The screenshots of the conversation between the two parties have been posted by Vikash on his Twitter handle which went viral pretty soon with trending hashtags like #Reject_Zomato, #BanZomato, #BoycottZomato, etc. on all of the social media handles. DMK MP Kanimozhi even tweeted against this Zomato customer executive for her insensitive reply.
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
As per the conversation screenshots, the agent has said “Already tried five times but (there is) language barrier. To which Vikash said that it is not his concern and Zomato should hire agents who understand Tamil if they are serving in Tamil Nadu. The agent replied, “For your kind information, Hindi is our National language. So, it is very common that everyone should know Hindi a little bit.” The agent further wrote, “We are sorry for the trouble caused but there is no way that we can compensate you with anything except an apology for this unfortunate instance” assuring that she cannot refund Vikash his money.
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.
Pls don’t #Reject_Zomato ♥️ https://t.co/P350GN7zUl pic.twitter.com/4Pv3Uvv32u
— zomato (@zomato) October 19, 2021
Shortly after such spikes against the food delivery app, Zomato released its official apology both in English and Tamil revealing that they have terminated the agent for her negligence towards our diverse culture and was also against the Zomato protocols. They released this statement on their Twitter handle with the caption, “Vanakkam Vikash, we apologize for our customer care agent’s behavior. here’s our official statement on this incident. We hope you give us a chance to serve you better next time. Pls, don’t #Reject_Zomato.”
The statement from the company also revealed that they are currently building a Tamil version of the app and have begun localized marketing in the Tamil language with Aniruddh Ravichander as their local brand ambassador and planning to open a Tamil call support center in Coimbatore.
After this statement, several people took to their social media seeking Zomato to reconsider their decision and hire their customer executive back. Many even questioned why Zomato has insufficient localized customer support centers and executives who should be able to cater to all the non-Hindi speaking customers as well.
And remember, our call centre agents are young people, who are at the start of their learning curves and careers. They are not experts on languages and regional sentiments. Nor am I, btw.
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) October 19, 2021
After these tweets, the Zomato co-founder Deepinder Goyal tweeted, “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.” He retweeted this tweet saying, “And remember, our call centers agents are young people, who are at the start of their learning curves and careers. they are not experts on languages and regional sentiments. Nor am I, btw.”
An ignorant mistake by someone in a support centre of a food delivery company became a national issue. The level of tolerance and chill in our country needs to be way higher than it is nowadays. Who’s to be blamed here?
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) October 19, 2021
He even went on posting a series of tweets asking questions and making loud statements like, “The level of tolerance and chill in our country needs to be way higher than it is nowadays”; “Tamil Nadu -we love you. Just as much as we love the rest of the country. Not more, not less.”
Having said that, we should all tolerate each other’s imperfections. And appreciate each other’s language and regional sentiments.
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.❤️
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) October 19, 2021
Such contrast of tweets from him has left people buzzing and continue posting on social media with #Reject_Zomato. Being in a diverse country like India with over 100 languages and 22 official languages, it is not right to straight away point one particular language as the National language with no facts or proof to back it up. Even though Hindi is one of the most spoken languages, it remains unknown to almost 53% of the Indian population. Also, making such bold unnecessary statements by the heads of the company is also not the right response for a crisis.
