Bilal Project

8/2/2019 Bilal Project

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Objective.

The objective of the study is to assess the satisfaction level among Airtel customers in

Kashmir valley of Jammu and Kashmir state with a special emphasis on finding the areas

of deficiencies and to suggest the measures to improve the same. During the course of

market study, the decision criteria upon which the customers based there decision of usingthe Airtel Cellular service was also elicited. This will help in finding the core competencies

of Airtel in Kashmir valley. In addition to that an attempt is made to find out the perception

of customers towards the Services Cape (i.e., well maintained showrooms, uniform of

employees, mobile charging units, etc.) to find out whether the customers value these

things or not.

Research design and Methodology.

The methodology adopted for the study was a combination of the field survey method,personal interview and the use of the observational technique. A structured questionnaire

was administered to a total of 271 customers (167 to postpaid customers and 104 to prepaid

customers). A separate questionnaire was designed for both prepaid and postpaid

customers.

The structured questionnaire was designed to elicit information from the customers about

the satisfaction of customers at each stage in customer life cycle to find the areas where

improvement is needed.

Sampling plan

The target population was all the subscribers of Airtel (both prepaid and postpaid). A

sample survey was conducted for getting the response from the customers. The sample was

chosen on random convenience-sampling basis. A sample size of 271 customers (104

customers of prepaid and 167 of postpaid customers) were chosen keeping time constraint

in considerations.

Data collection

Data source:

Primary data obtained through questionnaires, interview method and through observation

techniques is used for getting the results.

Research instrument

In order to get the responses from customers, a structured questionnaire was designed to

facilitate the customers to express their views.


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Interviewing process

In order to get further insights into the problems of customers, an unstructured interview

was also conducted along with getting the response as per the questionnaire.

Pilot survey

For designing the questionnaire, a pilot survey was conducted in Srinagar. An unstructured

interview was used for the purpose. About 20-25 customers were interviewed for the

purpose. After working on this survey for about 5 days, a structured questionnaire was

designed.

Pre-testing

The questionnaire was pre-tested on few customers to check for:

1) Ease of response for the respondents.

2) Time taken for conducting the interview.

3) Relevance of information.

After pre-testing and modifications, a final questionnaire was designed for the purpose of

survey.

Scope and limitation of the study.

The period of study is February 2006 and is confined to the area of Kashmir valley. The

respondents were chosen on random convenience-sampling basis. However the limitations

of the study are that since the consumer attitudes keep changing the finding may not be

applicable in all cases. Another limitation could be that the size of the sample being

relatively small, some of the findings may slightly vary with those of the larger universe.


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RESEARCH FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

FINDINGS ON THE BASIS OF QUESTIONNAIRE

A) FOR POSTPAID:

I) General Characteristics of the Respondents

a)Demographic Characteristics

District

N=167

7%

14%

10%10%10%

50%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Srinagar Budgam Anantnag Pulwama Baramulla Kupwara

No.

ofRespondents

50% of the respondents were from Srinagar, 10% each from Budgam, Anantnag, and

Pulwama, 14% from Baramulla and 7% from Kupwara


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Sex

N=167

Male

96%

Female

4%

Male

Female

96% of the respondents were male and only 4% were females.

Educational Qualification

N=167

5%

53%

26%

6% 10% Under Matriculate

Undergraduate

Graduate

Postgraduate

Professional

5% respondents were under matriculate, 53% undergraduate, 26% graduate, 6%

postgraduate, and 10% professionals.


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b)Duration of Subscription

N=167

45%

20%24%

11%

0

102030

40

5060

70

80

Less Than 3

Months

3-6 Months 6 months-1

year

more than 1

year

Age on Network

No.ofRespondent

s

The duration of subscription was less than 3 months for 11% of respondents, 3-6 months

for 24%, 6 month to 1 year for 20% and more than I year for 45% of respondents.

c)Purpose of using cellular phone

N = 167

64%

16%20%

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

BUSINESS OFFICIAL PERSONALPURPOSE

NUMBER

OF

RESPONDENTS

20% of the respondents used it for business purpose and 16% used cell phone for official

purpose and 64% for personal use.


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II)Major Findings:

1) Features and factors that compelled the customers to go for Airtel

Postpaid.

The results show that 8% of the customers purchased the Airtel postpaid SIM because they

feel it will be price efficient. About 52% of the customer purchased it because of quality

service provided by Airtel. About 8% of the customers purchased it because they have

more interaction with Airtel subscribers. 10% of the customers were influenced by new

schemes announced by the company. About 15% purchased it because it was easily

available and 8% purchased it because of Brand image of the Airtel.This means that core

competence of Airtel in Kashmir valley is the quality service. Next in line is its easy

availability followed by new schemes announced by the company.

N=167

52%8%

10%

15%

7% 8%

Price

Quality Service

More Interaction

with AirtelSubscribers

New Scheme

Announced by

Company

Easily Available

Brand Image


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2) Perception about the Behavior of Sales Personal at the time of purchase of

SIM

N= 167

1%1%

12%

21%

65%

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Very Polite Somewhat

Polite

Niether Polite

Nor Rude

Somew hat

Rude

Very Rude

Behavior

No.ofRespondents

65% of the respondents feel that sales people treated them very politely when they

purchased the SIM. 21% feels that they were being treated politely only 12% feels that the

behavior was neither polite nor rude and 1% was treated rudely and 1% very rudely. From

analyzing the above data we can say that there is no problem as such in the behavior of

sales persons with only some exception.


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3) Information provided by sales people at the time of purchase.

N=167

10%

22%

35%

11%

22%

0

10

20

30

40

50

6070

Very Less

Information

Somew hat

Less

Information

Satisfactory Somewhat

Detailed

Very Detailed

Magnitude of Information

No.o

fRespondents

10% of the respondents were being provided very less information about the call charges,

charges of VAS, etc. 22% respondents said they were being provided by somewhat less

information. 35% were being provided by satisfactory information. 11% and 22%

respondents feel they were being provided by somewhat detailed and detailed information

respectively. Here a good percentage of respondents were being provided with less

information which can be the cause of problems for the subsequent stages of customer life

cycle. So this must be taken into account.


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4) The effect of well maintained showrooms, proper uniform, etc. on customer

satisfaction

N=167

25%

45%

15%

10%5%

0

10

20

3040

50

6070

80

Strongly

Agree

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Disagree

Opinion of Customers

No.ofRespondent

s

Most of the customers agree that there should be proper uniform, well maintained

showrooms. The chart clearly shows that customers generally feel that Services Cape (i.e.,

well maintained showrooms, proper uniform of employees, etc) have some effect on

customer satisfaction. About 70% of the respondents either strongly agree or agree that

there should be a proper uniform for the employees. It will have a positive effect on the

customer satisfaction. Only 15% of respondents remained neutral while as 15% said it

doesnt have any effect on customer satisfaction.


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5) Grades to Airtel for Services Cape (i.e., well maintained showrooms, proper

uniform of employees, etc).

N=167

8%

17%

37%

30%

8%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Excellent Good Average Poor Very

Poor

No.ofRespondents

About 8% of the respondents grade the Airtel in terms of its showrooms and uniform of

employees as excellent, 30% as good, 37% as average, 17% as poor and 8% as very poor.

It means that 38% of the customers grade Airtel from excellent to good and rest graded

Airtel from average to poor. It means that there is a lot of scope for improvement in this

area.


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6) Understandability of subscription Enrollment Form

N=167

1%

11%

25%

28%

36%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Very Easy Somewhat

Easy

Normal Somewhat

Complex

VeryComplex

No.o

fRespon

dents

30% of the respondents said that subscription enrollment form is very easy to understand

while 28% said it is somewhat easy. 25% said it is normal. Only 11% and 1% said it is

complex and very complex respectively. But what we see at the showrooms of the Airtel

that majority of the customers dont fill in their forms by themselves, instead it is filled in

by the showroom employees on behalf of customers and whenever customers fill their

forms themselves they often keep some portion unfilled. It means that the customers find it

difficult to understand some portion of SEF but didnt reveal the same when asked because

of some personal reason.


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7) Activation time

N=167

69%

21%

8%1%

0

20

40

60

80

100

120140

Immediately 1-2 days 2-4 days More than 4

days

No.ofRespondents

Only 1% of the respondents said that their SIM was activated immediately. 8% of the

respondents said it took about 1-2 days for them to get the SIM activated, 21% said 2-4

days and 69% said more than 4 days. Here a substantial number of respondents say that

activation time was more than 4 days. This can be attributed partly to the fact that duration

of subscription for about 45% of the respondents is more than 1 year and at the beginning

of operation of Airtel in J&K, it took some time to get the SIM activated. But still the

activation time of rest of 24% respondents whose subscription duration is less than 1 year

was more than 4 days. It means that the activation time for substantial number ofrespondents is more than as prescribed in TAT.


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8) Bill received on time

N=167

32%

8%13%

47%

0

20

40

60

80

100

Often Sometimes Rarely Never

No.ofResponde

nts

47% of the respondents often received the bill on time, 13% sometimes, 8% rarely and

32% never. This means that 53% of respondents either dont receive the bill at all or

occasionally receives it.

9) Satisfaction with Bill Payment System

N=167

1%3%8%

26%

62%

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Highly

Satisfied

Somewhat

Satisfied

Neither

Satisfied NorDissatisfied

Somewhat

Dissatisfied

Highly

Dissatisfied

No.ofrespondents

62% of the respondents were highly satisfied with bill payment system, 26% were

somewhat satisfied, 8% neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 3% somewhat dissatisfied and 1%

highly dissatisfied. Overall 88% were satisfied with bill payment system of Airtel.


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10) Mode of Bill Payment

N=167

38%

43%

19%

0

20

40

60

80

ABC Coupon Cash Payment Both

No.ofResponden

ts

19% of the respondents use only ABC coupons for bill payment, 43% cash payment and

38% both.

11) Availability of ABC Coupons of different denomination

N=96

55%

29%

10%6%

0

10

20

30

40

5060


Availability of ABC Coupons

No.ofRespondents

Among those who used ABC Coupons, 55% of the respondents said that the ABC coupons

are often available, 29% said that these are only sometimes available, 10% said that these

are rarely available and 6% said these are never available.


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12) Denomination mostly not available

N=43

5%

16%19%

60%

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Rs. 200 Rs. 500 Rs.1000 Other

No.ofResponden

ts

Out of those who said ABC Coupons are only sometimes, rarely or never available, 60%

said denomination of Rs. 200 is mostly unavailable, 19% said that Rs. 500 denomination is

mostly unavailable, 16% said that Rs. 1000 denomination is mostly unavailable and 5%

said that other denominations are mostly unavailable.

13) Feeling of being over billed

N=167

32%

26%23%

19%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Often Somet imes Rarely Never

No.ofRespondents

19% of the respondents feel that they are often being over billed i.e., they have been

charged much more than usage. 23% feel that they are sometimes over billed while 26%

and 32% of the respondents feel that they are either rarely or never being over billed.

About 42% of respondents feel that they are being over billed either often or sometimes.

This represents a large portion of customers so this problem is to be addressed

immediately.


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14) Knowledge about the charges of value added services (VAS)

N=167

59%

41%

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

No Yes

No.ofRespon

dents

41% of the respondents didnt know the charges of VAS while 59% of the respondents

were aware of the charges. The unawareness of the charges of the VAS may result in some

problems like feeling of being over billed by customers. This is because they use the VAS

without knowing about the charges of it and when they receive the bill, they feel that they

have been charged much more than their usage.

15) Source of information about the charges of VAS

N=99

24%

5%

71%

0

20

40

60

80

SMS from Airtel Friends and

Colleagues

After enquiry about

bill

No.ofRespondents

71% of the respondents came to know about the charges of VAS from SMS sent to them

while 5% from friends and colleagues and rest of the 24% came to know about it only after

enquiry about the bill. The problem is more with the customers who didnt know the

charges before they receive the bill. Most of the customers who feel that they are over

billed belong to this category.


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16) Usage of VAS even after knowing its charges

N=99

57%

7%12%

24%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Often Somet imes Rarely Never

No.ofRespon

dents

About 20% of the customers even after knowing about the charges of VAS used it often

while 12% and 7% used it sometimes and rarely respectively and rest of the 57% never

used it. A good percentage of customers still used VAS even after knowing its charges.

17) Mostly contacted query/request/complaint resolution centre by customers

N = 167

64%14%

17% 5%

Only Customer Care

Only Connect

Both CustomerCare and Connect

Never Complained

64% of the customers complained to only Customer Care and 14% to only Connect, 17% toboth Customer Care and Connect while 5% have never complained. The high percentage at

Customer Care may be because customers feel it more convenient and some even didnt

know that they can lodge their complaints at Connect also.


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18) Behavior of employees with the customers when customers lodge their complaint

N = 167

2%5%

13%

19%

60%

2%8%

17%17%

56%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90


Polite

Niether

Polite Nor

Rude

Somewhat

Rude

Very Rude

No.ofRespondents

Customer Care

Connect

At Customer Care: Among those who call customer care for complaints, most of the

respondents (60%) feel that Customer Care Executives treat them very politely, 19% said

their behavior remains somewhat polite, 13% feel it is neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 5%

said Customer Care Executives are somewhat rude and 2% said they are very rude.

At Connect: Among those who visits connect for complaints, 56% said they are very

polite, 17% said somewhat polite and neither polite nor rude each, 8% said somewhat rude

and 2% said very rude.


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19) Time taken to solve the problem.

N = 167

38%

15%

19% 19%

10%29% 27%

13%

21%

10%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Immediately Few Hours Few Days More than 1

week

Never

Resolved

No.ofResponde

Customer Care

Connect

At Customer Care: About 38% of the respondents who call Customer Care said their

problems get solved immediately, 15% said it took Few Hours for them to solve their

problem, 19% said Few Days and More than 1 week each and 10% said their problem was

never resolved. The problems which were never resolved were mostly related to wrong

billing or bills not received or network related.

At Connect: 29% customers said the problem is immediately solved,27% said it took Few

Hours, 13% said Few Days, 21% said More than 1 week while 10% said it was never

resolved. The problems which are not solved are same as above.


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20) No. of visits to these places by customers before problem gets resolved

N = 167

46%

13%11%

30%

46%

13% 13%

27%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Once Twice Thrice More than 3

times

No.ofRespond

Customer Care

Connect

At Customer Care: 46% of the respondents said they have to call only once before

problem gets resolved, 13% said twice, 11% thrice, 30% more than 3 times. Again the

problems are about non receipt of the bill, network related, wrong billing, etc.

At Connect: 46% said they have to visit only once for the problem, 13% said twice,13%

thrice and 27% more than 3 times.


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21) Help provided by customer care/ connect employees

N = 167

26%

12%13%

49%

31%

13%6%

50%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70


No.ofrespondents

Customer Care

Connect

At Customer Care: 49% of the respondents who call Customer Care said the employees

there often extends help to customers in resolving their problem, 13% said sometimes, 12%

said rarely and 26% said they never extends any sought of help to customers.

.

At Connect: 50% of respondents who visit Connect for their problem said the employees

at connect often extends help to customers in resolving their problem, 6% said sometimes,

13% said rarely and 31% said they never extends any sought of help to customers.

22) Overall satisfaction with Airtel.


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N = 167

11%11%12%

36%

29%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Highly

Satisfied

Somewhat

Satisfied

Neither

Satisfied Nor

Dissatisfied

Somewhat

Dissatisfied

Highly

Dissatisfied

No.ofResponde

nts

29% of the respondents are highly satisfied with Airtel, 36% are somewhat satisfied, 12%

neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 11% somewhat dissatisfied and 11% highly dissatisfied.

This implies that most of the customers are satisfied with Airtel.

B) FOR PREPAID:


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I) General Characteristics of the Respondents

a)Demographic Characteristics

District

N=104

7%

34%

14%

5%5%

36%

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Srinagar Budgam Anantnag Pulwama Baramulla Kupwara

No.ofR

espondents

36% of the respondents were from Srinagar, 5% each from Budgam, Anantnag,14% from

Pulwama, 34% from Baramulla and 7% from Kupwara

Sex

N=104

Male

87%

Female

13%

Male

Female

13% of the respondents were females and 87% were males.

Educational qualification


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N=104

13%

40%

23%

17% 7% Under Matriculate

Undergraduate

Graduate

Postgraduate

Professional

13% respondents were under matriculate, 40% undergraduate, 23% graduate, and 17%

postgraduate, and 7% professionals.

b)Duration of subscription

N = 104

34%

26%

16%

24%

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Less Than3 Months

3-6 Months 6 months-1year

more than 1year

AGE ON NETWORK

NUMBER

OFRESPONDENT

S

The duration of subscription was less than 3 months for 24% of respondents, 3-6 months

for 16%, 6 month to 1 year for 26% and more than I year for 34% of respondents.


25/47

c)Purpose of using cellular phone

N = 104

66%

15%19%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

BUSINESS OFFICIAL PERSONAL

PURPOSE

NUMBER

OFRESPONDEN

TS

19% of the respondents used it for business purpose and 15% used cell phone for official

purpose and 66% for personal use.


26/47

II)Major Findings:

1) Features and factors that compelled the customers to go for Airtel

Prepaid

N=104

57%

8%

12%

18%

2%3%

Price

Quality Service

More Interaction

with Airtel

Subscribers

New Scheme

Announced by

Company

Easily Available

Brand Image

The results show that 3% of the customers purchased the Airtel postpaid SIM because they

feel it will be price efficient. About 57% of the customer purchased it because of quality

service provided by Airtel. About 8% of the customers purchased it because they have

more interaction with Airtel subscribers. 12% of the customers were influenced by new

schemes announced by the company. About 18% purchased it because it was easily

available and 2% purchased it because of Brand image of the Airtel.This means that core

competence of Airtel in Kashmir valley is the quality service. Next in line is its easy

availability followed by new schemes announced by the company.


27/47

2) Perception about the Behavior of Sales Personal at the time of purchase of

SIM

N= 104

1%2%

11%

21%

65%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80


Polite

Niether Polite

Nor Rude

Somewhat

Rude

Very Rude

Behavior

No.ofRespondents

65% of the respondents feel that sales people treated them very politely when they

purchased the SIM. 21% feels that they were being treated politely only 11% feels that the

behavior was neither polite nor rude and 2% was treated rudely and 1% very rudely. From

analyzing the above data we can say that there is no problem as such in the behavior of

sales persons with only some exception.


28/47

3) Information provided by sales people at the time of purchase.

N=104

15%18%

25%

6%

36%

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

3540

Very Less

Information

Somew hat

Less

Information

Satisfactory Somew hat

Detailed

Very

Detailed

Magnitude of Information

No.o

fRespondents

15% of the respondents were being provided very less information about the call charges,

charges of VAS, etc. 18% respondents said they were being provided by somewhat less

information. 25% were being provided by satisfactory information. 6% and 36%

respondents feel they were being provided by somewhat detailed and detailed information

respectively. Here a good percentage of respondents were being provided with less

information which can be the cause of problems for the subsequent stages of customer life

cycle. So this must be taken into account.


29/47

4) The effect of well maintained showrooms, proper uniform, etc. on customer

satisfaction

N=104

1%

10%14%

50%

25%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Strongly

Agree

Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly

Disagree

No.ofResponden

ts

Most of the customers agree that there should be proper uniform, well maintained

showrooms. The chart clearly shows that customers generally feel that Services Cape (i.e.,

well maintained showrooms, proper uniform of employees, etc) have some effect on

customer satisfaction. About 75% of the respondents either strongly agree or agree that

there should be a proper uniform for the employees. It will have a positive effect on the

customer satisfaction. Only 14% of respondents remained neutral while as 11% said it

doesnt have any effect on customer satisfaction.


30/47

5) Grades to Airtel for Services Cape (i.e., well maintained showrooms, proper

uniform of employees, etc).

N=104

5%1%

42%38%

14%

0

10

20

30

40

50

Excellent Good Average Poor Very

Poor

Grades

No.ofRespondents

About 14% of the respondents grade the Airtel in terms of its showrooms and uniform of

employees as excellent, 38% as good, 42% as average, 1% as poor and 5% as very poor. It

means that 52% of the customers grade Airtel from excellent to good and rest graded Airtel

from average to poor. It means that there is a lot of scope for improvement in this area.

6) Understandability of subscription Enrollment Form


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N=104

1%

6%

29%

33%31%

0

5

10

1520

25

30

35

40

Very Easy Somewhat

Easy

Normal Somewhat

Complex

VeryComplex

No.o

fRespondents

31% of the respondents said that subscription enrollment form is very easy to understand

while 33% said it is somewhat easy. 29% said it is normal. Only 1% and 1% said it is

complex and very complex respectively. But what we see at the showrooms of the Airtel

that majority of the customers dont fill in their forms by themselves, instead it is filled in

by the showroom employees on behalf of customers and whenever customers fill their

forms themselves they often keep some portion unfilled. It means that the customers find it

difficult to understand some portion of SEF but didnt reveal the same when asked because

of some reason best understood by them.

7) Activation time


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N=104 40%

34%

19%

7%

05

1015202530354045

Immediately 1-2 Days 2-4 Days More than 4

DaysActivation Time

No.ofR

espondents

About 7% of the respondents said that their SIM was activated immediately. 19% of the

respondents said it took about 1-2 days for them to get the SIM activated, 34% said 2-4

days and 40% said more than 4 days.

8) Mode of Recharge

N=104 45%

18%

37%

0

10

20

30

40

50

Recharge

Coupon

Easy recharge Both

No.ofResponde

nts

18% of the respondents used Recharge Coupons for the recharging of their SIM while as

37% of the respondents recharge their SIM through Easy Recharge and 45% use both.it

means that 63% of the respondents use Recharge Coupons.

9) Availability of Recharge Coupon


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N=66

0%9%

32%

59%

0

10

20

30

40

50


Availability of Recharge Coupons

No.ofRespondents

59% of the respondents said that Recharge Coupons are often available, 32% said

sometimes and 9% said rarely.

10) Availability of Recharge Coupon of Different Denomination

N=66

2%8%

39%

51%

0

10

20

30

40


Availability of Different Denomination

No.ofResponde

nts

From among those who said that Recharge Coupons are available, 51% said that differentdenominations are also often available, 39% said sometimes, 8% said rarely and 2% said

never.

11) Denomination Mostly Not Available


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N=32

9%9%

25%

57%

0

5

10

15

20

Rs. 200 Rs.350 Rs. 540 Other

Recharge Coupon

No.ofR

espondents

Among those who said different denominations are not available, 57% of the respondents

said that Rs. 200 denomination is mostly unavailable, 25% said that Rs. 350 denomination

is mostly unavailable, 9% said Rs. 540 denomination is mostly unavailable and 9% said

other denominations are not available.

12) Feeling of being Over Charged

N=104

66%

16%11%

7%

0

20

40

60

80


No.ofrespo

ndents

7% of the respondents feel that they are often being over charged (i.e., more value gets

deducted from the recharge than actually should as per call duration)11% feel that they are

being over charged, 16% feel rarely and 66% feel that they are never being over charged.

13) Knowledge about the charges of value added services (VAS)


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N=104

71%

29%

0

20

40

60

80

No Yes

No.ofRe

spondents

29% of the respondents didnt know the charges of VAS while 71% of the respondents

were aware of the charges. The unawareness of the charges of the VAS may result in some

problems like feeling of being over charged by customers. This is because they use the

VAS without knowing about the charges of it and when they find the amount deducted

from their recharge they feel they are being over charged.

14) Source of information about charges of VAS

N=74

22%

3%

75%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

SMS from Airtel Friends and

Colleagues

After deducted from

recharge

No.ofRespon

dents

75% of the respondents came to know about the charges of VAS from SMS sent to them

while 3% from friends and colleagues and rest of the 22% came to know about it only after

it was deducted from recharge. The problem is more with the customers who didnt know

the charges before the amount gets deducted from recharge. Most of the customers who

feel that they are over charged belong to this category.

15) Usage of VAS even after knowing the charges of VAS


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N=74

30%

9%12%

49%

0

10

20

30

40


No.ofRespo

ndents

About 49% of the customers even after knowing about the charges of VAS used it often

while 12% and 9% used it sometimes and rarely respectively and rest of the 30% never

used it. A good percentage of customers still used VAS even after knowing its charges.

16) Mostly contacted query/request/complaint resolution centre by customers

N = 104

74%

14%

12%Only Customer Care

Only Connect

Both Customer

Care and Connect

74% of the customers complained to only Customer Care and 14% to only Connect and

12% to both Customer Care and Connect. The high percentage at Customer Care may be

because customers feel it more convenient and some even didnt know that they can lodge

their complaints at Connect also.


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17) Behavior of employees with the customers when customers lodge their complaint

N = 104

0%3%

6%

26%

65%

7%7%23%

11%

52%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70


Polite

Niether

Polite Nor

Rude

Somewhat

Rude

Very Rude

No.ofRespondents

Customer Care

Connect

At Customer Care: Among those who call customer care for complaints, most of the

respondents (65%) feel that Customer Care Executives treat them very politely, 26% said

their behavior remains somewhat polite, 6% feel it is neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 3%

said Customer Care Executives are somewhat rude and none said they were very rude.

At Connect: Among those who visits connect for complaints, 52% said they are very

polite, 11% said somewhat polite, 23% said neither polite nor rude, 7% said somewhat rude

and 7% said very rude.


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18) Time taken to solve the problem.

N = 104

2%8%

10%

15%

65%

0%11%

22%11%

56%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Immediately Few Hours Few Days More than 1

week

Never

Resolved

No.ofRespondents

Customer Care

Connect

At Customer Care: About 65% of the respondents who call Customer Care said their

problem get solved immediately, 15% said it took Few Hours for them to solve their

problem, 10% said Few Days, 8% said More than 1 week and 10% said their problem was

never resolved. The problems which were never resolved were mostly network related.

At Connect: 56% customers said the problem is immediately solved, 11% said it took Few

Hours, 22% said Few Days, 11% said More than 1 week while none said it was never

resolved. The problems which are not solved are same as above.

19) No. of visits to these places by customers before problem gets resolved


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N = 104

66%

11%7%

16%59%

11% 8%22%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Once Twice Thrice More than 3

times

No.ofRespondent

Customer Care

Connect

At Customer Care: 66% of the respondents said they have to call only once before

problem gets resolved, 11% said twice, 7% said thrice, 16% said more than 3 times. Again

the problems are network related, interconnectivity with Cell-One, etc.

At Connect: 59% said they have to visit only once for the problem, 11% said twice, 8%

thrice and 22% said more than 3 times.

20) Help provided by customer care/ connect employees


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N = 104

11%9%

19%

61%

18%

4%11%

67%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60


No.ofrespondents

Customer Care

Connect

At Customer Care: 61% of the respondents who call Customer Care said the employees

there often extends help to customers in resolving their problem, 19% said sometimes, 9%

said rarely and 11% said they never extends any sought of help to customers.

.

At Connect: 67% of respondents who visit Connect for their problem said the employees

at connect often extends help to customers in resolving their problem, 11% said sometimes,

4% said rarely and 18% said they never extends any sought of help to customers.

21) Overall satisfaction with Airtel.


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N = 104

5%2%

8%

29%

56%

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

Highly

Satisfied

Somewhat

Satisfied

Neither

Satisfied Nor

Dissatisfied

Somewhat

Dissatisfied

Highly

Dissatisfied

No.ofRespo

ndents

56% of the respondents are highly satisfied with Airtel Prepaid service, 29% are somewhat

satisfied, 8% neither satisfied nor dissatisfied, 2% somewhat dissatisfied and 5% highly

dissatisfied. This implies that most of the customers are satisfied with Airtel Prepaid

service.

FINDINGS ON THE BASIS OF INTERVIEW METHOD


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During the personal interview with the respondents certain other facts came into light

which otherwise was not available from questionnaires.

1. Most of the customers are not satisfied with the Promotional SMS sent by the

Airtel.

2. Most of the customers get irritated by too many calls from Customer Care

regarding payment of bill.

3. Some customers also complaint that customer care executives are not fully

informed about there own system. They should be properly educated about their

system. Sometimes the customers get some information through SMS from Airtel

but customer care executives were not having any information about that SMS.

4. Some of the customers also questioned about the credit limit. According to them

there connection was disconnected without any intimation as soon as their bill

amount was equal to their credit limit.

5. A large number of customers are not happy with Airtel only because of no network

coverage in their areas (far flung areas of Kashmir valley) otherwise they are highlysatisfied with Airtel.

6. A number of customers also said that they face problems in getting duplicate SIMs

as these are mostly unavailable at different connects and they have to roam through

different connects to get duplicate SIM.

7. Most of the customers also complained about the automated bill enquiry system.

According to them the system shows the wrong figures. This problem is basically

because the system does not give the updated information about the bill.

FINDING THROUGH OBSERVATION TECHNIQUE


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While collecting data from customers on connects I also observed certain things related to

showrooms and its employees.

1. Mobile charging units are kept at the places not accessible to customers except for

Kupwara connect.

2. There was no seating arrangement for the customers in the postpaid section of the

Sopore connect.

3. The Connect employees at various Connects in Srinagar sent customers from one

Connect to another, if problem cannot be solved at that particular Connect, without

confirming whether problem can be solved at any other Connect or not. The end

result of this is that customer has to roam around all the Connects to check where

his problem can be solved.

4. The employees at Karan Nagar Connect were not able to handle the huge customer

inflow. It is probably because of its understaffed nature.

5. The sales people mostly promoted those products which prima facie appears to be

price efficient but involves other related cost. They never bother to suggest theright plan to customers as per their usage. This is because they want the sales to

take place and the customer also doesnt bother to go into the details of the plan

and to choose the right plan for him. This creates the problem for the Airtel in

subsequent stages of customer life cycle.

6. There are two systems through which we can see the bill position. In one system

we get more updated information than other. When the customer used both the

systems he get conflicting figures and he feels that the system is not working well

without having any knowledge about that one is more updated and other is not that

updated.

CONCLUSION


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The data gathered through the survey reveals that customers generally are satisfied with the

Airtel. This is evident from the fact that about 85% of the prepaid customers are satisfied

with Airtel from moderate to large extent while as in postpaid, 65% of the customers fall in

this category. The customers, instead of having so many problems with Airtel, are satisfied

because of the fact that the network of Airtel was operating even during the critical

conditions in Kashmir valley (during snow tsunami and major earth quack in northern

Kashmir). The data gathered reveals that the quality service provided by Airtel is core

competence of Airtel in Kashmir valley and it has to work further on it to maintain this

competence. The data gathered also revealed that the areas where Airtel is lacking is its

Services Cape (uniform of employees, proper signage at showrooms, etc.), the general

feeling among customers of being over-billed/overcharged, and lack of knowledge on part

of customers about the charges ofvalue added services, bills notreceived on time by the

majority of customers, lack of network coverage in various areas, non availability of

ABC Coupons and Recharge coupons of different denomination especially Rs 200

denomination in both cases, interconnectivity problem with Cell-One, temptation of sales

people to sell those products which prima facie appears to be good without looking into

the fact whether it is really good for customer or not, non availability of duplicate SIMs,

use of two different systems of bill enquiry system which give two different figures at the

same time, customer care executives not having full information about their own system

and many more. In order to keep the customers satisfied these problems should be solved.Customers are expecting much from Airtel and Airtel has to give them more than that so

that they will be not only satisfied but delighted.


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SUGGESTIONS

1. The Airtel should give proper attention to Services Cape i.e., the employees should

have proper uniform so that they will be easily distinguished from others. The

mobile charging units should be placed at the places in showrooms easily accessible

to customers and if possible make arrangements to keep mobile charging units in

some restaurants and other public parks as part of promotional campaign.

2. The over billing/overcharging problem can be solved by making people aware of

the fact that there is no human interaction in bill generation system. This can be

done through informative advertisements.

3. If possible the Airtel should make the arrangements for sending daily SMSs tocustomers regarding their usage on that day with opening balance and details about

the usage on that particular day and the closing balance free of cost or at a menial

charge. It can help in solving two problems. First, it can help in changing the

customers perception of over billing as it will remain in their mind how much they

have used their mobile for that day. Otherwise when bills are sent to them after one

month it gets away of their mind that they have called certain numbers and they feel

that they are being charged for the calls they have not made. Second, the customers

wont need bills as they can get the details every day and the problem of bills not

received can be solved to a large extent. If the service will be charged then it should

be provided at the option of customer and it should be made sure that customer

knows that the service is being charged.

4. The customer should be made aware that the value added services are being

charged. Otherwise they use VAS without knowing its charges and as a result when

customer receives the bill he feels that there are hidden charges involved and Airtel

is cheating the customers. In the long run such perception of customers regarding

Airtel will be detrimental for its brand image and when the competition will come

in it will be very difficult for the Airtel to retain its customers. So it is better to

make customers aware of the charges of VAS and keep it fully up to the customer

whether he wants to use VAS or not.


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5. The Airtel should have more control on bill delivery system so that the bills should

be dispatched to every customer on time and it should also make sure that the bills

are delivered on proper address only. The agency for bill delivery system should be

evaluated on the basis of number of complaints received on the bills not received

and it should be reflected in deciding about their service charges.

6. As already mentioned the competitive advantage of Airtel in J&K is its quality

service (technical quality) so it should make arrangements to continuously improve

it so that it will be well ahead of its competitors. For that it should improve its

network coverage in far flung areas.

7. The recharge coupons and ABC coupons of all denomination should be made

available at all of its showrooms so that the customer should not face the difficulty

at any stage. Also it should be made sure that duplicate SIMs are available at all

connects.

8. The management should continue the dialogue process with the management of

Cell One for the improvement of interconnectivity between the two.

9. The arrangements should be made for the training program of the sales people toteach them which plan is suitable for which customer. They should not only attract

the customer but should make sure that the customer will remain with the

organization for the whole life time. This can be done only when the sales people

will be able to suggest right plan to the customer.

10. There should not be the two different systems of bill enquiry systems especially

when both of them give two different figures at the same time. Either there should

be only one system which will give more updated information. Or if both the

systems will remain there then customers should be well educated about both the

systems. Otherwise this also will create the problem in shape of customer

perception of being over billed.


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11. At last I suggest the Airtel to develop a true customer responsive culture in the

whole organization in its soul and spirit if it wants to maintain and even improve its

current position in the industry as in this world of tough competition only those

organizations will survive who know the art of delighting its customers.

Bilal Project

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Transcript of Bilal Project