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Zomato Terminates Employee Who Told a Customer 'Hindi Is Our National Language' The food delivery giant has issued an apology both in Hindi and Tamil. Requested customers not to #Reject_Zomato

By Shrabona Ghosh

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The "never-have-a-bad-meal' food delivery company Zomato gave a bad experience to a customer. The company invited trouble after its employee slammed a customer, in a grievance redressal conversation, for not knowing Hindi.

The customer shared his experience on twitter and the social media giant was stormed with #Reject_Zomato tweets.

Taking cognizance of the matter, Zomato issued an official statement and apologised for the employee's behaviour. Releasing a statement in both Hindi and Tamil, it tweeted, "We hope you give us a chance to serve you better next time. Pls don't #Reject Zomato."

"We have terminated the agent for negligence towards our diverse culture. This customer care agent's statements do not represent our company's stance towards language and diversity. We are building a Tamil version of our app," read the statement.

The customer, identified as Vikash, on Monday ordered food and one of the items was missing. He informed the customer care about the issue. During the conversation, Vikash said, "If Zomato is in Tamil Nadu they should hire someone who knows the language and help me get a refund." To which Vikash was told, "For your kind information, Hindi is our national language. So, everybody should know Hindi at least a little bit." The employee also told Vikash that he tried calling the restaurant five times but was not able to communicate because of "language barrier".

Infuriated by the incident, Vikash took screenshots of the conversation and posted them on Twitter, tweeting, "Ordered food from Zomato and an item was missing. Customer care says the amount cannot be refunded as I don't know Hindi. Tagged me a liar as he did not know Tamil. @Zomato not the way you talk to a customer."

Soon after netizens joined the war and slammed the food delivery giant for its behaviour. They were up in arms with Vikash and asked Zomato to issue an apology immediately.

The matter also caught the attention of Dharmapuri MP Dr Senthilkumar who tweeted, "From when did Hindi become a national language? Why should the customer in Tamil Nadu know Hindi? Kindly address your customer's problem and apologize."

The incident went viral with over 3,500 retweets and 7,000 likes. Soon #Reject_Zomato started trending. The concerned Zomato staff swung into action and termed the incident "unacceptable".

Shrabona Ghosh

Correspondent

A journalist with a cosmopolitan mindset. I lead a project called 'Corporate Innovations' wherein I cover corporates across verticals and try to tell stories on innovations. Apart from this, I write industry pieces on FMCGs, auto, aviation, 5G and defense. 

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