Twenty- five Seven

Another day another whine

May 21, 2014

Honestly, I’m getting sick of being a whiner but what else can I do?

Croma’s Customer Care that doesn’t Care

Last month we took on the task of fixing our windows which needed to be fixed since some of them didn’t open and those that did, didn’t close. But with technology being what it is, we were told that we had to have the exact dimensions of the AC that we wanted fitted before we could order the window frame.
Now the whole world has shifted to wall mounted split Airconditioners save our building which has forbidden it on the grounds that it ruins the elevation. It must be said though at our height on the 23rd floor only the birds will be able to see the unsightly unit, but being law abiding citizens unlike many in our building who have happily removed columns and beams to accommodate their designer’s fancies, we went and purchased a Carrier Window AC. We chose Carrier because it has a body that doesn’t corrode and will be able to withstand the cruel monsoon winds that lash us every year.

Hubby Dear is very particular from which store we purchase stuff and the current store of choice is CROMA. So we went and purchased the AC from CROMA and left it on the floor till the window frame was ready. Now comes the interesting part.

After one call to send a service engineer failed, I called the service centre once more to make a request to fix the AC. After patiently disclosing my name, address and 18 character Invoice number, I was told that their application was down and I could only find out the status of my request after an hour.

Now I told the lady I didn’t want to know the status – I only wanted to make a request for the technician to fix the AC and that she should record it as such. Once again I was told to call an hour later to find out the status of my call……

Am I wrong to whine?
Busting the myth of the convenience of online shopping

May 19, 2014

Consumer habits and shopping patterns change with age and needs. Naturally who is interested in buying things one doesn’t want?

So as a young school girl my major concern was to buy a 5p chewy caramel toffees at the end of the bus ride or a 10p packet of singchana on the way home from school. Of course my tastes and needs changed over the years and since I got married over 30 years ago and as for 5p and 10p, they don’t exist in the real world. I find that my purchases have swung from baby bottles to wedding saris and I’ve shopped from streetside vendors and high end stores with equal comfort and enjoyment.

The only pattern that I can see that has developed in my shopping is that I shop according to convenience – that is the convenience of others – When I was newly married, I left the shopping to the servant who knew more about housekeeping and shopping than I did, restricting my purchases mainly to books,clothes and some odds and ends. When the children came along my shopping revolved around their needs and I had to shop according to their schedules – while they were asleep or away at school or while dropping them off to school or picking them up from some class.

Now I find that most of my shopping is on line supposedly in the comfort of my home and at my own time. However, I find that online shopping is not always that convenient as it sounds. For starters, very often I find that the product I want is not on the list of the online store. I also find that the delivery time slot is not always convenient and worst of all, the delivery boys invariably short change you stating that they don’t have change.

And when I look back, I find that my local banya always delivers what I want within minutes of my calling him. He gives me credit so I don’t have to fish out my wallet when my hands are full of flour. My local chemist, fruitwallah, doodhwallah and muttonwallah all home deliver so why am I so thrilled with online shopping?

Is it really so different from ordering on the phone?

Not really.

I find myself going back to my banya, bhajiwalla and fruitwalla. Of course I still like to shop online but that is largely when the stores are closed and I can’t call up any vendor to deliver!
How to buy the perfect headache

May 18, 2014

Now why would anyone in their right minds buy a headache? Well you would if you were gifted an iPad.

It all began with my Diwali gift the year before last which was the gift of an iPad. At that time it was the latest technology and I was pleased as punch that finally I was an IT girl with the slimmest ever iPad that would completely take over my life.

Actually I didn’t really see the need for an iPad since I already had a huge big desk top with a key board I could happily bang on, a tiny Canon camera which let me take good photos and a Nokia phone that allowed me to receive and make calls. I didn’t need to download any books or movies or songs because I didn’t really need to – I saw movies in the theatre or on my DVD player, heard music on the radio or again on my music system and as for reading – give me a book whose pages I could turn any day.

But I was happy to get an iPad and loved seeing this little message at the end of an email Sent from my iPad.

I used MTNL‘s Trump/Dolphin or whatever it was called to access the net till I finally found that I was out of network area even though my house was hardly 100 m away from the MTNL building from where the signals were beamed. I suffered two years of horrible network and decided finally to opt for Vodaphone.

That turned out to be a big mistake because for the past 24 hours I haven’t gone beyond the IVR. First I had to get my account verified telephonically after which the service was activated. After the service was activated I found that my iPad was still not connecting to the net.

Then began that wonderful interaction with the IVR that made me press 1, 2 , 3, talk to people who told me to hang up and call another number since I was obviously connected to the wrong person. Five attempts later I finally managed to talk to someone who told me to re-insert the SIM card which I did. Still I didn’t get hooked up. Then I was told to put the SIM card in another instrument and activate it. Unfortunately the card didn’t fit into the iPhone. So I was told to put the SIM in the dongle and connect that to a computer. I followed the instructions faithfully and still found that my iPad remained disconnected from the virtual world.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH

This experience is tedious enough and I don’t want to grumble any more.

All I can say is that if you want to buy yourself a headache buy yourself an iPad and power it with Vodaphone. The only thing you’ll be familiar with is the message which says

Welcome to Vodafone. For information in English press 1
For billing or payment related inquiries press 1……..
And the instructions go on and on and on.

Another day another whine

Croma’s Customer Care that doesn’t Care

Busting the myth of the convenience of online shopping

How to buy the perfect headache