How customer service is changing........ (a circa 2001 experience)

This is a true-life experience of mine less than a month ago.

After a lot of dilly-dallying, we decided to replace the curtains at home. Sabina (my better-half) and I toodled across to a drapist and selected the material that fits our door/window frames and our pockets, not necessarily in that order.

The shopkeeper said he could arrange for a tailor to come home and measure the doors etc and stitch the curtains. He picked up his phone and called  'Appa' who agreed to come home at a particular time.

That evening, or should I say late evening, I called up home to enquire whether this 'Appa' chap had come home. Based on my previous experience, my cues and filters had led me to believe that Appa would be an old man, wearing a typically local outfit with a Gandhi cap and trundling across town on a derelict bicycle and not keeping up to his schedule.

 Imagine my surprise when Sabina told me that:-

a. At 4 pm, there was a call from 'Appa' saying that he is delayed by half an hour.

b. At 4.30 pm. our house bell rang and there was 'Appa'

c. No, he wasn't an old man, local outfit, cap......He was very young, wore jeans and sneakers and had come on his Honda motorcycle.

d. He not only finished measuring the area and recommended the length of cloth needed in double quick time, but also made a couple of practical suggestions regarding re-upholstering some of our cushions.

e. There's more. During his 30-minute visit, he received three calls on his cell-phone and fixed up appointments at different locations in town.

f. And here's the clincher. His charges were only Rs. 15/- per curtain, a good 10 rupees less than the original Appa of 3 years ago.

So friends, the moral of the story is that change is what makes the world tick.

Arun Kumar - September 2001