Michael and I did our weekly food shopping at Reliance Fresh. We usually split the bill. I didn’t have cash so I told him we would use my debit card. Our purchases totaled 764.50 as displayed in the cash register, gave my card to the cashier, he swiped, gave me the bill to sign. I noticed that the total in the tiny sheet of paper was Rs.764.96. So I told the cashier about the discrepancy. With my limited Hindi and his limited English we could not understand each other. But there’s apparent nonchalance in his manner. A guy behind me understood what I was talking about and explained that the total was rounded off. The last time I checked my Math, you round off a decimal number to get a whole number.
We were about to leave. It was a mere 40 paise ($0.009 or about the same in peso) but I was fuming. Michael suggested that I talked to the manager. The manager came and I explained to him the situation. He gave the same explanation, bill was rounded off. WTF? ( i didn't say that) He said something about system of rounding off when someone uses debit or credit card. “Debit card is as good as cash, did you charge me for using my debit card?” I thought he said yes, so I told him I never knew of that policy in their store, we shop there every week. Right to information, hello. "If you are charging me for using card you should put a sign and inform shoppers". He said, “anyway, it’s only 40 paise.” Jesus H. Christ, who cares if it’s only 40 paise, they still charged me extra! His further explanation discombobulated me even more, that when someone uses card they have to put exact amount. Eh? That the machine automatically rounds off, that it’s a system problem. “System problem? How much are you taking from my account then?” I asked. He told me it’s whatever’s written in my bill."So again, let's get this clear, are you charging me for using debit card?", me. "No" manager said. "Ok, are you then charging me extra because of the problem in your system?” I think that pinned him down and just decided to give me back my 40 paise. It’s actually 46 paise to be exact. They don’t have coins under 1 rupee so he gave me that, I wanted to give him exact change but I didn’t have that either. He told me to just take the 1 rupee, which I did.
The other shoppers could hear us, while they watched and listened nobody seemed to care, probably even wondering why I raised hell over 40 paise. Even that guy who was standing behind me. Apparently, he knows about the system of rounding off. This is clearly a case of very bad customer service, and I can even say a way to rip off shoppers. I’m sure whoever is reading this gets the drift. While I am not surprised I’m still dumbfounded by how Indians just accept things like this. Most Indians do not complain, and because they don’t complain the system never gets corrected.
We were about to leave. It was a mere 40 paise ($0.009 or about the same in peso) but I was fuming. Michael suggested that I talked to the manager. The manager came and I explained to him the situation. He gave the same explanation, bill was rounded off. WTF? ( i didn't say that) He said something about system of rounding off when someone uses debit or credit card. “Debit card is as good as cash, did you charge me for using my debit card?” I thought he said yes, so I told him I never knew of that policy in their store, we shop there every week. Right to information, hello. "If you are charging me for using card you should put a sign and inform shoppers". He said, “anyway, it’s only 40 paise.” Jesus H. Christ, who cares if it’s only 40 paise, they still charged me extra! His further explanation discombobulated me even more, that when someone uses card they have to put exact amount. Eh? That the machine automatically rounds off, that it’s a system problem. “System problem? How much are you taking from my account then?” I asked. He told me it’s whatever’s written in my bill."So again, let's get this clear, are you charging me for using debit card?", me. "No" manager said. "Ok, are you then charging me extra because of the problem in your system?” I think that pinned him down and just decided to give me back my 40 paise. It’s actually 46 paise to be exact. They don’t have coins under 1 rupee so he gave me that, I wanted to give him exact change but I didn’t have that either. He told me to just take the 1 rupee, which I did.
The other shoppers could hear us, while they watched and listened nobody seemed to care, probably even wondering why I raised hell over 40 paise. Even that guy who was standing behind me. Apparently, he knows about the system of rounding off. This is clearly a case of very bad customer service, and I can even say a way to rip off shoppers. I’m sure whoever is reading this gets the drift. While I am not surprised I’m still dumbfounded by how Indians just accept things like this. Most Indians do not complain, and because they don’t complain the system never gets corrected.
