Zomato is quite active when it comes to receiving flak from social media users whether on a fun banter while over a controversy. The food delivery app faced sharp criticism on the Twitter after #RejectZomato trend on the microblogging site on Tuesday morning.
The thread of criticism began when a customer named Vikas from Tamil Nadu took to the microblogging site sharing that he could not get a refund because he didn't know the “Hindi” language. He claimed that the Zomato customer service executive told him that he 'should know Hindi' as it is an official language of India.
Vikas post triggered a debate on racism and the language barrier on Twitter with 'Reject Zomato' being trended on Twitter.
Vikas got in touch with the Zomato customer service over one item from his order being missing and asked for a refund for the same. However, according to Vikas, he couldn’t get the refund as he didn't know Hindi.
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Sharing a series of screenshots from his chat with the Zomato executive, Vikas wrote, "Ordered food in tomato and an item was missed. Customer care says the amount can't be refunded as I didn't know Hindi. Also takes the 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."
In response, Zomato said that the incident was ‘unacceptable’ and asked for Vikash’s contact details to address the issue with him as Vikash seemed unhappy with the company’s treatment and sought a 'strong clarification' and 'public apology' from the executive who accused him to be a liar and asked him to learn Hindi without giving any solid reason.
The whole incident has angered the netizens as can be seen slamming the executive for his remark where he said to Vikash that "For your kind information, Hindi is our national language. So it is very common that everybody should know Hindi a little bit."
Meanwhile, the episode has again triggered the debate on the language barrier over north and south. Users are calling out on Zomato saying why don't appoint people when they are working in Tamil Nadu. "AND YOU DON'T HAVE CUSTOMER SUPPORT IN TAMIL LANGUAGE THEN HOW CAN YOU SENDING NOTIFICATION IN TAMIL... Begging needs regional language Righttt???? Just remove that language racist bastard from your company & post a tweet Or else you'll face great loss,” posted a Twitter user.
Amid the backlash, the food delivery platform posted that "Hi Vikash, this is unacceptable. We'd like to get this checked ASAP, could you please share your registered contact number via a private message?" It seems like the company has got in touch with Vikash and his complaint has been addressed, however, Twitter users aren’t satisfied with the company’s action. The trend has received 41.7K tweets so far.
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The language barrier between Hindi and other southern languages has always been the reason for conflict amongst people. While the south has consistently opposed the idea of learning and making Hindi mandatory in their region, many feel north India has time and again been racist against south india and their language. People from South India allege that the other parts of the country belittle south India’s languages and don’t respect them.
Meanwhile, Zomato has issued an official statement on the issue with an apology in English and Tamil. “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 tweeted, with writing pls don’t #RejectZomato followed with a red heart emoji.