Three days back I bought three Eggy Wraps from Cafe Coffee Day (CCD), Yelahanka Old Town. When I came back home I saw the paper carry bag had six pieces instead of three. Someone wasn't paying attention at work! Since I was having an upset stomach I hadn't planned to eat, however we all enjoyed the wraps...
My wife kept nagging me for paying CCD the pending amount for the additional wraps, I kept postponing this although I was driving back home on the same route everyday. Today she'd called up in the afternoon and while hanging up reminded me to pay up for the other pieces we had all gobbled up and I told her that perhaps they were anyway charging more per piece & I wouldn't pay. She would hear none of it. I hung-up the phone without any intentions of paying.
The elevated road on top of NH7 is so good that you just whizz past after getting off it right after the Jakkur aerodrome. So I was about to cross the CCD at Old town, Yelahanka when I was reminded of paying at the CCD after getting off the elevated road on which I was driving at 110 kmph for a few seconds, just a few seconds back. I went up to the counter and the conversation went like this:
Me: "3 days back I bought 3 pieces of Eggy wraps, I paid for 3 but you gave me 6 pieces, so I thought I will pay you for the other 3 pieces." Then I whip out my card.
The man winks and says: "It was our mistake! You need not pay Sir!"
"You sure", I ask him quizzically.
"Yes Sir. Thank you Sir!"
"OK thank you", I say and walk out.
"You sure", I ask him quizzically.
"Yes Sir. Thank you Sir!"
"OK thank you", I say and walk out.
To be frank I had never expected such behaviour. We are in any case frequent CCD customers but they have made a more loyal customer by this very honest action! A moment of truth.
That's a wonderful thing for CCD to do. That should be the norm. In the west I've noticed they follow this principle. So much so say if you buy a sandwich or an ice cream and it accidently falls inside the store they replace it for free. It doesn't cost them much but builds a strong loyalty base.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, yes in services marketing management this is termed as a moment of truth.
ReplyDeleteShamit, if I may add another perspective, only because we brought in the "moment of truth" here :) ...
ReplyDeleteThe reality might have been that the folks behind the counter had no clue as how to get into the system and change a old bill to right a wrong. You were lucky to be on the positive side of this anomaly.
I was on the negative side once. We had picked up 2 tins of cookies, and within a minute of billing, without even stepping out of the store, realized one would have been enough. Went back to the counter and requested to have that returned with a bill in hand only to be told that all sales are final an binding! Funnily enough just a week ago we had a similar situation at another CCD location where the a similar purchase of chocolates was happily received back by the person behind the counter.
Taking nothing away from the gracious behavior and a "moment of truth" for you! No coffee shop in the US has made me feel as comfortable as some of the CCD outlets in Bangalore ...
I know, that is true. I was also thinking about the variance in service from CCD location to CCD location. However, they could have directly made a fresh bill too and that is what I thought they would do.
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