Need:
I had to ship my bike from Delhi to TataNagar
This was the second time I was using this service and had a very good experience earlier. Hence my expectations from the service were Moderate. The reason of it not being high was incidents I had seen around me with my friends wherein the bikes got offloaded at a different station than where it should have.
There were basically two touch-points in this case.
· One at Delhi where I had loaded my bike and
· Second at Tatanagar from where I had to collect it
I will analyse experience at both the touch points to give the whole experience a clearer picture.
Experience at Delhi
· There is complete chaos at the parcel office bordering on madness which has a high potential of scaring away a customer or making him fall prey to the hounding Dalals who flock the area.
· I try and find my way through the chaos to the enquiry counter. I represent a customer who is on cost cutting and has no cheaper option than using the rail service.
· The enquiry officer made sure he answered as minimally as possible driving a guilt conscious in me that I was actually disturbing him
· Finally I struggle my way through and get hold of the entire process. I have no option but pay through the nose to the guys who take up the charge to pack my bike. Here again I have no choice but pay 4 times the amount one would normally pay for packing. Railways have no say or control over this. It is sad.
· The form is scary. They make the customer write that the customer takes responsibility for the parcel and the shipment is at the customers risk. Well this might not bear any sizeable impact in practical terms but it surely leaves the customer unassured.
· Adding to this, the parcel service is available only to those who are travelling by train. Which means I need to have a railway ticket from Delhi to Tatanagar. So helpless in this situation I buy a rail ticket even though I was flying by air (company sponsored)
· Finally I leave the place with a feeble assurance that my bike will reach undamaged Tatanagar in 4-5 days.
Experience at Tatanagar
· I reach Tatanagar station in 4 days after I left my bike at Delhi and my worst fears come true. My bike is not there and worst there is no direct way of finding out where it is. So again like a helpless customer and victim of a bureaucratic culture I just lodge in a complaint and leave the station.
· I go back the next day expecting that no action would have been taken by the railway officials. However I was surprised that action was taken and my bike was located in Bhubaneshwar. It got offloaded at the last station of Rajdhani in which it was loaded.
· Surprised by this, my hopes of getting my bike quickly rose.
· The Chief Parcel supervisor at the station, a man in his late 50s and with a look of a man who has spent his life in that office and representing the common face of ‘sarkari babu’ with Tambaku perched perennially in his oral cavities was the person who has left a good impact on my entire experience. He made sure he kept contacting the Bhubaneshwar parcel office for my bike and also gave me his personal mobile number and asked me not to worry and keep in touch with him. He assured me that I will get my bike.
· And I did, the next day this guy called me and asked me to be at the station at 3:50 pm. My bike was reloaded in rajdhani and reached Tatanagar at precisely 3:50 pm.
· The chief parcel officer was definitely the most sympathetic of the lot. However this does not glorify in any way the poor service of railways
The above figure summarizes the analysis of the service in terms of the Service Trinity based on my experience. The analysis for Employee Management is restricted to my experience, interaction and observation.
Service Quality:
In order to determine the perceived service quality of the Indian Railways Parcel Service the five dimensions of service quality (SERVQUAL) have been used. These dimensions are given in the table below along with the quality perceived by me during my experience.
| Dimension | Rating (Scale of 1-10) 1 – Poor; 10 - Excellent | Analysis of Service |
| Tangibles | 3 | Chaotic environment without any understanding or need of customer requirements |
| Reliability | 1 | Unreliable |
| Responsiveness | 5 | Moderately responsive |
| Assurance | 2 | Except for the receipt there is no assurance of any kind |
| Empathy | 7 | Good understanding and empathy shown by the Chief Parcel Officer |
Based on the above dimensions of quality, I would summarize the perceived service quality to be of a poor level and except for some savings in cost, the service is unwelcome.
Please leave your opinions and comments.
