Category Archives: Rambles and Rants

Remotes and Mice

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Common interface/input devices such as the remote take the brunt of our frustrations if things don’t work. The pressure on a button is directly proportional to the importance of an event (such as a big name match in the EPL) and multiplied by the lack of battery power.

Add the computer mouse to this list.

 

My list has gone beyond remotes and mice to include PS2 controllers – especially when I play FIFA 10. Bastard Ronaldo running all over the place, making light of my defending abilities, tackle after tackle does nothing and he goes on to score! Many controllers have perished due to Ronaldo, and one of these days I am planning to sue FIFA 10, and Ronaldo for being too good.

As always, if you liked this comic feel free to share it. I mean just take it and post it anywhere and everywhere you want to. If you really really liked it, you can always take a printout and post it on walls, telephone poles or make a t-shirt out of it.

Also, if you missed the last week’s post, you can go and visit it by clicking on this - Party Invitation

Bank-ing on customer satisfaction

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We. Customers. For XYZ bank’s services.

Thus, banks need to service customers well. Simple really. Yet, it is not.It continues to surprise me that the fundamentals are something that are still difficult to conquer.

What got me on this thought? Well, Atul Karmarkar’s post for one. HDFC Bank had its services on the fritz for some time now. But someone forgot to send out a memo to the bank’s most important stakeholder – its customers. It prompted me to think – are their reaction times really different, when it comes to inbound transaction/service requests (read: when the money comes in)? What if the bank needs to do something for its customers? The answer…yes, unfortunately there is significant difference in reaction time when a bank gets something and when it has to do something.

(This is my comment on Atul’s post.)

What really gets to me is the reaction times on various aspect of their services or my interaction with the bank (not only HDFC but other banks as well). The list:

High reaction time:
Loans – inquiries and approvals
Converting something to an EMI on my credit card
Sending credit cards
Calling about credit card payment
Calling about loans
Calling about car loans
Calling about personal loans

Poor reaction time:
Informing customers about changes in service
Letting customers know when services are down
Processing name change or address change
Sending alerts w.r.t accounts
Resolving cases to do with theft of cards
Some of the others have been covered above, but am sure there are more.

Ironic really, if the reaction time was as good as replying to this blog, none of this would have been posted. Goes to show that good service is always preventive and damage control is just that.

Yes, ironic indeed. Am sure that this is not isolated to only HDFC Bank. ICICI, ABN AMRO, Citibank, SBI, etc. are guilty of the same. Do you know of any  such incidents with other banks? Would you like to add to the reaction list? Do comment!

As a final thought, what would be the reaction time by banks on this blog post? Super fast? If it is, they just validated my list…