Three significant lessons from yesterday!

I ordered a new smartwatch from a reputed brand, a gift for a special person and a special occasion, our marriage anniversary. I bought it well in advance, almost a month, so to say. On the day, right outside the box, the watch started to malfunction; that too with the most crucial feature basis which I picked it up as a gift for my wife.

I found out that the product was beyond a store return and had to be taken to the service centre.

I called the customer support, got the address and contact details of the nearest centre. To my surprise, the closest was around 20 kms away, which meant at least 3 hours to be accounted for.

My search on google indicated that there was one centre, within 3 km from my place. Still, the customer service representative mentioned that they had recalibrated some of the centres, and quite a lot of them were not functional anymore. 

After a big ride in the mighty Bangalore traffic, I landed up at the centre, and the executive denied the repair since the product was very new to the market. She had perhaps not even seen this model earlier in physical form. She reconfirmed this from her technical supervisor and who gave the same answer. 

With the below sequence of events:

• A new product,
• Which I ordered well in advance, 
• For a special person, for a special occasion, 
• Malfunctions around the very feature I took it for,
• Travelled to a centre 20 KMs away, recommended by the customer support, 
• That too by taking some time off on a working day,
• To be told that they can't service it. 

I got agitated and lost my cool.I called back the customer care centre, escalated the matter, and finally, the store guys agreed to look at it. A senior person from the centre (Center Head) jumped in and promised to solve for it, most importantly, she was listening. 

Center Head: Sir, can you help me understand what the exact problem is? 

Me: The speaker and microphone are not working well. 

Centre Head: Is there a way I can see it so that I can help to resolve it?

Me: Yes, of course. 

(I switched on the watch, connected it my phone and dialled her number.)

She picked up, and I said hello. It was working!

I dialled back and same results, it worked like a charm. 

I reconnected, restarted, shook it a little bit, tapped it hard and it still worked. 

I connected it to my second phone, and it worked again. 

I went to a distance, and it worked.

I gave it to someone else to try; it still worked. 

I was, of course at ease by now and also somewhere embarrassed with myself. 

Me: What do you think happened?

Center Head: Could be a software glitch, hardware for these devices doesn't fail out of the box in my experience; however, I will still to get it checked for you. 

Me: Fair point

Centre Head: Allow me a few days to call you once have used it?

Me: Sure

Centre Head: Where do you stay?

Me: JP Nagar

Centre Head (Surprised): Any reason you travelled so far to our centre?

Me: This is the closest

Centre Head: We have our centre in Jayanagar, perhaps 2.5 km from your place.

Me: I got the information from the call centre that this was the nearest and the other centre is closed. 

She called the other centre and confirmed back that it is operational. 

Centre Head: Sir, I am sure about it, here is the other centre heads number. 

I left after a while, but on my way back, I was reflecting upon what happened; what could have I done differently to avoid this entire situation?

The brand has to work on its service and training, but I can't wait for my time and effort to be wasted because of that wait. Their service improvement is something which will always be outside my circle of influence.

End of the day, I am accountable for me time and peace of mind. 

The below extract from book #ikigai has left a massive impact on me, helps me improve my focus.

Accept what you can't change, The courage to change what should be, and The wisdom to distinguish between these two.

Here are the four lessons I learned:

Lesson 1: When there are hiccups, restart, start fresh, especially when you are emotional. 

Emotions and feelings cloud our judgment, slow down on reaction when high on emotion.

I did not even check the problem twice - I was emotional about the product not working. I should have restarted it and reset it for once.

Lesson 2: When common sense gives an indication, listen to it. 

When I have given an address 20kms away, to me, it did not add up. Few questions I ignored:

• In a metro city, in a prime location, how is that there are only a few centres of a major brand? 
• Did the call centre guy mishear me? 
• Did he check with a wrong pin code?
• Are there chances that he doesn't understand the geography well? 
• Was the executive new and perhaps poorly trained?

Lesson 3: Measure twice and cut once. 

• I could have easily called the centre before leaving. 
• I could have rechecked on the internet.
• I could have revalidated my information. 

#ketankrishna #milliondollareemployee