Very often, we get treated poorly by certain businesses - they dont explain what they are doing with our money, they dont charge fairly, their quality is poor - whatever. Well, here are some instances where I got bad service and decided to never go back. I would say every customer should do the same thing, just so that people who dont put the customers first will go out of business, and do that quickly.
During the peak of the 2008 recession, there were strong rumors that ICICI would close down, and I, worried that the little bit of money that I had accumulated in just 5 months of working would disappear if I left it with the bank, went personally to the bank to withdraw the amount when the ATM did not work. When I put in my request, I was treated with a curt "no". The lady at the counter would not even make eye contact with me after this "no". I was taken aback because they had fought with two other banks to get me to open my account with them- until then, I was always welcomed, given lots of investment options, talked to politely, and generally treated well. I understand it was a difficult time for them, but they could have treated me slightly better, because it was my money they were talking about, and not theirs. I finally said "Thank you", and walked away, irritated. I resolved that day that when this crisis was over I would transfer my money and close down that account - it took me four months to get that done, but it did happen, and I have never since walked into an ICICI bank.
When I first moved to the US, we were in a studio apartment in a luxury rental named Liberty Towers. I had until then lived in a fairly large house, so the concept of a studio was something of a shock to me, but worse than that was the attitude of the management of the building. My husband had taken the studio at the rate of a 1 bedroom apartment, because the management had told him that there were no 1 bedrooms available at the time he rented this apartment. He had told them he would be getting married, and that a studio would not be enough. The management made him sign a lease for a studio, and gave a "verbal" agreement that they would give him a 1 bedroom as soon as one became available. Poor hubby completely did not understand the deviousness of the whole thing, and he kept asking them for the 1 bedroom. Each time, they would show him something, and quote a rent that was way more than the $2375 we were paying, and tell him this was all that was available. He waited, and we got married, and I moved into the studio, and we were still not able to get the 1 bedroom. Meanwhile, I started to notice that a lot of the apartments were empty, and so there could not have been an "unavailability" of 1 bedroom apts. So we finally asked one of our friends to come and ask for the rates for 1 bedrooms, and lo and behold, they were available cheaper than our studio! It was just that they were just not available when we asked for it, because the guy wanted us to shell out even more than what we were already paying. There really was nothing we could do - breaking our lease meant we would have to pay a penalty of 2 months of rent, so we decided to live in the apt. until the lease ran out. Meanwhile, we also got acquainted with another couple who had leased just before us, and who got a 1 bedroom cheaper than our studio, on a higher floor! It was so clear we were being ripped, and it was sad to know there was nothing to be done about it. In any case, we finally came to the end of our lease term, and moved out of there, and have never gone back since.
And then there are the services that talk very well, but try to cheat you covertly :
A few days ago, we booked a car for two days - the cost was supposed to be around $250 for the two days. The booking was made online, and we received an email confirmation about the reservation soon after. While returning the car though, we noticed that the bill was over $300. Confused, my husband asked why this happened, and the person helping him explained that the charge that was in the email was pre tax, and this was the amount we had to pay after tax. My husband pulled out the email confirmation, which stated that $250 was after tax, and asked him to remove the additional tax. The guy then backed down and cancelled the second tax and allowed us to finish the transaction.
During the peak of the 2008 recession, there were strong rumors that ICICI would close down, and I, worried that the little bit of money that I had accumulated in just 5 months of working would disappear if I left it with the bank, went personally to the bank to withdraw the amount when the ATM did not work. When I put in my request, I was treated with a curt "no". The lady at the counter would not even make eye contact with me after this "no". I was taken aback because they had fought with two other banks to get me to open my account with them- until then, I was always welcomed, given lots of investment options, talked to politely, and generally treated well. I understand it was a difficult time for them, but they could have treated me slightly better, because it was my money they were talking about, and not theirs. I finally said "Thank you", and walked away, irritated. I resolved that day that when this crisis was over I would transfer my money and close down that account - it took me four months to get that done, but it did happen, and I have never since walked into an ICICI bank.
When I first moved to the US, we were in a studio apartment in a luxury rental named Liberty Towers. I had until then lived in a fairly large house, so the concept of a studio was something of a shock to me, but worse than that was the attitude of the management of the building. My husband had taken the studio at the rate of a 1 bedroom apartment, because the management had told him that there were no 1 bedrooms available at the time he rented this apartment. He had told them he would be getting married, and that a studio would not be enough. The management made him sign a lease for a studio, and gave a "verbal" agreement that they would give him a 1 bedroom as soon as one became available. Poor hubby completely did not understand the deviousness of the whole thing, and he kept asking them for the 1 bedroom. Each time, they would show him something, and quote a rent that was way more than the $2375 we were paying, and tell him this was all that was available. He waited, and we got married, and I moved into the studio, and we were still not able to get the 1 bedroom. Meanwhile, I started to notice that a lot of the apartments were empty, and so there could not have been an "unavailability" of 1 bedroom apts. So we finally asked one of our friends to come and ask for the rates for 1 bedrooms, and lo and behold, they were available cheaper than our studio! It was just that they were just not available when we asked for it, because the guy wanted us to shell out even more than what we were already paying. There really was nothing we could do - breaking our lease meant we would have to pay a penalty of 2 months of rent, so we decided to live in the apt. until the lease ran out. Meanwhile, we also got acquainted with another couple who had leased just before us, and who got a 1 bedroom cheaper than our studio, on a higher floor! It was so clear we were being ripped, and it was sad to know there was nothing to be done about it. In any case, we finally came to the end of our lease term, and moved out of there, and have never gone back since.
And then there are the services that talk very well, but try to cheat you covertly :
A few days ago, we booked a car for two days - the cost was supposed to be around $250 for the two days. The booking was made online, and we received an email confirmation about the reservation soon after. While returning the car though, we noticed that the bill was over $300. Confused, my husband asked why this happened, and the person helping him explained that the charge that was in the email was pre tax, and this was the amount we had to pay after tax. My husband pulled out the email confirmation, which stated that $250 was after tax, and asked him to remove the additional tax. The guy then backed down and cancelled the second tax and allowed us to finish the transaction.
Just yesterday, we noticed that we were charged over $100 for being late by 2-3 days on a credit card payment, despite this being the first such late payment. What was interesting was that about half of it appeared on one bill as finance fees, and the other half on another bill as some other fees. It took a while to figure out that in total we had to pay this amount for the 4 days that we got late. After talking to customer service however, we managed to get the charge waived - apparently as a gesture of good will.
In both these cases, I cannot say I got poor customer service - my problem was solved when I called them up, but the point is that there should have been no problem in the first place. So these guys will get my "not preferred, but will make do with it if I have no choice" rating.
Can I remember someone who gave me exceptional service?
A salesman for Maui Divers Jewelery who sold me a single South Sea Pearl floater worth $200 - that purchase made me feel really special, and I felt I had paid just what the piece was worth - the man did not try to make me buy something more expensive, did not try to sell me another piece, did not try to say that the pearls I had already were bad. He just was a nice guy trying to help me pick something I loved. I really felt grateful to him for that, and it is not often that one remembers people one buys jewelry from so vividly.
Another salesman who sold me a pair of Maui Jim sunglasses - he also did not compel me to buy something I did not want, he showed me all the options he had, told me what was good with each one, helped me eliminate stuff I didnt like, and finally I ended up with a pair that I really use now.
