Interesting observation (And sad reality of business communication in Pakistan)

[AlienX]

(Long post)

In recent months, perhaps few years, I am experiencing a really strange behavior from the business community. I am not sure if it's subjective perception or an objective truth.

For example you go to a shop for buying something or repair. Doesn't matter if it's small item or large one (like furniture). You negotiate the deal and settle on a price. Now the fun part begins, you pay some advance (in some cases, full payment) and the sales guy promises you the delivery or support.

Now in my recent experience(s) there are possibly two outcomes. In one case your deal goes on smoothly and you are happy, which is very rare. And if for some reason there are few days involved in completion of the deal, you are in for a treat.

Usually the seller fails to deliver on time. Then the agony of follow up calls begins, where they will make strange excuses about the delay. If you call and they tell you that they'll call back in a few minute, they never call back with updated information, every single time and I have been recording these instances for very long time.

Some examples:

1. My smartphone is in repair and I called service center to get an update on progress. The representative told me to wait 10 minutes so he can check from lab and call me with update, no sign of that follow up call since last 2 days.

2. I dropped my UPS (PC Online UPS) for repair and it took me around 1 month of follow up calls, the shopkeeper made excuses like (in order), battery not available... battery will be here in 1 day... battery is received and will UPS will be ready by today etc. Guess what, when I went in to pick it, the UPS was sitting in exactly same location where I left it and battery was not replaced, however the shopkeeper told me to give him a few minute, heck, I gave him 3 hours while I had my car maintained. And (the drum rolls) when I went to pick it, it was in same position and I had to stand there for half hour so they can replace the battery in it.

3. I ordered some service on rozee,pk and for about 2 days, a lady kept calling with information and pricing etc, so I paid in advance and she communicated for maximum of 3 days from rozee,pk domain email (so I consider it official) asking some more information etc. And it's been around a month and I have yet to see my order completed while she has disappeared into thin air.

4. I recently ordered some curtains from a reputable shop and the seller was extremely confident that he will complete the order before EID as it was around Aug 18 I guess. And same behavior also followed where he made excuses and upon threatening to have the order cancelled, magically managed to deliver the order within a day.

5. Called in for AC repair, the electrician said he will be around by next day and you guessed it right, never showed up.

6. Went in twice on a lighting shop asking to change the SMDs in chandelier at my home, it's been a month and despite his promise of sending a repair man, no one showed up even though I left him full address and contact information.

7. Bought a washing machine worth 80K from a shop and it's a long story how they literally refused to give after sales support, despite promises before we had it delivered and proof that it has a fault. It also took 3 days from LG support with repeated calls before any one showed up (Also don't buy LG products, there service is pathetic)

There are countless similar examples and I am sure many of you have experienced the same. It's alarming that business community has absolutely no regards for customer's time and courtesy to at least communicate well enough so a customer doesn't feel bad for dealing with them. Although not everyone is same but a large percentage of shops is exhibiting the same behavior.

Business is about communication and customer relationships (you can buy the same item from any shop) but sadly in Pakistan it's all about taking customer's money. Having been ripped off so many times, it feels normal now. It's the same feeling as when you pay someone 100K and then they turn off there cell phone, you have been ripped off so beautifully that when you see your face in mirror every morning, you see an idiot. However you experience it again in a few days or months.

There are few exceptions, not everyone is same and good communication is shown by some individuals. However I have noticed this sheer lack of courtesy and commitment across the board, doesn't matter if it's large corporate or small rehri wala, everyone is following the same pattern. I am not sure what are they teaching in business schools these days or what elder of some shopkeeper trained him. If it's same everywhere, we are doing something wrong. It's the same as glares you get by passing traffic on a red signal.

Please share your own experiences and insights on this.

 

[assasin42o]

I am not sure what are they teaching in business schools these days or what elder of some shopkeeper trained him. If it's same everywhere, we are doing something wrong.

This is where you're wrong. I bet 90% of the cases you mentioned in your post, the people responsible would have been hardly inter pass. Today starting a new business (be it online, repairs,etc) is a piece of cake. And because of the lack of consumer courts here in Pak, nobody really gives a shit.

A small eg, I ordered from a recently opened online grocery shop. I ordered on 23rd of August, and today is 29th and I have yet to receive my consignment. I have been on follow-up through their facebook page, and all I hear is "You'll definitely receive your order today". After a week I decided to call them to give them a taste of my medicine but I was shocked to hear when the representative said "Sir our rider came at your area, tried to contact you but nobody responded." She was clearly lying through her teeth but I didn't argue with her. That just shows how serious they're about their businesses.

And talking about our day-to-day labor class (plumber, electrician, carpenter) they've been pain in the ass from day one. No wonder how they work their whole life and fail to achieve anything.

 

[AlienX]

This is where you're wrong. I bet 90% of the cases you mentioned in your post, the people responsible would have been hardly inter pass. Today starting a new business (be it online, repairs,etc) is a piece of cake. And because of the lack of consumer courts here in Pak, nobody really gives a shit.

True. I may be wrong in over generalization about education, but if you see it from behavioral point of view, I think education becomes irrelevant. They know how to operate a phone, how to open a website and check order details etc then it's not rocket science to be courteous. Or be true to the facts at the very least.

E.g. In your case if they can't fill the order, they should simply apologize for inconvenience and let you know the true reason for delay. Instead they opted to lie as a default response. That's the whole point.



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[wasifhassan97]

It was worth reading.
I've experienced the same over the past year since I moved to Pakistan. The shit is real.

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[Sani]

PTCL is the best in this. (lmao)

 

[EternalBlizzard]

Same Called in for cable net installment and he kept delaying making excuses, I say if you can't come in the next 10 minutes don't beat around the bush and keep saying "bas agya, bas agya" tell me the correct time even if its 2 days or 1 week i won't eat you bhai.
Like i could go and do my other work but you are binding me to home making me wait for you while you show up the next day.

 

[EternalBlizzard]

True. I may be wrong in over generalization about education, but if you see it from behavioral point of view, I think education becomes irrelevant.

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At first glance this is what it seems like but education is the core i think. it has an indirect effect on a person's personality and behaviour. I mean people will say how are physics, chemistry, maths etc going to teach you etiquette and ethics and all that but it does. All of these open your mind.
For example most of the cool minded persons you'll find are usually educated persons. They would like to avoid quarrels and all that as it'd waste time. We are gonna say education didn't teach them that but its the actual opposite. It had an indirect effect on your personality. That's the difference between Pak Service men/technicians and foreign ones, they are educated, the ones here ain't. We don't even have technical schools like that. They grow up in shops being called "chote pana pakra dena, chote pechkas lana" etc and they eventually learn things. That environment itself has a negative impact.

 

[AlienX]

At first glance this is what it seems like but education is the core i think. it has an indirect effect on a person's personality and behaviour. I mean people will say how are physics, chemistry, maths etc going to teach you etiquette and ethics and all that but it does. All of these open your mind.
For example most of the cool minded persons you'll find are usually educated persons. They would like to avoid quarrels and all that as it'd waste time. We are gonna say education didn't teach them that but its the actual opposite. It had an indirect effect on your personality. That's the difference between Pak Service men/technicians and foreign ones, they are educated, the ones here ain't. We don't even have technical schools like that. They grow up in shops being called "chote pana pakra dena, chote pechkas lana" etc and they eventually learn things. That environment itself has a negative impact.

What I am talking about is general behavior of most sellers or service providers being disrespectful towards customer. Technically if it's only money you care about and emptying other's pockets while providing sub-standard or less-than-promised product, it makes you a thief, a fraud.

Talking about education?; Let me tell you a story, not related to business. During my masters thesis I had to do an industry survey. During which I used to go to different software companies and ask them to fill a simple questionnaire. It was a standard response by their HRs that they appreciate the work and will have one of their engineers fill it. The data was being collected online and questionnaire was to be filled online too, no paperwork involved. Now most of then never kept the promise despite of reminders. One response was incredibly funny, he smiled and promised us to fill it in 15 minutes and he actually did. When we checked it later, he filled the whole questionnaire with Gibberish and we had to take that and many responses out of our data.

Now if you take into account the effort, time spent in traveling, spending fuel out of personal expenses, time spent in sorting out the data, out of 80 companies I visited about 30% of them never responded and many more didn't even fill it correctly (which is normal though).

Now think about it, education makes you a sensible person, many of the persons working in those companies are graduates from different universities and many have MBAs in HR. Now see the relevancy ?

Ok, now let's see the other end, the un-educated masses. Labor class, shopkeepers, even Taxi-walas, are they not following exactly the same routine.

Take another case of buying a new smart Phone. I am sure 99% of you have gone to a phone shop and asked for a particular model. Many shops do not have a demo unit and most of good devices cost more than 40K. Their default response is if they open the box, you have to buy the set no matter if you like it or not. Sometimes if you are an old customer, they do open it for you. Only to take it back into their lab and wrapping it again.

Once I went to a store with a guest here on murree road, a famous showroom in front of rawal road (You know who). There the sales man had a beard and looked very respectable. The total cost of products went above 200K. Now as soon as we started to argue about pricing, his response was "to na lain bhai, rehnay dain" and went on to deny a fault in product to our face while it was visibly there. I was shocked, we were buying 200+K worth of stuff and he was behaving as if we want it for free. He later continued to lie about delivery time and kept us in grey area as when he will deliver the products. Promised in 2 hours and delivered next day. The guest I was with had to stay at his empty new house without food and water for whole evening waiting for him, only after threatening to cancel the order in the morning, he magically delivered the order in 1 hour.

About chote working at mechanic shops, there are plethora of cases where they simply lie about your car's condition just so they can make a few hundred of you.

Wherever you go, lying is the first response you get. Want to buy Apples, rehri-wala simply lies about their quality. Want to take taxi, he simply lies about true fare. Ask someone their education, they simply lie about it.

 

[AlienX]

It's not very obvious but a subtle behavior which you need to experience to understand. And it's alarmingly becoming mainstream in last few years.

Just recently I had to shift my PTCL number to new exchange installed in my area. I kept calling the technician, at the exchange etc for full 1 month, and guess what, their response is always "G kal tak ho jaye ga". LMAO.

 

[dms664]

I walked into interwood mobel pvt limited i9 islamabad with my family. We finalised an ilona bed set and paid full in advance with a promise that it ll be delivered after 03 days but we made it 7 days n asked them to deliver it on weekend. They failed to do so and then unlimited calls to i9 interwood and their head office and after a tortures of 01 week extra the bed was delivered but with faulty fitting. The bed would swing and goes down when one sits in it. Had to call them again and again but to no avail. Finally made complaint on their FB page and response was very Good. The sales girl fromlocal showroom of i9 has the audacity to call me and say that why you complained when we were WORKING on your request. Finally carpenter arrived with extra pieces of wood and bed was fixed. He shared that this bed has this issue if extra support pieces are not applied.I inquired from him if this is the issue why not it was not taken care of but he just shrugged and left.
Not gona order anything from interwood mobel pvt limited i9 showroom islamabad rather not going for the brand again.

People are least pushed about customer satisfaction despite charging them heavily.

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[StrikerX]

It is quite true. We're just finishing up with our house construction and one thing that was common with all the people involved in this construction process (mazdoors, plumbers, electricians, carpenters, tile fitters, welder etc) was that they all LIE, don't honour commitments and take 5x more time to complete a task e.g 1 day job can go on for 3-5 days even.

We are not the sort of people to withhold payments but that's the only way they come to work, if you give them some relaxation on the payment front then they're not bothered at all. Learned this the hard way when our false ceiling contractor had some tiny finishing work left but asked for payment which we made (thinking he'll honour his commitment) and then he vanished. Wouldn't come to finish the work which was at max going to take 1-2hrs.

Consumers are not protected in this country and these people take full advantage of it. Haram kama rhay hain but they're not bothered.