Updated October 19th, 2021 at 19:54 IST
Zomato language row: 'Tolerance & chill in India needs to be higher', says Deepinder Goyal
Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal attempted to brush the issue under carpet & claimed that an 'ignorant mistake' had reportedly been portrayed as national issue
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Following a severe backlash for one of its customer care representatives advocating Hindi as the purported 'national language' of India, Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal attempted to play the matter down and deemed that an 'ignorant mistake' had reportedly been portrayed as a national issue. The recently-listed food delivery giant bore the brunt of the people from South India after a customer care executive asked a customer in Tamil Nadu to 'know Hindi' while redressing a grievance and went on to claim that it was India's national language and that everybody 'should know a bit of Hindi'.
Amid language row, Zomato founder quips 'tolerance'
Attempting damage control following the incident, Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal took to Twitter to opine on the customer care executive's behaviour and claimed that the 'level of tolerance in the country' should be higher, while branding the customer care executive's stereotypical attitude as an 'ignorant mistake'. Further, Goyal claimed that the agent was being reinstated as the incident was not enough to fire her and that she could learn & do better in the future. Justifying the 'young' customer care executive's error, Deepinder Goyal claimed that they were not 'experts on regional sentiments & languages' and that they should 'tolerate each others' imperfections'.
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
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.
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) October 19, 2021
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
Having said that, we should all tolerate each other's imperfections. And appreciate each other's language and regional sentiments.
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) October 19, 2021
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.❤️
Zomato faces flak after executive insists on customer knowing Hindi
It all started with a man named Vikash from Tamil Nadu approaching the food delivery platform's customer service over a missing order. He posted screenshots of his conversation with a customer service executive, who asked the customer to approach the restaurant to register the complaint. When the customer insisted on the executive solving the problem by contacting the restaurant, the executive first said 'language barrier.' When the customer expressed surprise that the person did not know Tamil despite the company serving Tamil Nadu customers, the latter replied that Hindi was the 'national language.' The executive further stated that 'everybody' should 'know a bit of Hindi.'
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
Zomato took to Twitter and termed it 'unacceptable' and asked the customer for contact details to address his grievance. While the man sought a 'public apology' and a 'strong clarification,' the company then replied to him that his 'issue was addressed.' However, by then 'Reject Zomato' became a trending topic on Twitter. Another hashtag then surfaced as 'Hindi is Not National Language.' Among the reactions was One netizen uninstalling the Zomato app, while another put '1 star' out of 5 on the app on Google Play Store.
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.
— zomato (@zomato) October 19, 2021
Pls don't #Reject_Zomato ♥️ https://t.co/P350GN7zUl pic.twitter.com/4Pv3Uvv32u
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Published October 19th, 2021 at 18:03 IST
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