The Complaint Register

Eight in the morning.

There was a festive atmosphere in the factory's main Production Block today. Along both sides of the long assembly-line conveyor belt stood hundreds of engineers and skilled workers in rows. Every face carried intense excitement and the end of a long-awaited wait.

After being shut down for many years, production was about to begin anew at this factory today.

Arindam Sen looked at everyone and said, very slowly and clearly—

— "Today we haven't come to make a thousand fridges for the market. Today we've come to rebuild that unbroken trust people had lost."

As soon as he finished speaking, a green signal lit up in the main control room. With a whir, the first massive processing machine started up. The conveyor belt began moving slowly. One after another, genuine copper pipes, circuits, and body frames began joining with the main components.

Someone was skilfully fitting a new compressor, someone was attaching a fridge door, and someone else was checking electrical safety and wiring.

After nearly two hours of tireless effort, the first shining fridge made by Nabajagaran Electronics arrived at the end of the conveyor belt! All the workers present clapped and cheered with joy!

But no extra excitement showed on Arindam Sen's face. He calmly called over a test engineer and said—

— "Take this to the test laboratory right away."

The fridge was taken to the special quality testing lab. First, a high-voltage power connection was given. As soon as the compressor started, the lab's test display came alive.

Five minutes... ten minutes... at first, everything seemed normal.

Suddenly, a young quality-control engineer, checking the thermal meter, spoke up—

— "Sir, the rubber magnetic sealing on the door frame isn't closing airtight properly in one corner."

The senior engineer standing nearby, looking at the digital thermometer, added—

— "The internal freezing chamber's temperature is also taking four minutes longer than normal to reach the standard benchmark."

A sorrowful silence fell over the laboratory in an instant. A manager from the production department stepped forward, somewhat hesitant, and said—

— "Sir, a small flaw like this exists in almost every brand's first batch! For now, let's distribute these to the market. The servicing team can go fix them later if needed."

Arindam looked at the manager with eyes cold as ice—

— "How many fridges have been assembled today in total?"

— "Sir, fifty units have been prepared on this first day."

— "Not a single unit leaves this factory today."

There was a hard finality in Arindam's voice. The manager's eyes widened in astonishment—

— "But sir! That would waste the entire effort of a hundred workers today, and thousands of rupees in production cost, in an instant!"

Arindam walked slowly up to the fridge, placed a hand on it, and said with great firmness—

— "An ordinary person will save up their hard-earned money, drop by drop, to buy this fridge. If, on the very first day in their home, this small crack in the door or this cooling shortfall appears, they won't just return this piece of electronics... they will never trust the name 'Nabajagaran' again in their whole lives!"

He turned to face the entire production team and gave the order—

— "All fifty units will be taken off the assembly line and opened up one by one to inspect the parts. Nothing goes out until the fault is corrected."

Seeing the owner's unprecedented professionalism and sense of responsibility toward the customer, no one dared raise an objection.

That night, until eight o'clock, the entire engineering team worked in the lab, forgetting to eat or rest. The component supplier who had provided the rubber seals was called in. A new, flawless sealing design was prepared. The engineers ran every diagnostic test again from scratch.

At half past ten that night, the first corrected fridge was switched on in the lab once more. This time... after running continuously for an hour and a half at various high and low voltages, not a single flaw or fault was found!

The head of the laboratory looked at Arindam with a smile and said—

— "Outstanding, sir! These units are now a hundred percent ready to compete with any global brand in the market!"

For the first time all day, a faint smile of relief and reassurance appeared on Arindam's face.

The next morning. From the factory's vast warehouse, only fifty selected fridges were sent by truck to be sold in the market.

A major distributor or dealer in the city, seeing the size of the truck, said in surprise—

— "Such a huge, world-class factory, and you're sending only fifty fridges in your first shipment to the market?"

Arindam Sen, who was present there, smiled quietly and answered—

— "No brand grows big overnight by showing off large numbers, Mr. Sharma — a company grows through the quality of its products and people's genuine trust."

Toward the afternoon, without telling anyone, Arindam slipped out of the factory in completely ordinary clothes. He wore a plain cotton shirt and ordinary trousers. No expensive sunglasses, no trace of a corporate owner's pride on his face. With him, only an old, ordinary model of car.

He told the driver—

— "Drive straight to the biggest electronics mall or market in the city."

The driver looked in the rearview mirror and asked, surprised—

— "Sir, shall I inform the mall authorities in advance and have them send security?"

Arindam smiled gently and shook his head—

— "Not at all! Today I'm not going as some factory's billionaire owner... today I'm going as an ordinary customer to see the real experience for myself."

The car moved slowly toward the city's crowded shopping district.

Arindam still had no idea — that sudden visit that day, disguised as an ordinary customer, would turn his company's future onto an entirely new, historic path!

(To be continued...)

The city's largest and most luxurious electronics shopping mall.

Being a weekend, the entire mall was packed, with barely room for shoppers to walk. Some were looking at new fridge models, some at washing machines, and others were trying out air conditioners.

Arindam Sen entered the mall wearing an ordinary cotton shirt, blue jeans, and a plain sports cap. He looked like nothing more than an ordinary customer. No one could have imagined even in their wildest dreams that this man was the founder and owner of a massive business worth hundreds of crores of rupees!

He walked slowly through the mall's vast electronics section, past the rows of fridges from various brands.

Just then, a brisk sales executive from the mall came forward—

— "Greetings, sir! Tell me, which brand or what capacity of fridge would you like to see?"

Arindam smiled gently and answered—

— "Show me whichever one you personally think is the best and most trustworthy product on the market."

The salesperson immediately took him to the display corner of a famous foreign multinational brand—

— "Sir, you could look at this product. It's our best-selling item on the market right now."

Arindam turned slightly and, pointing to the shining Nabajagaran Electronics fridge freshly arranged nearby, asked—

— "And how about this new homegrown brand's fridge? What have you heard about its performance?"

The salesperson smiled a bit weakly and replied—

— "That one just hit the market, sir. It does look excellent, and the build quality is good too. But you know how it is — people tend to weigh and consider carefully before buying from any new company, don't they?"

Arindam Sen nodded slowly—

— "Hmm. What price has the company set for it?"

— "About ten to fifteen percent lower than foreign brands with the same features, sir."

— "So what are customers saying? Has anyone bought one?"

There was deep anxiety in Arindam's voice. The salesperson thought for a moment and answered—

— "Among those who've bought it so far, no one in that batch has given any bad feedback. But there's one big problem that remains, sir..."

Arindam leaned in with interest—

— "What problem?"

— "The company is new, you see! If there's some technical problem with the fridge tomorrow, how will the servicing be, will spare parts be easily available or not — there's a lot of doubt and suspicion about that among ordinary customers."

Arindam stood completely silent for a while. This one sentence from the salesman's mouth kept turning over in his mind — "No matter how good the quality is, ordinary people don't just buy raw goods... people buy after-sales trust before the product itself!"

Just then, the hushed conversation of a middle-class couple standing nearby reached Arindam's ears. The wife, touching and examining the fridge closely, was saying to her husband—

— "This 'Nabajagaran' fridge looks so lovely! And the inside space is quite large too!"

The husband sighed and replied—

— "What good is it if it looks nice? It's a new company! If it breaks down after a few days, who will come to fix it? If we can't get parts, all that money will go down the drain!"

Hearing this, Arindam did not stay there another moment. He walked slowly out of the shopping mall and got into his ordinary car.

Sitting in the back seat, he took out his personal diary and pen from his pocket. Quickly, he began jotting down a few bullet points—

1. The network of company-owned service centres in cities and towns must be expanded quickly.
2. A system must be ensured for receiving customer complaints and dispatching technicians within 24 hours.
3. An adequate supply of genuine spare parts must always be kept in stock with dealers.
4. At any cost, customers must be given firm reassurance of "getting reliable service, every time."

The driver, seeing his employer's busy diary-writing in the rearview mirror, said in surprise—

— "Sir! You've worked out so much new insight from just visiting one shopping mall?"

Arindam Sen broke into a small, confident smile and said—

— "The plain truth you can't learn in a month sitting in a corporate office or an air-conditioned room, driver, you can learn in just one hour standing in a crowd of ordinary customers."

The car sped back toward the road to the factory. New plans for restructuring the marketing and servicing network were already buzzing in Arindam's mind. He resolved to himself — the very next week, he would make a surprise undercover visit to one of the large authorised service centres.

But Arindam Sen had no idea whatsoever — what kind of shock awaited him at that service centre! Right there, directly in front of him, the ugly mask would come off a senior employee whom the entire management had honoured all this time as the factory's "best and most honest worker"!

(To be continued...)

A week later.

Saturday morning. Without telling the office or anyone else, Arindam Sen went and stood in front of the city's authorised Service Centre No. 3, dressed in completely ordinary clothes.

He wore an ordinary cotton shirt, an old file in hand. With him was a small company-made table-fridge — whose one screw at the back he had deliberately loosened himself. He wanted to personally verify whether the service centre's technicians genuinely found faults honestly, or fabricated excuses to pick customers' pockets!

In front of the service centre's reception, a crowd of customers had already gathered. Standing in line were an elderly woman, nearby stood the owner of a small hotel, a schoolteacher, and several other ordinary customers. Everyone was impatiently describing the problems with their appliances. Arindam Sen too silently went and stood in line behind them.

Suddenly he heard an employee sitting at the next counter speaking rather harshly to a poor customer—

— "There's a major fault in this, mister! The compressor will have to be replaced outright — it'll cost a lot."

The customer, astonished and helpless, said—

— "What are you saying, brother! But the fridge was bought only eight months ago! The warranty period hasn't even ended yet!"

The employee shrugged with irritation and said—

— "You'll have to do what we're telling you. If you want it done, hand it in for servicing, otherwise take your fridge and go!"

With a disappointed and angry face, the man lowered his head and walked out. Arindam observed everything deeply, like a silent onlooker.

Finally Arindam's turn was called. He placed the small fridge on the counter. The counter employee, without even touching or examining the fridge's panel once, said lazily—

— "Leave it here. Come back and check in three or four days."

Arindam asked very humbly—

— "Could you kindly take a look right now, brother? I've come from far away..."

The man, annoyed, screwed up his face and answered—

— "How many times do I have to say the same thing? We don't have that much time! Step aside, next person come forward!"

Just then, a young trainee technician working at the next table came forward and said—

— "Sir, if you don't mind, may I just check the back panel once?"

Arindam nodded respectfully. The boy took out a screwdriver from his pocket and opened the back cover. It didn't even take two minutes! With a faint smile, he said—

— "Oh, sir! The problem isn't big at all! This screw on the back earthing line had come loose, so it wasn't getting power."

He tightened the screw firmly. Then he plugged it into the socket and switched the fridge on to demonstrate — the light came on brightly and it began to cool!

Pleased, Arindam asked—

— "How much do I need to pay, brother?"

The young man said humbly—

— "Not a single rupee is needed, sir. This was a completely minor matter, and the fridge still falls within the company's free-service warranty period."

Arindam Sen looked at the ID badge pinned to the boy's shirt. The name written on it was — "Daniel". Without prolonging the conversation, he sincerely thanked Daniel and left the place.

Toward evening, as soon as he returned to the factory, Arindam summoned the central head of the customer service department to his cabin—

— "This morning I went in disguise to the city's Service Centre No. 3."

The moment he heard this, the colour drained from the central manager's face!

In a calm but firm voice, Arindam described the entire incident that had taken place that morning. At the end, he said in a voice as cold as ice—

— "The employee who scared the customer into replacing the compressor without even examining it — there's no need to dismiss him from the job right now."

The manager, utterly astonished, asked—

— "You won't dismiss him, sir?"

— "No. First conduct an internal, formal inquiry. If he was deliberately creating fake bills to earn commission or cheat customers, then hand him over to the law. And if he simply lacks proper mechanical training, then send him for training again."

Pausing a little, Arindam added—

— "And send that young service man Daniel directly to my office at ten o'clock on Monday morning."

Monday morning. Daniel entered Arindam Sen's air-conditioned cabin with extreme fear and anxiety. He had thought that perhaps because of some mistake he had made unknowingly, he was being made to face the big boss.

Arindam Sen rose from his own chair and, smiling, extended his hand toward Daniel—

— "Do you know, Daniel, who the ordinary customer really was who came to your table on Saturday with a fridge that had a loose screw?"

Daniel, confused, shook his head—

— "No, sir... was he some VIP, I suppose?"

Arindam smiled sweetly and said—

— "He was your company's founder and owner!"

In an instant, Daniel was stunned into speechlessness!

Arindam took a sealed envelope out of the drawer and handed it to him—

— "This is a small gift from the company for your honesty."

Inside the envelope were — a special certificate of appreciation, a cheque for one month's advance bonus, and a letter written in Arindam's own hand. The letter read:

"An employee who saves the customer's hard-earned money through his own honesty does not merely repair a machine or a fridge... he also protects the company's capital worth crores and its good name."

Daniel's eyes filled with tears of joy.

That very day, on Arindam's orders, a groundbreaking new rule was introduced at every one of the company's service centres:

"Before replacing any part, its indisputable reason must be recorded in writing, and the opened old part must mandatorily be returned to the customer and shown as proof."

News of this customer-friendly change from the company spread through the market like wildfire in no time. Customers in the market breathed a sigh of relief and began saying to one another—

— "Whatever the other brands may be, this 'Nabajagaran' company really is a bit different... they respect people's trust!"

But right at that very moment...

Arindam's wife, Suchitra Sen, came in to give Arindam tea and said in a firm voice—

— "Just going around a handful of glossy showrooms in the city won't give us the real picture, Arindam. This time I want to go myself, in ordinary clothes, and see the rural service centres on the ground with my own eyes."

Arindam looked at his wife and said with a smile—

— "But there's a lot of hardship in the villages, and there'll be no security there... no one will even recognise you."

Suchitra Sen answered with a gentle, confident smile—

— "That's exactly what I want, Arindam! The real test of honesty isn't done under the light, it's done hidden away in the dark!"

(To be continued...)

The following Monday morning.

To keep her identity as an industrialist's wife completely hidden, Suchitra Sen wore a very ordinary cotton saree. In her hand was a plain cloth bag, and on her eyes, ordinary plastic-framed glasses.

Calling the household's personal driver, she said—

— "Not any of the company's flashy, luxurious cars today. Call an ordinary rented car."

After nearly a two-hour journey, she left the city behind and reached a small market town far away. A newly authorised dealership and service centre of "Nabajagaran Electronics" had opened there.

Disguised as an ordinary customer, as soon as Suchitra entered the shop, a brisk young salesman came forward—

— "Greetings, madam! Tell me, what would you like to see?"

Suchitra put on a sweet smile and said—

— "My daughter's getting married, son. I want to buy a durable fridge."

The salesman, quite enthusiastically, began showing her a few modern models. Suchitra, like an ordinary, inexperienced customer, kept asking one question after another—

— "This one won't draw too much electricity, will it, brother?"

— "If it breaks down, how many days will it take before your people come and fix it?"

— "Our house is right inside a village. Will you send someone there too for servicing?"

The boy patiently answered all of Suchitra's questions. But just then, another, older salesman standing nearby spoke up in a somewhat discouraging tone—

— "Madam, if your house is in a small town or deep inside a village, then it will take a bit of time to get technician service."

Suchitra asked—

— "How long could it take?"

— "Well, say around three to four days at least!"

Suchitra said nothing aloud, but noted the remark down in her mind to write in her diary.

Coming out of the shop, she went and sat at a small earthen tea stall by the market's dirt road. There, a few ordinary people were chatting animatedly over cups of tea.

An elderly farmer said—

— "Oh, that 'Nabajagaran' company's stuff isn't bad at all, brother! Genuine homegrown goods."

A mechanic sitting nearby added—

— "The fuse blew on the fridge in my shop the other day; the very next day after I called, someone came and fixed it."

Just then, a third person, smiling slightly, took a sip of tea and said—

— "Fixed it, sure, I get that, brother, but my house is a good three miles further in! It took three full days for the person to reach there! By then, a thousand rupees' worth of ice cream in my shop had all melted into water!"

Silently sipping tea from the earthen cup, Suchitra gathered these fresh, candid insights from ordinary people's minds.

On the way back, Suchitra told the driver—

— "There's one more specific place to go. Slow the car down a little."

The car came to a stop in front of an ordinary house in a small, shaded village. On the veranda stood a brand-new fridge from "Nabajagaran Electronics".

Suchitra walked slowly up and knocked on the door. As a housewife opened the door, Suchitra, keeping her identity politely hidden, said—

— "Dear, I'm thinking of buying a fridge for my daughter's wedding. I saw one on your veranda... so I came to ask a little about your experience."

The woman smiled welcomingly—

— "Oh my! Do come in, auntie! Sit down, let's talk."

In a corner of the room, the fridge was running quietly. The woman said enthusiastically—

— "The fridge is really very good, auntie! You can store a lot of fruits and vegetables in it, and the electricity bill comes very low too."

Suchitra asked with a gentle smile—

— "You haven't faced any trouble or inconvenience, have you?"

The woman thought for a moment and, a little embarrassed, said—

— "If there's one inconvenience, auntie..."

— "What inconvenience, dear?"

— "They gave a thick user manual with the fridge! It's written in English, in heavy technical language! I don't understand that much English, so it was very hard for me to understand which button did what, or how to clean the ice."

Just then, the woman's seven or eight-year-old little son came running out of the room. In one leap he opened the fridge door, took out some ice-cold water, took a gulp, and said—

— "Mother! This fridge's water is wonderfully cold!"

Everyone laughed at what he said.

But Suchitra once again noted down that important point in her mind — "The user manual for ordinary customers shouldn't be difficult; it needs to be written in simple Bengali."

In the evening, returning to the factory, Suchitra went straight to Arindam's cabin and placed a small notebook on his table. Arindam opened the diary and looked — there was no long or complicated corporate report in it. Just four clear bullet points were written:

1. Service vans or technicians must be dispatched to rural areas more quickly.
2. The "user manual" inside the pack must be written in simple, local Bengali.
3. The toll-free helpline number on the fridge must be printed in larger letters.
4. Dealer showroom salesmen must be given regular training.

Arindam closed the notebook, looked at his wife, and smiled sweetly—

— "How many big showrooms did you inspect today, Mrs. Suchitra?"

Suchitra held the cup of tea out toward Arindam and said with a smile—

— "Three small retail shops... one roadside tea stall... and one ordinary customer's mud-walled home!"

Arindam said in a solemn, respectful voice—

— "Do you know who the biggest consultant or advisor of our crore-rupee company is, Suchitra?"

— "Who?"

— "The ordinary person who buys this service of ours with money earned through their own sweat and toil!"

Suchitra also nodded sympathetically.

Just then, the landline phone on Arindam's desk rang. From the other end, the Head of Human Resources, or HR, said—

— "Sir, starting next week, we will begin recruiting security guards or new security personnel for our factory."

Arindam replied in a firm voice—

— "Very good. But this time, we need honest people who will not only guard the factory gates... but also safeguard our principles and responsibilities."

And among the long line of applicants standing with application forms in their hands for the security guard recruitment, there would be a poor but incredibly honest young man...

Ramu!

(To be continued...)