Some things remain the same….. A recent article in McKinsey Quarterly talks about complaints in the US against mobile phone companies.
A gist of the article (emphasis mine):
The US wireless-telecom industry is number one in complaints. In 2002, more dissatisfied customers complained to the Better Business Bureau about their mobile operators than about any other type of company. Interestingly, customers complained not about the service itself or areas of weak coverage but rather about their carriers’ business practices. Billing problems were the most common kind, followed by the carriers’ responses to customer complaints and concerns that carriers had acted deceptively.
My sentiments exactly. As a highly dissatisfied customer of Reliance Telecom and as party to a long-standing fight with the company. I have no grievance about the ‘product’ as such; there is no doubt that Reliance never hesitates to bend the rules here and there to provide the best…..
But ‘service’?? I have never got a bill (and I mean never) from Reliance so far in these six months…. I only get SMS asking for ‘interim payment’ of what I suspect is an arbitrary figure amounting to four digits (a random combination of numbers generated by the computer?)….. Where did this figure come from please? And non-payment of this only leads to disconnection (if only temporary) of service….. I am quite sick of this cat and mouse game….
And calling up Reliace service centres for information is tantamount to the proverbial bashing your head against the wall…..
McKinsey also gives this dire warning….. Given the importance of hanging on to customers, carriers should heed the warning in these complaints. They must improve the accuracy of their billing systems as well as the efficiency and courtesy of their customer service staffs.
Is anyone at Reliance listening ?