I have believed for quite some time now that the voice of the customer, the pivot on which most companies survive, is dead. In their greed to accumulate customers, VOC has taken a complete back-seat. As a result, all means for customer acquisition are considered fair; no means for customer satisfaction are considered necessary.
Here are some examples of what the rules say, and what the companies do:
While companies have cared less about their customers, I have started believing that the consumer does not care either. Criticism by consumers of services of companies is fairly rampant, but consumer activism is completely missing. I hope that with increasing pressure on companies to perform, and decreasing propensity of consumers to spend money indiscreetly, this trend will change in the coming few years. Flogging consumers for their money without caring for them will eventually lead to their demise.
Unfortunately, the government departments (such as the ones mentioned above) are neither, nor interested in ensuring that the Voice of the Customer is heard and that he is cared for. Even Government run programs such as 'Jago Grahak Jago' has failed in its objectives and is only sporadic in its activities. I have tried the National Consumer Helpline number (toll free) 1800-11-4000, and have received a message that the number does not exist!! If anyone has been able to reach them, please let them know that their number does not work.
Unless this mantle is taken over by a set of strongly motivated individuals, it is unlikely to make any meaningful dent to the way consumers get routinely trashed in India.
Here are some examples of what the rules say, and what the companies do:
- TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has come out with recent guidelines which specify that no advertisements should last for more than 12 minutes to the hour, that there should be no overlapping advertisements/commercials while a program is being viewed, that the volume of the advertisement should not increase more than the volume of the program, etc. All these rules are being routinely violated with impunity by all channels that are being aired.
- IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority) has set standards that mandate that a grievance must be addressed within 3 days from the date of registration. I have attempted to register a grievance with one Insurance agency whose policy I was unwittingly made to subscribe to. The insurance agency refused to take a complaint, stating that a) it was not the correct office, and b) that they had no means of recording the grievance. Needless to mention, I had to redirect my grievance to Mumbai and their response (which in any case was negative) came way after the prescribed 3 days. Incidentally, a follow up mail to IRDA elicited no response. Interestingly, IRDA has redressed a total of an insignificant 31 complaints in the last 5 years of its existence! Given the number of false claims being made by practically all insurance agencies, as is commonly known, something is certainly not correct.
- In the month of April 2012, DGCA (Directorate General of Civil Aviation) registered only 890 complaints from all airlines. Surprisingly, Kingfisher Airlines, which has possibly had the worst performance in the last few months, has registered the least number of complaints at 1.1 for every 10,000 passengers. So, the irate passengers that we saw talking on TV were not complaining?
While companies have cared less about their customers, I have started believing that the consumer does not care either. Criticism by consumers of services of companies is fairly rampant, but consumer activism is completely missing. I hope that with increasing pressure on companies to perform, and decreasing propensity of consumers to spend money indiscreetly, this trend will change in the coming few years. Flogging consumers for their money without caring for them will eventually lead to their demise.
Unfortunately, the government departments (such as the ones mentioned above) are neither, nor interested in ensuring that the Voice of the Customer is heard and that he is cared for. Even Government run programs such as 'Jago Grahak Jago' has failed in its objectives and is only sporadic in its activities. I have tried the National Consumer Helpline number (toll free) 1800-11-4000, and have received a message that the number does not exist!! If anyone has been able to reach them, please let them know that their number does not work.
Unless this mantle is taken over by a set of strongly motivated individuals, it is unlikely to make any meaningful dent to the way consumers get routinely trashed in India.
