LG Customer Care-less!

Here is the mail that I sent to Mr. Santosh Das, Head of Customer Care, LG Electronics India for not carrying out repairs on my LG washing machine. Within 8 hours, the machine was repaired and several calls followed about quality of repair. This was after a week of not   showing up!

I am not sure if they are really serious about service. Read on, it might give you ideas...

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Dear Santosh,

I understand that you head the customer service at LG India. I must congratulate you and your brilliant team for providing timely and  quality service to clients.

I have a washing machine out of warranty and I called CS in Hyderabad pretty late in the night. They recognized me and took my complaint,  however as the CSA probably did not understand the product well, I had  to explain a simple complaint (broken front door hinge of the front   loading washing machine) 10 times, with washing machine model number. Kudos to your team that they finally got it right!

Thanks that the engineer turned up, and without calling, but isn't that the right way? I am sure they have been trained to not disturb  their clients and land up at their places without calling. The  engineer was well prepared to see "what was wrong with which  equipment?" He also offered to replace the part the next day.

I think as a courtesy, he or any one else in the service center did not disturb me for many days after the visit. Think they forgot about  the complaint -- sometimes humans do forget, don't they? So, I thought  I will remind them that a part needs replacement. They also sometime   forget to tell clients about the status.... human beings!

I called the omnipresent call center. They were very helpful in not letting me know the status as they usually dont have a status --  convenient for them I suppose! They were very helpful in pushing their  problem to the service center, also forthcoming in giving out service center head's mobile number. I also believe that the number is changed  (Anjaneyulu 09703217681) as he is not picking it up for quite some  time -- probably he is a busy man and customer call is not a priority  for him.

Today, I called up the service center to check the status, they replied that they have no clue as the part is not there and they will  not forward the call to the supervisor. I like this attitude of   service people -- clear and concise -- no ambiguities! Atleast he said that he has no clue about service delivery date.

Anyway, I wanted to tell you that my 1.5 year's son's clothes and our small family's clothes are piling up and not been washed for more than  a week. I think I will take leave from office for a day and wash all  clothes.

I am writing to you so that you can send your service team to my home tomorrow to wash all clothes manually. It will be a great help. I  think your team is good at washing clothes as they have demonstrated  limited servicing abilities. Thanks in advance for sending your team,  I will send you washing session's pictures tomorrow - you might want to include them in your newsletter telling how far you guys go to  service a client!

Looking forward to your team's visit to my home to wash all clothes.

And, if you really think it is possible replace a part, I am pretty sure it will be impossible to backtrack my complaint number from the  limited information on this mail, so here it it is S9C 6100 5885.

7 Mantras for Profitable Rural Mobile Applications in India

1. Literacy: Don't make me read anything except numbers. Think voice and human interfaces.

2. Trust: Payment to humans. Don't try self / machine payments.

3. Lock-in: Ask for payments only when needed - don't lock me in, and I don't understand plans.

4. Customize: Services or products must solve my specific problem.

5. Exclusive: The information must not be available thru other means: word of mouth, media...

6. Timely: Product/Services/Information must be available when needed, shut off when not needed.

7. Self-service: Self service apps must be designed & usability tested after ethno research.

mVaayoo, an expert usability evaluation

mVaayoo.com Expert Usability Evaluation by Kern In this usability expert review of mVaayoo.com, Kern discovers how the online bulk sms sending application caters to wrong users and how the key users' needs are ignored. This may lead to poor sales, a lot of sales effort, and poor conversions after demos.

View more presentations from Kerncomm.

Some more irresistible E71 applications

Relief from web suffering: Opera Mini
If you surf web from your GPRS connection, here is your chance to save bandwidth and fasten your speed - just by Opera's optimization of images for your phone. On top of that you get clear fonts!
http://www.operamini.com

Seamlessly manage multiple connections: SmartConnect
If you connect your phone to the net through multiple internet connections - wifi, gprs, 3g - this is one app that will make your life very smooth on an E71. No annoying asking for connection settings each time you move.

Before you download it, just ensure that setting in your app manager in downloads are set to - Software Installation to All and Online certificate check to On. Once you do that, go to downloads on your E71 to download and install this wonderful app.

Irresistible E71 applications

To keep me running is a workhorse, the Nokia E71, the QWERTY phone I know just too well for far longer than it is in the market. Anyway, these are the absolutely free applications I use that keep this workhorse ready for a race anytime!

All emails: Gmail

So, if you are an email addict and need to access your previous emails which your phone does not save, this is the application that will ensure all emails are accessible. Just ensure that all your official mails are also forwarded to your gmail and in gmail set a filter to keep them as "read".

http://m.google.com

Chat and talk: Fring

And you are a Skype or GTalk freak and cannot keep your hands and mouth off your friends day 'n night, this will open all doors to your friends hearts (only hearts!):

http://www.fring.com

GPS Maps: Google Maps

Move over to finding every thing, move over from not asking anyone for directions. Click on http://www.google.com from your e71 and scroll down to where it says "maps" and you will be able to download it and use it. It also sometimes tells you about the nearest barber's shop (oops hair stylist!).

Instant Email, Push Email: Seven

Some people cannot live without email - whether in shower, or while having ...; here's the one to keep your boss always having a tab on you.

http://community.seven.com/

Don't spend on data cards for your laptop: JoikuSpot Light

Your laptop does not have a tata, birla, or ambani data card and you need to desperately see check out the the cricket score or someone online, here is your solution. Turn your e71 into a wifi router, which shares any connection with your computer. So your Airtel or Vodafone mobile GPRS connection runs crickinfo.com on your computer. On the website, choose your phone on the right and download the free version. With this version, you can only browse... no chat... no email... but it really works!

http://www.joiku.com/

Kern & HumanCentric join International Usability Partners

HumanCentric (United States) and Kern Communications (India) have joined the International Usability Partners (IUP). The IUP is a network of independent usability companies who have joined together to provide user experience services worldwide.

"With our new partners HumanCentric and Kern Communications we are able to offer our clients improved global reach through one point of contact," says Jakob Biesterfeldt, Manager User Research at UID and founding member of the IUP. "Both partners are leading usability and design companies in their countries as well as experts for global user experience research and design. I am very pleased that they have joined the IUP!"

HumanCentric and Kern Communications join with international usability companies from seven other countries: China, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Providing standardized usability research, testing and design for markets all over the world, these nine companies will establish the gold standard for product usability design and testing.

"I am pleased to join the IUP," says Barry Beith president and CEO, HumanCentric. "Being part of an international network of usability researchers allows us to provide more efficient cross-cultural usability testing to our clients."

"Healthcare, education, communication, and consumer products will need to undergo a lot of change, if they have to be designed for India," says Ripul Kumar, Director User Research, Kern Communications. "As the world is looking at India for the next billion consumers, Kern will help IUP clients across the globe understand user behavior in India."

The IUP have collaborated in dozens of international projects in more than 30 countries on all five continents. Clients include Expedia, RIM, Microsoft, Samsung, and eBay.

The network establishes guidelines for international cross-cultural user research through collaborative research projects. In recent studies the IUP has highlighted cultural differences in the usage of social networks, developed guidelines for the recruitment of user research participants and studied how users perform transactions with their mobile devices in Europe and China. To ensure a close collaboration among IUP members and a highly efficient management of international projects, the IUP have started an "exchange program" in which employees of one member company work at another member company for a certain period of time. In 2008, a consultant of the German IUP member "User Interface Design GmbH" worked at the Chinese partner company "ISAR UID" for a period of 9 months and enabled therefore a smooth and fast flow of information between both IUP members and their clients.

About International Usability Partners: IUP is a network of equals, run by all partners for their clients' benefit. Each partner is an expert in global user-experience research and design, specializing in the cultural and linguistic characteristics of their home country. "IUP quality" stands for companies that offer world-class user experience services of consistently high quality in a reliable and efficient manner. All IUP members have a common understanding of the methods, processes and scientific background of the field of user experience (human-computer interaction).

IUP members have effective quality assurance and process improvement programs in place as well as regular professional training for their staff. Members also have state of the art equipment and tools that facilitate in-house and mobile user research. Facilities are conveniently located around the world in 14 cities including: Chicago, Helsinki, Hyderabad, London, Paris, Torino, Munich, and Beijing.

Contact info: Ian Collingwood, Managing Director, Amberlight Partners Ltd. ian@amber-light.co.uk www.international-usability-partners.com

About HumanCentric: HumanCentric, Inc. is an integrated design and development company headquartered in Cary, North Carolina, with a foundation based on the commitment to make user-friendly products by studying and understanding the end user. HumanCentric leverages Human Factors, Design Research, Industrial Design, Graphic and Interaction Design and Design Engineering to simplify and enhance user experiences.

With offices in Cary, North Carolina, and Chicago, Illinois, the team of multidisciplinary design professionals is dedicated to working in an environment focused on the client, the product and the end user.

HumanCentric's facilities have a total of 19,500 square feet of office space, including three state-of-the-art usability laboratories, a design studio and prototyping workshop. At HumanCentric, the goal is to understand the user experience and use that understanding to develop intuitive and sophisticated products, systems and environments.

About Kern Communications: Kern is a leading usability consulting and user research company in India. Kern works with large financial institutions, start-ups, established software product companies, online gaming companies, and mobile phone makers to help them innovate for Indian users. Kern's strengths lie in understanding user behavior and translating it to innovative solutions.

Though Kern's fully digital usability testing lab is located in Hyderabad, Kern can run ethnographic studies, participatory design workshops, or usability testing in any city, town, or village in India in any Indian language.