Whoever said complaining doesn't help .. In the last one month, my complaints have yielded results beyond my own imagination.
1) Citibank had this fly for sure offer in January, where if you spend 30K in a given month you were guaranteed to get a free air ticket.
I was sent a voucher to claim my free ticket, which I did. Subsequently I got calls from Citibank expressing unavailability of tickets for different choice of dates and destinations. In mid march I was 'given' confirmed return tickets to bangalore for the month of May. In end April a week before my travel date, Citibank calls me to inform me that tickets are not available.
I fired the executive who called me and wrote this threatening review on Mouthshut.com
I got a call within the next two days, offering me free tickets as per my original plans.
2) In April, I was booked by Mumbai Traffic police for over speeding. I was doing 55 Km/hr when the speed limit was 40 Km/hr while climbing a flyover at andheri, mumbai.
Anyways, I reasoned with the traffic cop on duty about there being no visible boards suggesting the speed limit on the flyover. Reluctantly I had to pay the fine that day.
The next day i visited the Mumbai Traffic Police websitee and sent across a feedback using the form on their site.
Within four days I get a call from Traffic officer Patil (incharge for Bandra - Andheri) saying he is in receipt of my complaint and would like to come and meet me. He does and understands my point of view. Within hours I have a written letter confirming receipt of my suggestions and promised action.
3) The road outside my house had been dug up since the last four months. It was proving to be a traffic menace and a pedestrian disaster.
I complained to three different Municipal corporation departments using the Online Complaint management System provided by PRAJA in association with BMC (Bombay Municipal Corporation).
The next day there were men and road rollers, working on the road outside and within 4 days a road which wasn't attended to in 4 months had some semblance of repair.
Three positive experiences in as many weeks. All of us should stand up for our rights.
Make the administration work for us, there are here to serve us. The government is working for us, the politicians are our employees. We pay them salaries through the taxes we pay.
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2 comments:
I'd like to add one more incidence that I experienced:
1.when in India, i once wanted to make an investment into the National Savings Certificate (NSC) Scheme, which is handled by the india post.
I couldnt manage time during weekdays to visit the post office, so had to take a half day break out of work. there, I realised that the queue was serpantine & people had to line up outside the post office premises under the hot sun. Most of these people were elderly citizens who still prefer investing in Post office savings scheme. The post office did have a counter for the sr. citizens though, but majority of the customers were from the age group 35-55 yrs, & hence not sr. citizens.
ANyways, I had to wait for my turn. After filing my savings, I made an observation that the P.O. had enough space to accomodate the queue inside. So I Asked for the Suggestions/Complaints book (to which there were eyebrows raised!) & gave my suggestions about changing the layout of the furniture.
Within a week, I got a Registered Post from the Head of the P.O., stating that the suggestions have been incorporated.
And it was indeed.
It helps to raise our voice as citizens of the country. And believe me, its not always too hard to be heard!
Hey Tapan ,
I found your post very interesting.
I really liked your attempt be a responsible citizen and go all out to fight and change systems. In this day and age of youngsters shirking away from their social responsibility and a film like Rang De Basanti trying to awaken the youth ...this post is surely refreshing ! Keep up the good work ... You even have 2 laywers as friends to to take legal action if required ;-)
Payal
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