The internet is replete with messages of aggrieved customers ranting at customer care executives. Customers today are hard to please, and are quick to take umbrage at deficiencies in service. Customer care executives are trained to mollify dissatisfied customers with freebies – maybe a free voucher, or a cashback.
But Ashutosh Gogate wanted something completely different.
Yesterday, he’d ordered a meal from Faasos, and had discovered that while he’d been charged for the entire order, he’d received only half of it. He took to Twitter to complain, and Faasos got back, asking for his order number.
@Help_at_Faasos i have complained thrice I think so far. And you still asking for the order number?
— Ashgogate (@Ashgogate) November 23, 2016
Faasos later sent him an email, but he was still unhappy – Faasos had taken over six hours to respond.
@faasos @Help_at_Faasos NOW an email from you 'looking in the matter'. Rocket science is it?
— Ashgogate (@Ashgogate) November 23, 2016
He was then contacted over the phone by customer care executives, who offered him a freebie for his inconvenience. But Ashutosh was in no mood to relent – had other plans. He tweeted out to them “Feed one hungry person for 7 days.” And to make sure Faasos followed through, he said “Send me photo.”
@Help_at_Faasos @anaggh @shamikv cust ser tried to buy me with freeB. Do this – Feed 1 hungry person every day for 7 days. Send me photo.
— Ashgogate (@Ashgogate) November 23, 2016
Now it would’ve been easy to dismiss this as an unreasonable demand from an angry customer. Large companies deal with hundreds of customers daily, and it’s often hard to respond to personalized requests. Ashutosh himself wouldn’t have expected them to follow through. But he was in for a surprise – in his inbox were pictures of Faasos staff feeding seven street children.
“I didn’t expect them to follow through,” Ashutosh later told OfficeChai. “But kudos to them they did.”
And this is one of those rare instances where everyone’s left happy after a customer complaint. Ashutosh was happy that Faasos had atoned for messing up his order. Faasos’ staff got the satisfaction of seeing their customer happy. And some underprivileged children got a nice unexpected surprise.
This is customer service done right.