I was in pretty bad mood for the past 3 days because I was unsatisfied by the quality of service the call center representative of my Telecom company handled my request, of which a simple call and update was the key to make all of my transaction go smoothly.
I have no qualms with the people working in the call center industry. But with bad experiences I had, the question I asked is, How far should Quality be in Quality Service? How will giant corporation which renders “service” to its clients address this kind problem knowing that its the company’s reputation that is at stake?
Last year I when a new online shopping store opened in the Philippines which has a Cash-on-Delivery (COD) service, I ordered a pair of shoes and waited for a week only to find out that my orders were returned for the reason that my office address can not be found! Really? Back then I was working in a Government Owned and Control Corporation (GOCC) and that is very unlikely that my office address can not be located.
When other online store opened with the same scheme, I ordered 2 mobile phones which I intended to give to my mom and my brother but waited for 2 weeks to no avail. Remember, these online stores offers a 3-Day delivery service after orders are successfully made. Up until today, I have not placed any orders to these 2 stores.
How many people out there who have experienced bad quality service? Imagine if half of the orders made today experience the same bad services, how much losses does the company incurred overtime?
Of course, I’m not saying that I have experience bad services all the time, but then, when I was still in Japan, Quality of Services being rendered by companies is by far the best I have experienced.
I remember, a friend and I both ordered a “refurbished” electronic item from a very well known electronic company. When my friend decided to take a vacation back to the Philippines and tried to recharged the gadget, its already dead. He emailed me and asked me to call the service representative and ask for help. I called and talked to the agent and tried to explain that the item is currently overseas. The agent then advice me/us to call back the hotline once my friend returned to Japan of which he did. The Electronic Company then asked for my friend’s dormitory address and told him that a door-to-door freight service will come to pick up the item at a certain date and time. 2 weeks after, the company called that they will be returning the item via door-to-door freight service, asked for an apology and explained that they replaced the refurbished defected item since it still within the 1 year warranty period.
Another case was my Indonesian classmate who purchased a second hand laptop but apparently the wifi was not working. Called the electronic online store, asked my classmate to packed the items and a door-to-door freight service will come the following day to pick it up. A week later, it was returned but the item was replaced by another brand of laptop.
Whenever I go online shopping buying a book or a gadget and once it was confirmed the site will always indicate the date and time of its deliver. If the receipt would indicate that at 10am it will be delivered, a door-to-door freight serviceman will be at your door knocking at exactly 10am. Most of the transaction we had was on a Cash-on-Delivery (COD).
Another case, when a friend and I traveled to a heritage site in Japan and made a booking for an overnight stay, only to find out that a misunderstanding occurred and the guest house was full, the owner made her way and asked the next guest house of availability so we could have a place to stay at a 500 yen cheaper than the priced we should have paid for.
Again, SERVICE comes to play an important role why Japan is Uniquely Japan. And why the company can grow enormously and successfully.
In time where QUALITY SERVICE plays a critical role in the future of 1 company, I do hope that the Philippines’ company can get a lesson from Japanese companies what is meant of QUALITY.
(image credits: 123rf.com)
