Knowledge Avoids Pain

After subsidy in cooking gas was reduced to only 9 cylinders per year, everyone got anxious about how the whole scheme would be managed. We booked a gas refill but no one was at home when the delivery boy came and hence I got an SMS about cancellation of the booking. HP Gas neither has a system of giving a cell phone to delivery boys nor do they try a second time to reach out. The SMS confirmation about expected delivery had mentioned that this was to be a subsidized cylinder. The moment I got SMS about cancellation of booking, I became anxious. Negative thoughts and suspicion came to my mind, because nothing was told about the cancellation and I did not know its repercussions. So I immediately went to their refill godown and enquired about the cancellation. The boys there were really courteous and helpful – or maybe they understood my anxiety. They explained that since the booking was cancelled in the system, it will not be counted as a subsidized cylinder and I simply had to book a new refill. I booked again, and this time also booking was cancelled because they came to deliver on the same day of booking! I never expected such a prompt delivery! So I booked again and next time we made sure there was someone at home all the time. Delivery was done and I noticed that in the receipt they had mentioned “Subsidized cylinder# = 1/9”. This was fair and all my anxiety and worry vanished in a moment.

I think I was worried in the beginning because there was no clarity on policy and process. How were subsidized cylinders going to be counted, what happens when a booking is cancelled, etc, I was not informed about these aspects and even the call center number which I had, had no option to allow me to talk to any of their representatives. Clarity was lacking and hence in absence of transparency, I was worried. The moment I saw a fair process where the computer generated receipt had mentioned the subsidized cylinder count correctly, all my worry vaporized. Information and transparency avoided my worries and pains…

This stands true for a lot many aspects. If a business has transparent processes and policies, customers are happy and satisfied. Customers will never even think of quitting until they have clear knowledge and visibility of what would happen in any particular scenario. But if there is a great organization with prompt service but without clear policies, customers will never have the kind of trust and confidence which needs to exist and customer satisfaction in that case will remain lacking…

Knowledge avoids pain for individuals and hence organizations should try their best to make most information available. Until customers are happy, businesses are happy.

- Rahul

Note: Views are personal and do not represent views of any organization associated with the author. [Detailed disclaimer]