(UPDATE: Sanjay Swamy has posted that they have fixed this problem)
This is first in series of posts where I will share some of my (unfortunately, mostly negative) experiences with brands, with a purpose to highlight my learnings in designing services and managing customer experience. Will welcome contributions and experiences from others as well.
This one has to do with Airtel and there newly launched slew of mobile payment services (yes, the nice tv campaigns) through mChek. One of the services they have is that a postpaid subscriber can topup another prepaid account using credit card through the cell phone. My mom still uses a prepaid account, and I decided this was a convenient way for me to top her account up – so I paid Rs 250 (the signup and payment process was a bit clunky, but this post is not about that), promptly got a receipt for Rs 250, and then on my mom’s cell, got a message that her account had been topped up for Rs 50! I thought the software had missed a leading “2” somewhere 🙂
I called Airtel customer service, and they promised to have a call back to me in 24 hours. I didnt get one for over 48 hours when I called them back. I was promised a call back in 1 hour, and again didnt hear back for over 2 hours. I called back – unfortunately, no one there seemed to have a clue what had happened. The supervisor suggested different options – I could wait for my credit card bill, and may be it was charged only Rs 50. Or perhaps call the prepaid customer service line (its a treasure hunt trying to find the operator option there). Or may be take my sms receipt for Rs 250 to an Airtel outlet and show it to them (with no idea of what they would do once they see it). Almost saying, “Just get the monkey off my back!”. He promised he will have his supervisor call back, and by now I knew what that meant.
So I figured I had to resort calling up friends in Airtel and mChek. What I heard back is this – for Rs 250 payment, the talktime is only Rs 50 – Airtel deducts Rs 195 (including tax) out of Rs 250 as service charge! 80% service charge and no mentioned of that on the web site!? Sanjay from mChek clarified that if I had recharged for Rs 100/255/300/500, there would have been no service charge – what was this? A game of roulette? And tomorrow, these zero service charge promotion price points may change with no intimation to customers. Will there be an invisible service charge tomorrow for other payment services – you’ll never know until you pay and figure it out!
Here are my learnings:
- Don’t rip customers off – it never pays.
- Establish trust – will I use this service again? or will I see every Airtel promotion and think of what the catch is? My friend at Airtel told me this is the same service charge that is applicable offline. But the point is – when I go to the retailer, I can have a conversation regarding this. Here, I can’t.
- Be transparent – why was there no intimation of service charge either on the website or during the transaction?
- Train customer service – these guys had no clue as to how to handle calls relating to mChek. The people who designed the service knew instantaneously. The fact that they never lived up to their call back commitments made things worse.
- Control damage – my friend at concerned organization asked me to hold off writing this post for a day. I did. No communication.
Actually, another learning – I landed up waiting for three days instead of one. It helped – instead of a vicious customer complaint, it helped me think of what I can learn from this experience, and the lessons certainly have been worth more than Rs 200! Feedback welcome.
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- What’s your Customer Culture? - March 4, 2019
Something that I am still going through with Worldspace- and they have even filed for bankruptcy now!
On my first date with worldspace, the company gave to me -One dead receiver
On my second date with worldspace, the company gave to me-Two days of calling, and One dead receiver
On my third date with worldspace, the company gave to me-Three incompetent technicians, Two days of calling, and One dead receiver
On my fourth date with worldspace, the company gave to me-Four receiver changes, Three incompetent technicians, Two days of calling, and One dead receiver
On my fifth date with worldspace, the company gave to me-Five hundred odd rupees worth yagi antenna, Four receiver changes, Three incompetent technicians, Two days of calling, and One dead receiver
On my sixth date with worldspace, the company gave to me-Six inches lacking in cable, Five hundred odd rupees worth yagi antenna, Four receiver changes, Three incompetent technicians, Two days of calling, and One dead receiver
On my seventh date with worldspace, the company gave to me-Seven family friends at the call center, Six inches lacking in cable, Five hundred odd rupees worth yagi antenna, Four receiver changes, Three incompetent technicians, Two days of calling, and One dead receiver
On my eighth date with worldspace, the company gave to me-One dead receiver, Seven family friends at the call center, Six inches lacking in cable, Five hundred odd rupees worth yagi antenna, Four receiver changes, Three incompetent technicians, Two days of calling, and One dead receiver
And so it goes….. This is pretty much how it happened to us, with some poetic liberty..
Not related to Mcheck, but when I last checked, Airtel Broadband hadn’t fixed the huge DNS vulnerability that was
announced two months back and made worldwide news.
As a result, I wont be surprised if all bank websites are hijacked.
So much for Internet services in our country.
regards,
Samir Kelekar
Alok,
One ‘nice’ thing u can do.
Though I could not figure out where is the mChek example with Rs.250 topup, is it in text or flash ? I could see one Flash ad on their site with Rs 500 bill pay and this following text ad.
Just SMS “PAY AIRTEL †to 543219
Maybe they changed that, but anyway, you can mimick their example, and create a parody and post it here…
Like,
Just SMS “PAY AIRTEL †to 543219 And Get Rs 50 credit. Get ripped of Rs 200 in this Diwali season.
Or just get some Flash programmer to do this if the example you mentioned is in Flash.
The best way to answer a bad service like this…
NOTE: I am no mCheck competitor or customer.
Upendra – I like mChek product. I have told that to mChek several times, and that is precisely why I used them – I would use them even if there was no special offer, but certainly not with this experience.
Mohit – I agree the issue is more Airtel than mChek – my only question is that if mChek wants to be a direct-to-consumer brand, what responsibilities do they need to undertake? On going to the highest level, that’s easy to do, but I am not sure if I have the energy and time for that. I have informed the right person at Airtel well in advance of writing this, and if they want to do something about it, they will. Certainly happy to support if you take it up,
My experience with Airtel was more stranger and annoying. I had asked and gave written confirmation for disconnection and told my deposit will come by cheque in 45 days. I had been their customer for 8+ years. After 40+ days a bill collector was at home asking for money of the last bill+interest[never once it has happened in my entire usage of 8+ years]. When I checked my mail I had got a new bill which said my account has been reactivated with the new dues to be paid immediately for reconnection of dial-tone!. After going to the Airtel outlet and after 60 days I managed to get it cancelled after preparing to goto consumer court. Such is the customer delight they offer!.
So in Airtel one department doesn’t know what the other one does, for sure they know one thing, you have to collect the money from customer in whatever way it is[re-connect a cancelled customer, charge 250 and offer 50]. So next time if you get a bill from Airtel for a connection which you surrendered ages ago don’t be surprised, straight away take them to consumer court and blog about it. With state of affairs inside, they will give me another chance 🙁