They know your name, they have your contact details and house number too. But they are strangers to you. They help you deliver food when you are lazy to cook some; they deliver your items when you are making affluent use of e-shopping. Simply, home deliveries have made our lives easier.
Designed By: Dhruv Mahajan
However, the enumeration of these shocking incidents will leave many women alarmed and alert before thinking of making a home delivery.
27 November 2015, a news was posted in India Times and Storypick about a girl, Avantika, getting repetitive texts from the delivery boy after ordering food from the restaurant Bercos, Greater Kailash-1. There was a trivial problem of payment which confused the delivery boy but was quickly sorted out. Half an hour after that, she received a message of apology from him. She dismissed it, thinking it as their warm customer service, careful of their customer's need. But it confused her when she received the same on WhatsApp. What alarmed her later was another text, asking her why is her dp not visible. Well, seriously, how will you react to it? What does the delivery boy have to with it?
She ignored it. But the messages kept coming again.
Frightened, she complained about this matter to the Bercos and even to its Customer Relationship Manager. But got no heed, responsible action or relevant reaction. She even went on to take this matter to the ears of SHADOWFAX, a company responsible for hiring the delivery boys for Bercos. And their response is worth noticing, “Ma’am he just asked for your picture and apologised about the confusion, what is wrong in that.”
They weren’t just unapologetic towards this case but even retaliated with an absurd question! Is this how they take customer service seriously? They weren't even looking into the customer's problem but were rather questioning the very same.
Later, she expressed her agitation in her Facebook post, explaining the entire case, her fear towards the unexpected texts of the delivery boy and the ‘nobel’ response of the concerned companies. This post was received by the co-founder of Info-Edge group (Naukri.com), Mr Sanjeev Bhikchandani who who is an investor with Zomato, publicized assuring her of the relevant action to be taken by the companies.
The boy was fired, but the restaurant never apologised.
That’s it? Will that assure the customers of never happening such incidents again? The fact that the authority in power didn’t take a stand and simply fired the delivery boy makes it seem like an act of 'rescue-the-name-of-the-company' rather than a quality customer service.
Avantika’s post raised pertinent questions regarding the working and hiring of delivery boys by the companies which seems to be ignored or bypassed- “Do you not screen your employees? Is there no code of conduct? No rules, regulations or employee check? Do you do absolutely nothing to keep a tab on these people?”
Many people commented on this post saying she should just have replied to his texts with 'not interested' or blocked his number rather than complaining and making him lose his job. They called it a trivial matter which was unnecessarily publicised.
But considering the other shocking case, if it wasn’t for Avantika's immediate action, the matter could have gone as worse as this one in- Bangalore registered an outrageous case of harassment by a delivery boy where the woman was forced to leave the city itself. Ankita(name changed)who lived alone in Bangalore, tweeted a petition, requesting help. She had been receiving calls ever since she ordered food from a restaurant in Koramangala through a mobile app in October 2014. Later, she got a call from the delivery guy asking to be her friend. Blocking the number and informing the restaurant owner didn’t stop it either. The calls still came swarming at her, getting vulgar, frightening her to the extent of leaving her house.
To the advisors of "block the number" to Avantika's post, sorry but your trick didn't work here. Even changing the mobile number didn’t work for her. What other proper measure should a woman do in this case if not complaining to the authority and to the police?
However, her complain to the Koramangala police in August 2015 didn’t incite any action either. Eventually, she was compelled to leave the city but the calls haven’t stopped yet. Bengaluru's senior police officer has assured her of his help and of taking a serious action in this case.
The other appalling case of 12 July 2016 will make the option of home delivery seem risky and a grave mistake of inviting the culprit to your house yourself. J. P. Nagar police arrested a food delivery boy of McDonalds through Foodpanda app for allegedly harassing a woman customer and putting up her phone number in a WhatsApp group as an escort service, inviting numbers of vulgar calls asking her price for sex. This action of the guy was in revenge against the women for refusing the delivery.
The girl sought police help which caught the alleged guy and had him remanded to judicial custody.
These are few highlighted cases,( but there must have been many) that too of big companies known for their good customer service The lax attitude of the companies who ask what’s wrong when their delivery boy personally asks for the customer's picture makes us really question the mode of conduct and manner their delivery boys are groomed with. Online services have made our life easier and it grants our order with a click of a button right at our doorstep. Many might not have even thought about the ‘misuse’ of their contact details they give to the shops/restaurants because we ‘trust’ their service. But looking at these cases, it sure raises our doubts and fears about the person who is standing at our doorstep having our contact details.
When Bangalore Mirror contacted the McDonalds about this incident, they assured their full co-operation and of taking strict action against their third- party service. While in Foodpanda’s report, it was, “The third party did it, not us.” Blame-game never solves the problem. The companies should rather work on mitigating the problem, ensuring strict rules and immediate strict action when such complaints are voiced.
Content Writer: Atiba Sheikh
No comments:
Post a Comment