An Indian experience

The summer of 2010 was really very harsh, showering the curse of ‘Global Warming’ on the mankind, and as usual the ‘God’s own country – India’ is heated the most. As a true Mumbaikar, I really tried very hard to deal with this very HOT time, but finally I gave up in the first week of June.

Some friends suggested getting an AC on rent, which would be good for me, as currently I am living at a rented place. I called up Just Dial, and got a couple of numbers for ‘AC on Rent’.

As I was living outside the country for past 5 years, I have developed a habit of trouble free transactions or so to say getting ‘Professional Services’. Since that time, every vacation of mine has been full of differences with the Indian Service Providers, for receiving the services on time or as assured by them which have failed miserably.

I called up one of the numbers, and got the costs from one firm. As per our discussion, the firm agreed for the site inspection and their guy came to visit my flat on the time we earlier fixed. I was so happy to see that someone promised me and sent the guy on time for the inspection. He noted all the points and guided me for what capacity AC should I get for my room. Done. I booked a 2ton AC on rent. They promised for its installation the next day.

This is where the story of this article was born. As usual, no info, no update of when the equipment will be transported, when the installation will take place, whether the installer will come along with the equipment etc. was not informed to me.

As a normal, silly Indian consumer I kept awaiting those guys the whole afternoon & finally after several calls I got an answer that the equipment is on the way.

I was told to pay on the delivery & according to my foreign habit, as agreed I wrote the full cheque in advance and gave it on delivery. Believing that those guys will make me feel satisfied more by installing the AC on the same day quick and smooth. But I was proved to be wrong.

The delivery guys were only involved in the logistics, and the installer arrived much later than they left. A lean, thin guy alone with a lot of installation tools, arrived. I was really unhappy to see him working alone without any assistance continuously for 3 hours. Finally when he turned on the AC, the gas started leaking from the AC unit, so it meant that the unit provided to me was faulty, and it was 8pm at that time so the office got closed already and I was assured for the delivery of new unit the next day. It simply meant that these guys did not check the faulty unit before transporting it.

That was the time I felt that this is very unethical way of working & there is no importance, for money spent by the user at all. There is no proper service provided to the customer after he/she has paid the costs too. This attitude of ‘chalta hai’ or ‘kal karenge’ is because there is so much demand for services in India. As per the ever growing population, the demand is very high and supply is so poor. This thing hurted me a lot that even after paying the full sum in advance, I was sitting at home with a faulty AC and one more day of mine was about to go in vain.

I was having no other option but to wait, for the alternative unit the next day. As usual I had to call up to check on it, and I was told that it can’t happen during the day and it shall take the evening to bring it to my place. Hahaha I was mad and laughing towards the working attitude of this bunch of stupid guys.

Upon asking questions, I was advised to bounce the cheque, if I felt that my work hasn’t been completed as per the deal. So it means that you can’t question and you have to accept whatever it is and however it is. It’s your fault that you have picked them for this job.

In the meantime, 2^nd day was gone and finally my AC was up and running. But still last and not by any means least, the AC ‘remote’ which was given to me, was faulty. I received another one after nearly 3 hours that too could not perform the intended job. Lastly, I had to lodge a complaint regarding the remote in the AC service center, for the repair of that faulty remote.

At this moment, there is a ‘remote’ possibility of getting that ‘remote’ working in my hand any sooner.