted her asking her for the decision on replacing the diamond. After a long silence of about one month, they again called up asking her as what is her decision on replacing the diamond. This time around, the QC report was conveniently forgotten. All this time, the ring was lying with the store.
Stage 3 - Meeting the manager:
Next weekend, my wife and I went to the store and asked them about our ring.
When they asked us about the replacement of Diamond, I asked them about the QC report instead. The store staff said that I had to send an email to their QC department and handed over to me a card. To my utter dismay, the email id in the card was [email protected] instead of customer care or QC. When I asked him, why I should send an email to the same store, when I am already standing there, he said that he is not authorised to give any other email id.
Understanding that it is above his level, I had asked him if I can speak to the manager. You can't really make out who is the manager and who are sales staff at the store. He said that the manager is not available at the store and I can call up next day on the Store number. Surprised that the manager is absent on a peak Sunday, I had asked him for the managers mobile number. He said that he would call the manager from the land line and told us few minutes later that manager is not picking up his phone. I had then taken the mobile number from him and called him from my Phone.
Surprise, I could hear the Phone ringing somewhere on the next desk
I turned and asked the person with the mobile if he was the manager. He said yes. When I asked him why the staff were telling that he was absent, he had no answer. He had no answer to my question as to why he didn't approach us before. By that time, my wife and I both had lost our cool with the way the store staff were lying and fooling us for the last half an hour first with QC department email id and then manager's number and told them that they have to apologise for what they have been doing.
Finale - We don't want customers like you was the managers' response : Suddenly the manager who was not bothered till then had raised his voice and told his staff to give us the ring back and told us to unceremoniously leave the Store. He added that they do not want customers like us and we can report to anyone.
Is this how Orra Diamonds train their customer facing staff?
5 Rules to get rid of a troublesome customer :
- If there is a problem, tell that you would check with QC . No QC department exists.
- If the customer insists on sending an email. give the local email id. It would land up on your own mail box and you can reply back that QC had checked and rejected the claim.
- If the customer insists to lodge a verbal complaint, first ask him to call later. Half the customers forget calling later.
- If the customer still insists, call up your associate in another part of the store and let the associate tell him that he would get back later.
- If the customer doesn't fall for any of these tricks, tell him on the face that you do not want customers like that. They can report to who ever thet want.
Though surprised by the turn of events, I had realised after a decade of experience in Retail Business , that customer service is a commodity not easily available in the so called organised retail stores particularly Orra Diamonds.