Customer Service - Interactive Voice Response Systems

With the advent of technology, we have this IVRS contraptions which are a real pain in the #$% for customers.

Here is a scene,

1. You dial an IVR number.
2. You get a response - Please select the language 1 for English, 2 for Hindi, 3 for .........
3. There, I chose 1.
4. Next response - if you are customer press 1, if you would like to know about our services press 2, if you want to speak to our operator, press 0 to close the call whatever
5. I select 1
6. Next response - please enter your account number
7. I painstakingly enter the account number
8. System says - you have entered the wrong number, please try again. I just can't believe it - I am 100% sure I entered it right!
9. Ok, I double check and re enter the account number again.
10. Still it says wrong.
11. Enter again.
12. Finally the account number is accepted
13. Next response - Please enter your pin number
14. Needless to say, this again goes through couple of cycles
15. Next response - if you want to know your current balance/usage details, press 1, if you want to enquire about our other value added services press 2, at any time to go back to the previous menu, press 0 or if you would like to speak to an operator press 9
16. By now, my patience is thinning out and have had enough of talking to the machine, I choose that I would like to speak to an operator and pressed 9.
17. Next response - We value as our esteemed customer, all our customer service personnel are busy, please wait you are in the queue and you will be serviced in the order of the queue, or you can disconnect and call after sometime.
18. Come on, I have already spent considerable time, let me just wait for sometime.
19 Some stupid background music or some ad about their new service or some sort of junk is playing in the background.
20 I keep waiting, fidgeting.......
21. The last straw - The call just gets cut!

Now, do I want to go back through all that @#$% again?

government out to kills small businesses!

Yes, our government is killing small businesses. On one hand, our great leaders keep saying that people should not just look for government jobs, be innovative, be entrepreneurs and make a difference.

But, the actions of the government do not justify the statements. I am really at a loss at one of the changes to service tax starting this financial year.

Earlier, the companies used to pay the service tax on realization of the invoiced revenue. Now, wether you have been paid or not, once the invoice is raised, you have to pay the service tax component to the government. Now, come on, most of us know that there is not one single customer (well, at least this is what I have seen throughout my career), who will pay immediately on presentment of an invoice. Sometimes, the payments take few months.

If you look at the account receivables, in all probability, the receivables will be anywhere between 3-6 months. How will companies servive with so much outstandings and on top of that keep paying the government the money they have not even seen and in some cases are not even sure that they are going to get (bad debts)?

The big companies have the financial muscle and it may not matter to them but surely the small businesses are hurt by this draconian changes to the service tax law. God help the small businesses.

Thanks

Srinath

Hotel accommodation in Bangalore

There was a request from one of the readers that I post some info about accommodation in Bangalore. Bangalore, a few years ago, did not have many choices in terms of accommodation. Either you had the expensive star hotels (which were few, by the way) or upscale hotels or low cost hotels (you would not want to get into one of those, I tell you).

Now, there are quite a few choices.

1. For those who want luxury, there is always Ashok, Windsor Manor, Oberoi, Gateway and West End. Get into one of those if you can afford anywhere upwards $250 a night.

2. Then, there are business class hotels, which cost anywhere between $100 to $200 and these are Central Park, Ramanashree Inn, Ashraya International, Taj Residency, Keys, Royal Parc Plaza and the like.

3. You have, serviced apartments which cost anywhere between $50 to $100 and many of these are located in Koramangala, Banashankari, Whitefield and electronic city areas.


 If you would like to look at more options, then, you can visit www.justdial.com which gives a fairly good information on many of the topics one would look for. As the name suggests, justdial is a phone service which helps customers find service providers.

Someone in Hyundai had woken up.

Few weeks ago, I had made a comment on Hyundai's design and aesthetic appeal related issues. Looks like Hyundai had woken up. My comments should have been made earlier. Now, they have released a new version of Verna which is a decent looker! (for those in USA and Europe, it is still good old Accent).

You look at Sonata, it looked like a Jaguar. It was indeed a copy of the smooth flowing lines of a Jag! Then, they did something and it never looked the same. Take a look at Santro aka Atos, again, a sneering face. Thankfully, the i10 and i20 have made a difference. Looks like they are finally learning that a car should not remind one of his wife, rather a sweet girlfriend (just joking, take it in the right spirit, please).

Trust Hyundai to screw up!

Hyundai had one, yes, just one decent design - that is of Accent. That was a car well thought of, a decent design (dated, it might be), looked nice, and then came Verna (in India, Accent replacement is called Verna and Accent, the old model continues as a low end sedan!). This one again, had all the sneering face typical of Hyundai, the designers there must be really out of their minds! All of their cars to date, except Accent, have had a really dirty face and a back! (well, I can't say that for the old Sonata which was a copy of Jaguar!!!!!, but they had to screw it up eventually!).

Okay, they are not bad with their I10 and I20 and the soon to be launched I45, they look good! But, why in the bloody hell would someone want to screw up a decent looking car. Look at old Accent (for my European and American friends) and the new Verna (accent still for European and American friends and Verna for my Indian Friends). The bloody thing, again has a sneery face (just like Atos or in India we call it Santro). and has a chopped back! just does not fit in! Horrible looking cars, except the old Accent.

Anyway, all said and done, a man always treats his car like his ideal lovely wife. Well, the real one complains, moans, makes hue and cry about silly things and he is in love with his car where he can get away from the devil. And, you have the audacity to make cars which remind us, men folk of the pain that these elements inflict on us, no sir, no way, I will not buy your @#$%^ car, Wake up! Do something better!


All this is my personal opinion, and I don't want to know what you think of it! This is my opinion and I rest  my case! Just look at those ugly cars! give me a break.

Adios Hyundai, I will never, ever, buy a car however great you make them, unless, you make them look good to me.


Bye for now.

A debate on Astrology on Suvarna Channel

Yesterday, there was a debate on Astrology on Suvarna Channel. The panel comprised of non-believers and some astrologers. It was all about fake astrologers taking people for a ride and making money. Some of the panelists made scathing remarks on couple of people who were not present in the discussion.

One of the persons targeted was earlier hosting a program in the channel. The channel spokesman and some of the panelists went hammers and tongs at him, calling his bluff and ridiculing him. As a matter of fact, those panelists who made these comments are the ones who are cheating people. In fact, one of them is a self proclaimed Guru, by profession he is an ayurvedic doctor and astrology also has become a profession for him. He has read some horoscopes and has predicted really absurd things which has hurt the people who went to him seeking an answer. What he told them and what really happened are totally way off. So to speak, these kind of self proclaimed Gurus, making people wait for hours, not even listening to them properly and giving wrong advices should be banned. The irony is he was proclaiming the others were wrong and he means well, hmm. what a stupid hypocrite.

The person these guys including the self proclaimed Guru were targeting hosts a program in another channel. Yes, sometimes he goes overboard in getting his point across to people but he has never mae any false promises to anyone. He does not take money from anyone to study their horoscope and give them the correct inputs. He is not cheating people like this self styled Guruji does.

The other person, these people were targeting, is a famous astrologer. They took a dig at him saying he is a A/C room astrologer. Well, he can afford it, what's your b***y problem? These guys also sit in A/C rooms! People go to this astrologer and he is not going to them. Most of his predictions are fairly accurate and he takes pains to explain clearly the basis for his predictions, unlike these jokers who just got on the TV for the sake of publicity.

No names, here, but you want to know who am referring to, be my guest :).

Largesse by state governments to Cricket Players for winning world cup!

This is really crazy. The Indian cricket team won the cricket world cup. Quite a few of the state governments went and announced huge sums of money to the team for winning the cup. Now, to come to think of it, all these players make millions in salaries, endorsements and many more ways. Yes, winning the world cup was a great achievement, no doubt, but there are many more equally deserving athletes/players, if not more, from many other fields too! All these governments have not done a dime to encourage any of those. There are athletes/players who have won in Olympics and world events. Cricket is played only by some 10-12 countries in comparison to the sports others participate. Don't get me wrong. I used to be a cricket player and even to date I am a great fan of many of the past and current players, but, my view is give a fair share to all. Don't corner everything yourself. And our governments, wake up, there are many poor, downtrodden and suffering people - use this money to help them, not make the ones who are already rich, richer.