I have recently had some real bad experiences and this has made me realize how the consumer is - pardon my language - Screwed again and again by Big Corporations ! I had a really bad experiences with Dell, Dish Network (and other companies) that left me wondering - “Whatever happened to the proverb - ‘the customer is ALWAYS right’” or is that just something that lesser established / upcoming companies believe in?
In this country, the big corporations are encouraged and they become so big that the customer is forgotten. If one (or few) customers have complaints - they are just shooed away. The big companies don’t care one bit about them. They are so big that you don’t make an iota of difference to them. Your satisfaction is of least concern to them. How will one drop in an ocean make any difference in their next Quarterly result? That is the attitude of all of these companies and it makes me hate them even more !
Companies like Cingular / AT&T ; all insurance companies; Comcast; Dish Network; Dell; Starbucks; Quiznos, All Airlines etc. etc. all fall under the same category. All produce on a large scale basis and quality (of goods and/or services) goes down the drain - but of course if you call to complain, be prepared to be shoved around from one operator to another until you get frustrated, shout at some poor soul who is not at fault at all and then end the frustration by banging the phone down !! Yes - that has happened to me, and it has provoked me to write a blog entry about it !!
My insurance company has charged me an exorbitant amount of money for an emergency visit, which they claimed was not emergency. Every year the first visit to the doc costs me a bomb - cause that is the minimum I need to shell out in a year - and that pinches me a lot since I probably go to the doctor once a year !! I still haven’t seen Michael Moore’s Sicko, but I’m sure I’ll feel even more SICK after seeing it ! I hate the medical system in this place - I wonder how can such things so basic, like medicine, be so un-affordable !! This is probably my pet peeve and the big insurance companies don’t help at all when every year they bump up my co-pay or my premiums, even when my annual health report shows that nothing is critically wrong with me ! I don’t even use my health insurance as much (which is not something that I am complaining about 
). I actually skip going to a doctor at times just because I worry about how much I will have to shell out to go see one !!
I had to get my Dish Antenna changed so that instead of being fixed n the railing it had to be fixed on a tripod (some apartment issue - the apartment complex is no less than a big corporation - but that is yet another story). So when I called up Dish Network and they were charging me $100 to do this - to move my dish antenna 2 feet inside !! They were charging me this despite of me paying them $5 every month towards a “protection plan”. They claimed it was an “installation” and not part of the protection plan !! I tried to explain them but my words did not reach anyone’s ear - every one was “playing by the book”. In India I would have got this done for free !! The good part of this story is that I also played it “by the book” and got the better of the company by doing so ! I removed the dish antenna myself, put it on the tripod and then called them and lodged a complaint that the dish antenna had moved and that I needed a “service call” - and stupidly enough this fell under the “protection plan” and they sent out someone to fix it - Dumb bast**** !!! (Again - pardon my frustration which is causing all the foul language). Blame it on those big corporations
I have noticed a stark difference between the business model here and in another country (say India). I see this problem there as well, but in a much much lower scale - the reason being that the competition is healthier there. There are so many companies there that compete with each other and in doing so YOU become important - as a customer. Earning your business is important, but keeping you happy so that you are loyal to them is even more important. That is the difference - the difference in attitude. The western world is trying to influence them to change their ways too - It is happening, but I hope it doesn’t go to this extent ! The service there is much better, because the people who work in those companies are paid on a commission basis at times. This is an amazing way of getting better service. The simple rule of thumb is - if you serve better, the more the chance of the customer sticking to you and/or getting you more customers which means - more business earned by you for your company, which also means more commission for you !! You win, the Company wins and the Customer wins - Its a WIN-WIN situation !! Above all though, people are much warmer there and they are more sincere where work is concerned - Our culture teaches us that “Work is God” and “Keeping the Customer happy is our primary concern” which makes the us give more to our work there than here.
Well so what went wrong here - why isn’t that the case here? Corporations here became so HUGE and powerful that they don’t think they need all of these customers ! I hate that approach and I hope that something can be done - Maybe making the market a little more open and free will help. E.g. don’t have cell phones locked to Providers - Let the providers sell what they are meant to do - sell the service !!! If they are bound to do only that, then they will be bound to provide better service !!
All this makes me feel that if I were ever to get a chance to screw the big companies over once in a while then I won’t shy away from that chance - It feels evil but at times they need a dose of their own medicine ! There are always loop-holes - you just need to figure them out !
I just came back from the movie (Taare Zameen Par) and this is one hindi movie I didn’t want to miss, and let me tell you that I am not BIG on hindi movies, so when I say that I don’t want to miss a hindi movie it translates to “You shouldn’t miss this hindi movie !”. I saw the movie from the corner seat of the 3rd row and didn’t complain one bit - now thats a shocker !
Yes, I am talking about the 1968 flick directed by Brian G. Hutton. 
