Making Customer Experience Real

There is lot talked about customer experience by every manufacturer and service provider, but are they doing enough to have customer the experience that s/he is really looking for.

Here are two of my recent experiences with UBER

In the first instance, I booked UBER and got a fare estimate. I booked the cab and started my journey. The time it would take to the destination when I started the trip and the actual time when I ended the trip was almost the same. Still UBER charged me higher than what was originally shown and my PayTm wallet was automatically debited. I got into the meeting as I had no time to put in my grievance. It carried on my mind till I got into the meeting because the amount they charged me was almost 30% higher. Once I was done with my meeting I went to the app and lodged my complaint. While putting up my plea, the options available to select were not in sync with what I wanted to communicate. Somehow I expressed myself hoping that the person at the other end will understand and return me the excess amount. I was credited with the excess amount that I was charged and I was feeling happy with the response. I felt service provider in this case UBER listens. This happened to me not once but more than once. Then I started having few questions in my mind

1) Why do they do that?? Show one fare to the customer, charge higher when the time to the destination is the same as what was predicted when they gave me the fare estimate.

2) Do they have an algorithm and I am sure they have that calculates the time to the destination and propose a fare? Is the algorithm malfunctioning?

3) How many customers would report this difference. Is UBER profiting from such ignorance by the customer? The ignorance may be on account of lack of time & energy to file a complaint?

4) How can they make sure that such mistakes don't happen by having an algorithm that matches the estimation with the actual fare and if there is a discrepancy on a higher side, return the money to customer without s/he asking for it.

The second experience is when I scheduled a cab one day prior and just about 15 minutes to begin my trip, and the app informs me that paytm profile is not updated the cab can't be booked. This has given me jitters as I had to find out what they meant by not updated paytm profile? and had no other option available to commute. When I checked I got to know that my PayTm wallet is not updated and had lesser amount than my estimated fare. When I loaded money in my PayTm wallet and was trying to book a cab again. I was not informed that my cab will be automatically booked as now I have enough money in my wallet to facilitate booking.

The questions now I had

1) Why didn't the mobile app alerted me when I booked the cab the previous day that my paytm wallet has less money than the estimated fare. I would have taken the action then & there, instead of informing me 15 minutes prior to my trip? and making me anxious.

2) Can they not explicitly inform me that my PayTm needs to be loaded. Why use technical jargon that "YOUR PAYTM PROFILE IS NOT UPDATED??" what sense it makes to me?

What JOBS I am trying to get done when I hire UBER because for me a JOB well done is a great customer experience. Let me quote few of those jobs

1) Reduce my anxiety 2) Help me plan my travel 3) Make me productive ( I don't want to lose time on account of my service provider's goof ups) 4) Improve my trust quotient with the service provider amongst others

UBER has clearly failed in giving me an experience by satisfying the jobs that I expected them to help me get done.

Hopefully I have an inspiring story to write about the next time.

Lessons for business, a business will make more money if they travel the path from product & services to experience & transformation of a customer.