The shift in charge at our central Delhi outlet called me up regarding a customer issue. One of their customers had, the previous day, telephonically ordered a Christmas special pie. This particular pie came in a fluted round glass dish for which the customer was supposed to pay a refundable deposit over and above the cost of the pie. The issue was, or rather the customer claimed, that she had not been informed about this deposit requirement. I told the shift in charge that the customer would still be required to leave a dish deposit which is actually just its the cost price.
Shortly thereafter I got a call from an irate lady, the same customer. She said that she was a government official and the pie was to be gifted to a senior officer. As it was to be gifted she could not later go to his house to get the dish back and collect the dish deposit. Hence for her the deposit would not be refundable. Also she had already got a particular amount of money sanctioned as official expenditure, she could not claim the dish deposit money now. Under the circumstances she would have to pay the amount from her own pocket, which she apparently did not intend to do.
Having heard her out I apologized for the inconvenience and asked her what she expected from me. She said that as the mistake had occurred on our part she expected us to not take a deposit and not even expect the glass dish back. I explained to her that in the first instance, as per the shift in charge, the dish deposit condition had been conveyed to her. If there was any misunderstanding caused by a communication gap then while I can offer my apologies for the same, she would still need to deposit the cost of the dish, as it was not included in the price of the Christmas special pie.
This annoyed the lady who said that she was unwilling to shell out the extra money from her own pocket as she felt it was our mistake. I offered to cancel her confirmed order for the special and replace it with any other dessert, perhaps even one that came in a glass dish but cost less. If required, we would even deliver from our south Delhi branch. To this she retorted that this was hardly a special offer or effort on our part and that she wanted that particular Christmas special only.
I told her that the dish deposit amount was non negotiable as we only kept the cost price which was refunded as and when the glass dish was returned. To this she threatened to report the matter to the consumer forum. I said that that was her prerogative but that I stand by what I’d said and offered and I could not negotiate on this matter.
Her parting shot was a terse, "I’ll see you."
I reiterated that that was her choice and wished her a good day.
