Zomato apologizes, sacked the employee who told the customer
Restaurant aggregator and food delivery company Zomato on Tuesday apologized to a person who alleged that its customer service agent denied him a refund for not knowing Hindi and announced termination of the services of the employee concerned. A tweet by a user who goes by the handle “@Vikash67456607” triggered a major Twitter backlash on the microblogging site with the hashtag “Reject_Zomato”.
In response, Zomato apologized to the development and also issued a statement in both Tamil and English, emphasizing that the company stands for diversity.
Earlier, Vikas had tweeted that he had ordered food on Zomato and complained that an item was missing.
“Customer care says amount can’t be refunded as I didn’t know Hindi. Also learns that being an Indian I should know Hindi. Tagged me false because he didn’t know Tamil. @zomato the way You don’t talk to a customer,” he tweeted, sharing a screenshot of his purported chat with the former customer care agent and tagged the company.
The Zomato agent also reportedly told Vikas that Hindi is the national language of the country.
In its statement in two languages, which began with the traditional Tamil greeting “Vanakkam” Tamil Nadu, Zomato said the company was “sorry” for the behavior of its former employee.
“We terminated the agent for their carelessness towards our diverse culture. The termination is in line with our protocol and (a) the agent’s behavior was clearly against the principles of sensitivity to which we train our agents on a regular basis. Let’s do,” the statement uploaded. Said on the Twitter handle of Zomato.
It said the sacked employee’s statements “do not represent our company’s stance toward language and diversity.”
Zomato further said that it is building a Tamil version of its mobile app and has already localized its marketing communications in the local language in the state.
It also pointed to the inclusion of renowned Tamil musician Anirudh Ravichandran as its local brand ambassador. The company was in the process of setting up a local Tamil call/support center at Coimbatore in the state. “We understand that food and language are at the core of any local culture and we take both seriously,” it added.
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