A bit of flashback – Two and half years ago
I was at the service centre of a company who grabbed the leadership position in the mobile phone market due to its smart and innovative handsets. My mobile handset was refusing to switch on beyond few seconds even after charging it fully. It was little more than 6 months since I became the proud owner of a smart phone. I was almost sure that the battery was dead and I would have to shell out some money to buy a new one as the battery warranty was for 6 months only.
The “patient” was taken inside for the initial diagnostics. After a few minutes of waiting, the technician came out.
“Madam, this seems to be battery issue. We fix only software related issues here. You need to take this to another service centre”, said the technician.
I had no other choice than driving to the busiest road in the city. I walked into the company owned service centre itself hoping that they fix hardware issues too.
But their response shocked me, “Madam, you need to take it to “ABC” service centre right opposite to this building as we don’t fix hardware issues here”
Somehow I could not digest the fact that the company which manufactures the product – consisting of both hardware and software- does not provide hardware service in its own service centres!!
But soon it struck me that I could be wrong. I belong to a generation who runs for repair if something goes faulty. In today’s world of use and throw, no one really bothers to repair anything, especially a smart phone. Every six months a new model is available in the market, so the “old” ones are thrown out or given to kids for playing, how much ever costly it may be. The parts of the mobile handset become obsolete in a year’s time or even less! One is considered to be outdated if one does not own any of the latest smart phones! So, how could I expect company owned service centre to offer hardware repair service?
I walked into the third service centre. It was on the top most floor of a four storeyed building. I had the second shock of the day as I entered the service centre. I could not believe that the authorized service centre of a multinational company could look so shabby. Did I enter into a wrong place? I came out and looked at the board hung at the entrance, once again. Yes, I was at the right place but with a wrong ambience.
Packing cartons were thrown at almost all the corners of the small hall. They had neither A/C nor fans .May be the A/C was switched off or not working. There was no reception, no token system, and no queue system for customers. I was wondering whom to approach. That is when I heard heated arguments from a foyer which separated the hall and the handset repair room. I could see one lady sitting and sweating beside a table trying to calm down a group of angry customers. I also managed to somehow enter the foyer. The customers were shouting as many of them had not received the repaired handsets even after a month. The lady was trying to explain to them that they had only one technician and hence the delay. One of the customers wanted to talk to their manager. But he was absconding.
‘How could I give my handset to such a place for repair’, I wondered.
‘Is there any other authorized service centre which does hardware repair in the city?’ I asked one of the customers.
‘No, this is the only one’, he said.
I was wondering what to do. I had to wait for some time to talk to the lady there. I did express my apprehension to the lady and asked her why the service was so bad. I understood from her that the service centre was getting closed down in a month. I had no choice but to hand over the handset there for repair. Though they promised to deliver the handset after 10 days, I had no hopes.
Half of my day was wasted visiting 3 service centres. I logged a customer feedback in the company portal expressing my dissatisfaction over the lousy service provided by such a market leader. But I did not receive any response. That explained why their service was bad. But I wondered whether innovative products alone could sustain market leadership for a company?
To my luck, they did deliver the handset to me after 10 days. But the climax had a twist. I was all prepared to pay for the new battery when I visited the service centre to collect my handset. But to my surprise, the issue was related to software - an  issue which the software service centres could not diagnose or most probably they did not try to diagnose it properly. But, this was not a matter of surprise to me, thanks to my long association with product development teams in one way or other. Software and hardware teams are like ruling and opposition parties, who like to pass on the blame to each other. Which team owns the issue is a bigger issue than the actual issue faced by the customer and in the whole process the fix gets delayed!
My previous mobile handset was from a company who had enjoyed leadership position in market for a very long time mainly because of the quality of its products and services. But they lost their position in market due to theinnovative smart phones launched by its competitor- the company for which I lost all my regards due to its pathetic service.
In a years’ time from then , I saw another company launching innovative as well as cost effective smart phones, grabbing most of the Indian market share from the existing big players in market which probably no one ever imagined. This proved once again that success today does not guarantee future market leadership. Leadership position is always open for those who strive for it!
While product innovation is one of the keys for successful business, it is also important to take care of overall customer experience.
  • Value for money lies not just in the product but in the end to end customer experience – from branding to sales to service.
  • Innovation is needed not just in the product but in all the associated processes and systems to ensure timely delivery, excellent after sales support and customer satisfaction.
  • It is important that the systems which gather data from customers also have the ability to analyse it fast and turn into actions! It should have the ability to hear him, shake hands with him and even hug him!
  • A superior product with superior service definitely leads to success, but this also needs customer centric culture at all levels in an organization.