- Waterproofing work had to be done for my first client who was a doctor (MBBS). There was a leakage on the exterior of the sidewall. She was a complicated customer but since this was the first site I had decided that I have to complete it.
- The customer asked me about the warranty and I told her not to worry and a warranty will be given. I even asked my TSO(territory sales officer), too and they confirmed that the warranty will be given, so I committed to her. If you use Ultima Protek and put a base coat and topcoat you do get a warranty but only if you have used 40 L/ 60 L etc. But the area of work, in this case, was less and I did not know that there is a quantity cap on giving the warranty.
- Since my TSO had also had confirmed, I went ahead. The work started, got completed and full payment was made. Then the client asked for a warranty registration document. So when I was going to take the document, I had filled out 20-25 L as consumption. They said that this quantity is not eligible for a warranty. When I spoke to the customer service backend team, they told me that ‘a warranty certificate cannot be given in this case Ashok’.
- When I informed the customer about this she really got angry and told me how could I commit like this and was set to raise a complaint.
- I asked her for a weeks’ time to ask around if something could be done, but my TSO and all told me nothing can be done now, it’s not in our hands. So after a week I met her, I told her that this problem has happened now due to some confusion from my end, she can raise a complaint or if there is any fault in the work I can repair that. So with this conversation, she was convinced and didn’t raise any complaint.
- After one year she again called me to work on two other walls, she said: “I am satisfied with your work, I don’t need any warranty for this as you do the work properly. So you only do it.”
- So initially I faced a lot of problems because of this as the matter had really escalated. But I had to tell her that a warranty will be given. If one tells the customer something cannot happen they get angry with you and one may even lose the client. But in this case, even after so many problems when the client got back with more work, that was the most satisfying thing.
- Before committing to the customer I should have confirmed the warranty specifics with the backend team. I should have taken all the details at that time, here in this case I only spoke to the TSO and went ahead with the work. Because it was my first site, I had decided that I need to do it anyhow, At that time I had joined new and for 4 months that I had no leads. This was the first one so I simply committed to it.
A situation where a trust breakdown took place due to making commitments that one could not keep