Customer care or customer nightmare?

Almost every day I hear sob stories from my colleagues, friends, family and readers about how their phones aren't working or how their operator has overcharged them for services they haven't even used.

While the nature of complaints differ, sadly, all of them have one thing in common – “Calling customer care doesn't help. They don't understand the problem.” As someone covering the telecom sector, I have brought some genuine complaints to the notice of various telecom companies. And voila, problems which could not be resolved by customer care for weeks and months get resolved within a matter of hours.

But why is it that the operator is able to resolve customers' problems when a special request is made, while regular complaints remain unnoticed?

I asked a source working in a telecom company how he is able to resolve ‘priority' user issues in a jiffy. He said he flags all ‘priority' complaints as important and urgent which then get dealt with instantly by dedicated teams. This privilege, I am told, is given on request to big politicians, high ranking bureaucrats and a few journalists. But why restrict this to a chosen few, why not deal with all consumers problems with the same promptness and willingness?

The problem is that telecom companies in India work on thin margins and therefore, can allocate only limited resources in a bid to manage costs. There are over 900 million telephone connections in the country but operators get only about Rs 50-100 from nearly 85 per cent of these connections. It's the remaining 15 per cent which really bring in the big bucks. As a result, customer care operations of most companies are struggling to put enough resources together to meet the demands of the huge subscriber base. Airtel, for example, has 180 million mobile subscribers but only 7,500 customer care agents manning call centres across the country.

Therefore, it is no surprise that 16.8 per cent of all complaints registered by the National Consumer Helpline, set up by the Ministry of Consumer Affairs in 2010-11, were related to telecom services. In comparison, complaints related to sectors such as banking, insurance and automobiles were less than 5 per cent of the total. This fiscal has not been any better. The Department of Telecom has already received 41,341 consumer complaints against telecom operators in the seven months to October 31. The actual scale is much larger because the majority of complaints are not registered with any Government agencies.

One way out of this mess is to look at how other services industries such as aviation and hotels deal with their customers. When you book a flight ticket or a hotel room you are given the option to decide what type of service you want. For instance, flight seats are allocated according to class. Those paying higher fares for executive class or business class get the best facilities, in terms of access to lounge areas at airports, special check-in counters, bigger comfortable seats and an unlimited supply of drinks. Those who opt for economy class seats board the flight knowing that there will be lesser leg room. Similarly, when you check into a five-star hotel, you have the option of picking a luxury suite which comes with king size bed, personal Jacuzzi and with the best view or you can settle for an ordinary no frills room.

Telecom operators could take a leaf out of the airline and hotel industry page and should also categorise their consumers depending on usage. A high paying customer, who spends more than Rs 1,000 a month, should be entitled to a higher grade customer service. I am not suggesting that those who pay Rs 50 should be given a shoddy treatment. After all, the customer who stays in an ordinary suite is still given basic services by the hotel. But by offering graded customer care two things will happen. Firstly, it will help operators retain the high paying subscribers. Secondly, acustomer will be empowered to choose for himself the kind of service he wants and hence it will act as an incentive to the low paying subscriber to start using more to upgrade himself to the next level. Technology is already available which can enable telecom companies to set up such a system; it is only a question of when.

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