India’s leading food delivery company Zomato was caught in crossfire after a customer support executive told a customer that Tamil Nadu restaurant owners should know little bit of Hindu.
It all began with a customer named Vikash sharing screenshots of his conversation with a Zomato customer care executive on Twitter. Voicing his complaint, Vikash Tweeted, “Ordered food in zomato and an item was missed. Customer care says amount can’t be refunded as I didn’t know Hindi,” tagging the company.
Ordered food in zomato and an item was missed. Customer care says amount can’t be refunded as I didn’t know Hindi. Also takes lesson that being an Indian I should know Hindi. Tagged me a liar as he didn’t know Tamil. @zomato not the way you talk to a customer. @zomatocare pic.twitter.com/gJ04DNKM7w
— Vikash (@Vikash67456607) October 18, 2021
“Also takes lesson that being an Indian I should know Hindi. Tagged me a liar as he didn’t know Tamil. @zomato not the way you talk to a customer,” tagging the company,” the miffed customer Tweeted further.
This led to an outrage where calls to boycott Zomato were made on Twitter.
Subsequently, Zomato informed that the said customer care executive has been fired.
Vanakkam Vikash, we apologise for our customer care agent’s behaviour. Here’s our official statement on this incident. We hope you give us a chance to serve you better next time.
— zomato (@zomato) October 19, 2021
Pls don’t #Reject_Zomato ♥️ https://t.co/P350GN7zUl pic.twitter.com/4Pv3Uvv32u
The company also assured that it is now working on the ‘Tamil version’ of its application to serve the local community better.
‘Should know a little Hindi’
As per the screenshots shared by the customer, he informed the Zomato customer care executive that he had not received an item from the order. However, presumably due to a language barrier, the customer care executive could not resolve the problem and instead passed on the restaurant’s number to the customer.
Having spoken to the restaurant, the customer said that the manager asked him to raise a complaint with Zomato and get a refund from the company.
The customer care executive having tried communicating with the restaurant umpteen times finally gave up and refused to process any refund to the customer citing a ‘language barrier.’
To this, the customer replied, “That is not my concern. If Zomato is available in Tamil Nadu, they should have hired people who understand the language.”
The customer care executive’s response was not what the customer had expected and he resorted to complaining about the same on Twitter. “For your kind information, Hindi is our national language. So it is very common that everybody should know Hindi a little,” replied the Zomato executive.
The executive then ended the conversation stating, ‘there is no way we can compensate.’
‘Building a Tamil version of our app’
Apologizing to the customer for the unwarranted incident, Zomato in a statement informed that they have fired the responsible customer care executive.
“We have already localise marketing communication in Tamil for the state and we are in the process of building a local Tamil call/ support centre in Coimbatore,” read the company’s statement.
“We understand food and language are core to any local culture and we take both of them seriously,” said Zomato in conclusion.
Customer care executive reinstated
However, after the outrage, Deepinder Goyal, Zomato Founder took to Twitter to inform that the said customer care executive has now been reinstated. He said that level of tolerance and ‘chill’ in our nation has come down these days. He said this alone could not be the reason to fire the executive.
On that note, we are reinstating the agent – this alone is not something she should have been fired for. This is easily something she can learn and do better about going forward.
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) October 19, 2021
He said that this could be her learning experience for her. He said that most of the customer care executives at Zomato are really young and are at the very start of their career.
Having said that, we should all tolerate each other's imperfections. And appreciate each other's language and regional sentiments.
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) October 19, 2021
Tamil Nadu – we love you. Just as much as we love the rest of the country. Not more, not less. We are all the same, as much as we are different.❤️
Goyal further said that he (and Zomato) loves Tamil Nadu as much as they love rest of the India, not more and not less.
