The Mixer-Grinder Eight Months Old
Anand is assistant manager at a consumer-durables showroom in Bhubaneswar. Mrs Mohanty has been a customer for three years and has bought a television, a washing machine and, eight months ago, a ₹4,200 mixer-grinder. Her loyalty account shows ₹86,000 of purchases and two referred customers. On a Saturday she walks in with the mixer-grinder: the jar leaked and then the motor smoked. The store's written policy gives a 15-day replacement window, and the product carries a 24-month manufacturer warranty; the mixer is eight months old. The manager is on leave and not answering calls. The service desk has a three-week backlog for sending items to the service centre, and the manufacturer's helpline quotes ten working days for pickup. The same model is in stock and selling at ₹3,999. Two other customers are waiting at the counter, and one of them is listening to the conversation.
1. What options does Anand have, and how should he weigh the written policy against the customer's value to the store?
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The options:
- Strict policy: it is outside the 15-day replacement window but inside warranty, so book a service request and let the manufacturer repair it. Correct, but the customer waits three weeks or more.
- Expedite: call the manufacturer, arrange a pickup date in writing, and give her a dated commitment. Low cost, still leaves her without a mixer.
- Standby unit: lend her a mixer from stock or the demo unit until the repair returns. Cost is the use of one unit, not its full price.
- Goodwill exchange: take the old unit and give a new one at ₹3,999 with a small concession. This costs the store most of its margin on one unit.
- Refund: not required and not advisable; the product is eight months old.
Weighing: the store's margin on one ₹4,200 mixer is a few hundred rupees. The customer's three-year spend is ₹86,000 and she has brought two referrals; her future purchases in this category are large-ticket. Against that, the written policy exists so that every customer gets the same answer and staff do not give away stock at whim.
The defensible answer is a combination: book the service request, chase a firm pickup, offer a standby mixer, and state a date by which, if the repair has not happened, the store will escalate. That is not a breach of policy - it is service within policy, and it costs less than a replacement.
One condition: Anand must get the manager's approval for the standby unit by phone or message and record it. He should not invent a free replacement he cannot authorise, because the next customer will then be told a different story by a different employee.
2. Set out the conversation moves - what Anand should say, in what order, and what he must not say.
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In order:
- Move the conversation to the side of the counter. Other customers are listening; a complaint handled in public hardens both sides.
- Acknowledge before explaining. "Let me look at the jar and the motor - when did it start?" Listen fully. Never open with policy.
- State the facts plainly, once: the product is eight months old, outside the 15-day store replacement window, but fully inside the 24-month manufacturer warranty, so repair is covered at no cost to her.
- Take the burden off her. "You don't need to chase the helpline - I will book the pickup myself today and give you the docket number."
- Give a specific, dated commitment with a name: "I will call you by Thursday. If the pickup has not happened by 30 June, I will arrange a standby mixer until yours is back."
- Offer a choice, not an ultimatum: standby unit now, or, if she prefers, a concession on a new model with the old one taken in exchange.
- Issue an acknowledgement slip for the product with model, serial number, complaint, promise date and Anand's name.
What he must not say:
- "It's company policy" as the first and only sentence.
- Any criticism of the manufacturer or of the manager.
- A promise of free replacement or refund that he cannot authorise.
- Anything about the other waiting customer's case.
- Anything that implies she caused the fault, unless inspection genuinely shows misuse - and even then, say it privately and factually.
Reasoning: the customer's real grievance is being left without a working appliance and without a clear next step. A dated commitment and a named person resolve more than a discount does.
3. What should be recorded in the CRM record, and what process change does this case reveal?
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CRM record:
- Customer name, contact, loyalty tier and lifetime value (₹86,000, two referrals).
- Product, model, serial number, invoice date and warranty expiry.
- Complaint description and date reported.
- What was promised, by whom, and by when - pickup date, docket number once issued, standby commitment.
- Follow-up date and outcome; the customer's preferred contact method and time.
- A flag so that anyone opening the account sees the open service case before the next sale.
Process changes the case reveals:
- No escalation path. Staff have only two settings - strict policy or a favour. There should be a written warranty-handling SOP with stated decision authority, e.g. an assistant manager may approve a standby unit or a goodwill concession up to a defined value without the manager present.
- The three-week backlog is the real defect. A monthly scheduled pickup arrangement with the service centre, and a small pool of two or three standby units, would remove most of the pain at trivial cost.
- Loyalty data is not being used. The store has value tiers but applies one policy to a ₹500 customer and a ₹86,000 customer. That is defensible only if there is a documented goodwill budget with limits, not ad-hoc decisions.
- Product registration at sale. Serial numbers should be captured into the customer's CRM record at the point of sale, so warranty status is known instantly instead of being hunted at the counter.
Reasoning: handling this well once is service; making the next case easy to handle is management. The customer should not have to depend on which manager happens to be in the store.