Just two months back, when we published our report on the customer service and business model of “Zappos” @ Microreviews, I had a discussion with ArchieIndian (author of that post) if we could expect a Zappos in India. It won’t be farfetched if I confess today that a company seldom provides even a mere satisfactory assistance to their customers in our country. We Indians, never expect, not even in our wildest of dreams, to get such exceptional services like Zappos from any Indian company or even MNCs in India. I would just like to mention here my experiences with HSBC (a global bank with a Non-Indian origin), which I had in last one and a half months.
I am (or should I say, I was? I am sure I will never be) a credit card customer of HSBC bank. For my education loan, I needed a No-Due-Certificate from the bank just stating that I owe nothing to the bank, there is no outstanding due on my account as on date and that I had paid everything on time (Which I obviously did; don’t doubt me). Till date, I have already spent over 500 rupees over the phone calls to their call centre executives and I am yet to receive my certificate (They say it takes just 7-10 days to get it delivered!). Here goes my story.
The first time, I tried to contact the bank at info@hsbc.co.in was on 26th November, requesting them for the certificate. Their reply did come a day later but just to say that they could not provide me the information through e-mail and I should contact their customer service department over phone for such requests.
So on 27th I called their customer service department and had a long discussion. I continuously tried to convince them how urgently I needed the certificate but they convinced me that they couldn’t do anything and I should have contacted a different number. Again a very long discussion took place on the new number (Perhaps, collection department) but they said that I should have contacted customer service department (Yes, I was also surprised!). I called them again and again and after a number of calls I came to know that none from them are authorized to send the certificate over e-mail. But Collection department somehow got convinced and asked for two days to get an approval from higher authority for it. Obviously, I was never contacted after that.
So again on 30th November I called on 3-4 numbers of which the last one was to HSBC-Chandigarh (to which my account belongs). The Chandigarh branch asked me to give my current address so that they could send it through post or courier. Though I was running out of time, seeing no other way, I gave them my address. They ensured me that I would get the certificate within 7-10 days. However, I didn’t get it even after 14 days.
Again on 14th December and subsequently on 15th and 16th, I called them to know the current status but they confirmed that the certificate was never dispatched. Also on 16th they asked me to take the certificate from any branch in Mumbai (I am living in Mumbai but at that time I was in Begusarai). So I rushed to Mumbai and visited HSBC Powai, only to find out that such certificates are not issued from any branch. Again a series of calls started and they asked me to give them 3-4 more days so that they could do something to send it over e-mail. That something never materialized. My last date of paying fee (30th Dec.) was approaching but their stand was still not clear.
After 3-4 days (on 28th of December) I again called them and this time they said that my address was never recorded so they again needed to know my address (I was so hopeless by this time that this was not a surprise to me!). I again gave them my address but they are yet to dispatch my certificate. Meanwhile I asked the collection department and customer service department executives to provide me the contacts of some higher authority but they never gave me such information.
Somehow on internet I got to know that in such cases we could contact the Nodal Officer of HSBC. On 29th Dec, I tried to call the Nodal Officer at least 25 times but she picked it just thrice only to cut it within two seconds, without hearing a word from me. My loan is yet not sanctioned and I have not paid my fee till now and this could cause me to drop my study.
The whole story raises several questions:
- In today’s world where everything is connected through internet, why such a certificate can’t be issued from any branch ?
- What complicacy did they face in sending the certificate over e-mail (My e-mail IDs were already registered with the banks from the day my account was opened. Moreover, there was least chance of the certificate being misused as it is just like a monthly statement.)
- Why do the customer service staffs hesitate in giving numbers of higher authority when they themselves are not able to do anything?
- Is a request really followed within an organization? If they really record it, why don’t they act on it?
- Why every time a new person picks up the phone and after listening to the complete story, tries to start from zero?
- Why they give false assurance when they know that they are not going to do anything?
- Why they give wrong information if they don’t know the process completely?
- What is the use of giving numbers on the web-sites if they don’t want to pick our calls?
- DO THEY REALLY BELIEVE THAT ALL THEIR CUSTOMERS ARE FOOLS?
Most banks today have filled their customer service cells with a number or relatively inexperienced staff. They neither have the knowledge of their roles, nor the power to act. To make matters worse, they seem to have been forbidden to even use their wisdom as they are too feared of their bosses. The only thing they know or learn is to pick a call and talk in a decent language. In this scenario will any company make us feel Zappos is anybody’s guess.
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