A 2005 customer-service interview keeps coming back to me. Technology has changed dramatically. Some customer problems have not.
One customer had made a purchase of ₹400. He said the bill did not arrive on time. Interest and late fees accumulated. The amount grew to ₹3,770. The question still shows up across products: how did this happen, and why was I not told?
Other questions from that programme still sound current. Why are charges hard to read? Why does the merchant name on a statement look unfamiliar? What happens while a dispute is being investigated?
Today we have apps, instant notifications, digital statements, real-time alerts, automated dispute tools, and plenty of claims that AI will solve the rest. Customers still struggle to understand charges, recognise transactions, follow a dispute, and explain why an amount they thought they owed has become something much larger.
Delivery methods changed. The test did not: can the customer understand what is happening to them?
Putting a charge on a statement, burying terms in a document, or making information available in an app may satisfy disclosure. It does not mean the customer understood it. Internally, people need to understand the product, the process, the policy, and the exceptions. Externally, the customer needs to understand what happened, why, and what can be done. When those two fail to meet, complaints follow.
A process can be entirely logical from the organisation’s side and still make little sense to the customer. That remains one of the better tests of a journey. Are we sending information, or creating understanding?