Customer complaints on Complaints.com
Robert Scoble, legendary tech blogger, writes about how customers are writing about poor customer service on blogs or anywhere on the web, only to stick it into Google, to be recorded almost for posterity. He says-
"One thing I’ve learned is to always do a Google search on a business I’m thinking of working with. I add the words “problem” “complaint” or “rip off” or other negative words to their company name. If any blogger out there has complained, I’ll see that and be warned away."
Don't try this on an Indian company, Robert. Or you won't be able to buy anything : )
Even the most blue chip of Indian companies specialize in driving their customers to tear their hair out of frustration or worse, even blatantly attempt to defraud them. How many customers knock the doors of Consumer Forums and other redressal bodies, despite the claims that these forums are customer friendly? Most people, rightly or wrongly, choose to drop the issue and just change their product/service provider, if they can help it. Just goes on to show that whatever the claims about the effectiveness of these forums and other regulatory mechanisms, the system is still leaking and loaded heavily against the consumer.
The new way to hit out is to blog/write on the web about your bitter experiences. There are plenty of avenues where you can do this. Sites like Mouthshut.com invite users to post their reviews about commercial entities and are widely referred to by customers. Then, you can always blog about your experiences (or request a well known blogger to publicize your travails) and Google will help you dish it out to people who need to read it. Another effective way is to register a complaint on Complaints.com. This site acts like a public repository of customer complaints and it is upto the companies to check for their manufactured product/service and provide redressal. I checked on how many complaints were registered on for a few of the blue chip companies from India and the results were revealing:
ICICI bank : 82 search results on Complaints.com
HDFC:21
SBI:27
Maruti:16
All of TATA products/services : 152
Bharti: 10
All of Reliance products/services : 45
BSNL:51
MTNL: 52
Bajaj:10
Hero Honda :10
Air India :55
Air Deccan:17
These stats are of course not a TRUE measure of the problem, but surely they are indicative of the extent?
Air India, Reliance, TATA - wakey,wakey!!! ICICI? There is no hope for them.
"One thing I’ve learned is to always do a Google search on a business I’m thinking of working with. I add the words “problem” “complaint” or “rip off” or other negative words to their company name. If any blogger out there has complained, I’ll see that and be warned away."
Don't try this on an Indian company, Robert. Or you won't be able to buy anything : )
Even the most blue chip of Indian companies specialize in driving their customers to tear their hair out of frustration or worse, even blatantly attempt to defraud them. How many customers knock the doors of Consumer Forums and other redressal bodies, despite the claims that these forums are customer friendly? Most people, rightly or wrongly, choose to drop the issue and just change their product/service provider, if they can help it. Just goes on to show that whatever the claims about the effectiveness of these forums and other regulatory mechanisms, the system is still leaking and loaded heavily against the consumer.
The new way to hit out is to blog/write on the web about your bitter experiences. There are plenty of avenues where you can do this. Sites like Mouthshut.com invite users to post their reviews about commercial entities and are widely referred to by customers. Then, you can always blog about your experiences (or request a well known blogger to publicize your travails) and Google will help you dish it out to people who need to read it. Another effective way is to register a complaint on Complaints.com. This site acts like a public repository of customer complaints and it is upto the companies to check for their manufactured product/service and provide redressal. I checked on how many complaints were registered on for a few of the blue chip companies from India and the results were revealing:
ICICI bank : 82 search results on Complaints.com
HDFC:21
SBI:27
Maruti:16
All of TATA products/services : 152
Bharti: 10
All of Reliance products/services : 45
BSNL:51
MTNL: 52
Bajaj:10
Hero Honda :10
Air India :55
Air Deccan:17
These stats are of course not a TRUE measure of the problem, but surely they are indicative of the extent?
Air India, Reliance, TATA - wakey,wakey!!! ICICI? There is no hope for them.
Labels: BizNpersonalfinance
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
