Even a decade ago, buying consumer durables in Santiniketan wasn't easy. There were just two shops selling basic models of fridges, TVs, geysers and so on. I remember asking one of them for a four burner gas stove and they looked at me as though I was some master chef. But in line with what the governments have been claiming, rural and semi urban purchasing power has been on the rise and that is showing. Today, we have about half a dozen shops with large shop floors selling the entire gamut.
"Life's Good" is the slogan for one of the electronic goods manufacturers. And we couldn't have agreed more. We were in the market for a fridge and thought the new shops will ensure we didn't have to compromise on our desires. Having not bought a fridge for at least 20 years, we were curious about what was on offer. We studied the newspaper ads with interest and gaped at the TV ones. The three doors, side-by-sides and ice vendor models whetted our appetite.
Armed with the knowledge we went to the first shop. We quickly realised that large shop floor was actually filled with basic models - fridges not going beyond 300 litres. The shopkeeper told us (when we enquired about "side-by-sides") how we should not even look at the new introductions because no mechanic would be available for repairs.
Since none of the models on display met our requirement, we asked a company salesman to show us a catalogue. The catalogue didn't have all the models and showed many only from the outside. Strangely, even on the internet many of the "happening" consumer durable sellers seem to treat fridges like cupboards. A trifle frustrated, we decided to visit Kolkata to look at some of the models. We walked into shops, pretending to be buyers and secretly noted the model numbers.
We then returned to a shop in Santiniketan and asked the shopkeeper if he would be able to source a particular model for us. He said it will be best if we speak to the company personnel directly. I spoke to the gentleman in Kolkata who said that the particular model we were looking for was not available in Kolkata, but he will be able to source it from their factory in Gurgaon and it will be with us in a week. We confirmed the order, the shopkeeper beamed and talked about his high level of customer service.
In a week, we went back to the shop and the same shopkeeper seemed irritated. He had not heard from the company about the fridge nor had he bothered to ask. So, acting like the telephone operators of yore, he got me the company guy on the line. He seemed equally harassed at hearing from us. He promised to deliver our fridge in a week. Not tomorrow, not the day after, but a full week of delay. The purchasing power in semi-urban areas may be on the rise but what about their value of time? So a month and a half later, one afternoon the shopkeeper called to say that our fridge had arrived. We went over to make the payment and he tried to add a couple of thousand rupees to the price agreed earlier. Anyway, that attempt was squashed and our fridge mounted on a van rickshaw.
The shop-hand who came to deliver the fridge advised us to switch it on only after a couple of hours. For more instructions we turned to the manual. That made up for the weeks of frustration. Reading the manual was as good as watching a Salman Khan movie. It was hilarious. I cannot help but quote one instruction: "Do not cling to the door or the shelves of the door or sit on the drawer. It may make the refrigerator fall down or damage the above."
I don't know if these manuals are reserved for the rising middle class in rural and semi-urban areas or are buyers in metros subjected to bad translations from Korean as well?
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