Minor victories against Airtel and HDFC/ eBay aside….can I really call them victories, but? I spent almost a month merely explaining my problem to Airtel. With HDFC/ eBay (eBay mailed me that the money will be sent back to my account in 4/5 working days!), it was only through email and just a couple of calls to HDFC. But, the point is this – could they have made the experience better? 

The answer – of course!

I don’t think I’m the first customer to face either of these problems. So, why not pool such troubles together so that customers can help themselves, with the help of other customers?

A mail to HDFC, through their online banking site, is a pain. I can enter just 1000 characters – so I need to keep my dictionary nearby and do what I do while tweeting – be crisp and be judicious with the choice of my words. eBay’s mail has another horrendous thing – the automated response. It goes…

Thank you for writing to Customer Support for eBay India.

Your question is very important to us and will be treated with our full
attention. If you have received this automated response, your email has
been received, and it is not necessary for you to send it again. Thank
you for your cooperation and assistance.

We understand the need to get your question answered quickly, and to
that end, we strive to respond to you within 24 to 36 hours of receiving
your email, however, there may be times when it may take up to 72 hours
to receive a response.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please do not respond to this email. Any email sent as a
response to this automated response will not reach us. Should you have
another question or would like to send us additional information, please
contact us by clicking Help at the top of any eBay page. When the Help
window opens, follow the topic links to locate the topic which most
closely matches your query. You can then click the ‘Ask a Question’ link
at the bottom of that page to send our Customer Support team an email.

Both eBay and HDFC take at least a day to respond. Which is understandable, but is all the more reason why they should have an official forum where members help other members, based on past experiences! Is that so difficult to think of/ implement?

The issue is fairly straight.

1. Customers ‘face’ problems. They may not be new problems.
2. Get these customers to check/ search an official forum where other members have posted queries/ problems.
3. If there are no similar problems/ resolutions mentioned, plan for escalation.

This self-help was precisely the moot point of Dell Hell – Jeff merely wanted to solve his problem and knew that there are other customers who could help – faster than Dell’s official customer service team. Dell said no – other customers should not solve problems…only Dell should/ can. Officially.

Here we are – still on the same damn page, in India, almost 4 years since Dell Hell.

To an extent, many software product vendors have embraced this model mighty well. If I have an issue with say, a bluetooth driver in Windows XP – I do a Google search. There are tons of sources – an overdose, actually. But I have solved issues like this just through a Google search. 

Indian brands should realize that instead of making customers go on a wild goose chase via Google, they can retain them in an official forum for customer grievances. Even better – the brands can look helpful and proactive by responding to queries/ problems in the same forum and help in speedy resolution. 

Doesn’t all this sound obvious to Indian brands? Or is it really rocket science?

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