Customer dis-service?

I returned recently from my trip to India. Needless to say, there were many blog-worthy events and incidents. Not that there aren't any when I am here..

I had to open a bank account and chose ICICI. They really wanted to make things easy and were even willing to come to a potential customer's home at customer convenience to collect the application and other required details. I met Vel (not his real name) in the bank and fixed an appointment for the following day and specifically asked him how I could identify him or anybody that came to my house representing the bank. He said they would carry an id that stated the bank's name. Sure enough, he came the next day and to my surprise, he was punctual too. I asked him for identification, he did not have a badge. I was not very happy. However, after a few questions I let him continue with his work. He collected the required details and let me know that he should be able to file the application the same day and by Monday the following week I should have an account and receive the notification. He seemed very sincere in his conversation and called me "Madam" a million times. I was comforted. "India has changed", I thought to myself, "how easy it is to get things done."

Monday came and went, but there was no news from him. I called him and he said there was once particular information that was missing and he would come home to collect it. And he did. So, now I was to expect it within a week starting from then. The next Monday came and went and no word from Vel. By now, I was anxious as I did not have much more time left in India. I called Vel and he said he would call me in half an hour to report the progress on the application. In half an hour, I realized that customer service had not changed all that much. Vel never did call. The strategy seems to be, "Let me get the customer of my back at the moment and I'll say anything to do that", which is not really much better than the state of things before. In fact, its been a month now, I still don't have the account number. I have asked the bank to return my check and I don't want an account anymore. Doing business in India is as scary as it has always been. Vel had no problems making commitments, the problem came to keep those commitments.

A trip to my tailor later that day rebuffed this conclusion. This is the condition of customer service in premium institutions like banks and local mom-and-pop stores alike. Think then about the service we get in state government offices ( which also I had to visit), but I'll cover the topic separately. There are other elements in it that need its own blog.