I really needed a Rs. 100 recharge card for my NTC phone. I parked my scooter in front of a stationery shop, reached to the couter-top, placed Rs. 100 on the counter-top and asked for a Rs. 100 recharge card. The shopkeeper, who was busy talking to another person inside the shop, seemed undisturbed by my request. So I asked with a louder voice, "Can I get a 100 rupee recharge card?" I started to feel uncomfortable as the shopkeeper just looked at me and simply turned back to his partner and continued his conversation without responding to me. I waited patiently, despite the discomfort. Amid uneasiness and shock, I counted some long and awkward 15 seconds. I didn't have many recollections of times I had been ignored that bad in situations like that. After those unpleasant 15 seconds, I lost my patience; I simply grabbed my money from the counter-top and took off.
This is a common complaint of any person who lives in USA and is in a visit to Nepal. They complain about the poor customer service in virtually every transactions they make.Customer service is mainly judged by expectation from the customer and the service provider. Once there is a discrepancy in cultural setting and expectations, there are going to arise serious complaints about customer service in any transaction.
I personally felt this after I came back to Nepal after living for 5 years in USA. Before I left for USA, I never had any complaints about costumer service in Nepal. I was never dissatisfied by the treatment of any shopkeepers, receptionists, or any service providers. As I went to USA, I was amazed by the outstanding costumer service culture in that culture. On almost all my transactions or communications, I was really satisfied by the way I was being helped, served, or assisted in different ways. In another words, I felt like my expectations were exceeded. Pretty soon, I got acclimatized to that culture.
In this visit to my home country after slightly over 5 years, I realized a huge discrepancy in the customer service culture of the society of Nepal. I was not only surprised, I was disappointed on every transaction I made, every place I was received, and every communication I participated to. I felt like the saying "Customers are God" has failed in implementation in every aspect of service. I shared my stories to many other friends who came to visit Nepal from USA and surprisingly, they shared that they had similar experiences like mine. In the list of their complaints about Nepal like pollution, traffic, politics etc, customer service was the most serious complaint of all.
I feel like the credit to this trend goes to customer expectation and cultural difference. Neither me, nor my friends with similar experiences used to have any complaints about customer service before we left Nepal. My friends, families and relatives who live in Nepal never felt any such issue about customer service. After being raised this culture and going to the States, we felt like we had our expectations exceeded by the service providers of the States. And now after we come back to the culture we were used to, we feel so much different about the stuff we never used to think about. The truth is, once we get accustomed to the home country culture again, we will start having less complaints like that as we keep pulling our expectations down and down.
This is a common complaint of any person who lives in USA and is in a visit to Nepal. They complain about the poor customer service in virtually every transactions they make.Customer service is mainly judged by expectation from the customer and the service provider. Once there is a discrepancy in cultural setting and expectations, there are going to arise serious complaints about customer service in any transaction.
I personally felt this after I came back to Nepal after living for 5 years in USA. Before I left for USA, I never had any complaints about costumer service in Nepal. I was never dissatisfied by the treatment of any shopkeepers, receptionists, or any service providers. As I went to USA, I was amazed by the outstanding costumer service culture in that culture. On almost all my transactions or communications, I was really satisfied by the way I was being helped, served, or assisted in different ways. In another words, I felt like my expectations were exceeded. Pretty soon, I got acclimatized to that culture.
In this visit to my home country after slightly over 5 years, I realized a huge discrepancy in the customer service culture of the society of Nepal. I was not only surprised, I was disappointed on every transaction I made, every place I was received, and every communication I participated to. I felt like the saying "Customers are God" has failed in implementation in every aspect of service. I shared my stories to many other friends who came to visit Nepal from USA and surprisingly, they shared that they had similar experiences like mine. In the list of their complaints about Nepal like pollution, traffic, politics etc, customer service was the most serious complaint of all.
I feel like the credit to this trend goes to customer expectation and cultural difference. Neither me, nor my friends with similar experiences used to have any complaints about customer service before we left Nepal. My friends, families and relatives who live in Nepal never felt any such issue about customer service. After being raised this culture and going to the States, we felt like we had our expectations exceeded by the service providers of the States. And now after we come back to the culture we were used to, we feel so much different about the stuff we never used to think about. The truth is, once we get accustomed to the home country culture again, we will start having less complaints like that as we keep pulling our expectations down and down.
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