The ability to speak to a customer care representative may seem like a basic dignity when one is doing business with a company, but in an age in which luggage is not considered a basic dignity when one is paying exorbitant prices to fly, it is unsurprising that the commercial powers that be have found a way to reduce their expenses while increasing the burden on the consumer. Some banks in India have started charging their patrons for using customer care to answer questions that could have been answered by their IVR system.
While IVR systems may be the bane of many people’s existence, Standard Chartered is very confident in their new system. Rajashree Nambiar, the general manager of retail banking products explained to Satyanarayan Iyer, of The Hindu Business Line, “We feel that since the new IVR will address a gamut of customer-related queries, the need for human intervention in the form of representatives will be minimized. The rationale is to encourage customers to use our enhanced IVR. If customers don’t like pressing “1” for this and “2” for that or having a computer misinterpret their voice commands, they better be prepared to pay.
Somewhat less offensively, HDFC Bank charges its patrons 50 Rupees per call to a customer service representative if they fail to maintain their monthly balance. ICICI Bank charges its patrons 50 Rupees every time that they speak to a customer care representative about having their online user ID or password reissued.
Will companies surcharge themselves out of business? Probably not. While consumers may already feel strapped, they are getting charged for basic snacks on flights, formerly free consultations for plastic surgeons, and, now, speaking to a customer care representative at their bank. It is doubtful that consumers will ever see these differences in service levels reflected in a way that benefits them, and it is likely that, while we’d all like to see it go away, we had better just get used to it.