Broken Appliances, Plumbing Problem or Electrical Breakdown, Just Call Theek Kar Do
The other day my washing machine’s outlet pipe broke and I had a tough time getting someone to fix it, not to mention I was new in the neighbourhood, so didn’t have my regular person to help me either. While I fretted and cursed about the problem, founders of Theek Kar Do, a startup from Mumbai decided to “startup” when they encountered a similar problem.
Co-founded by Hardik Shah, Sonakshi Pratap, Bhavishya Pratap & Shantanu Kamath, Theek Kar Do(TKD) helps you get broken appliances, gadgets, plumbing and electrical problems in your house be fixed. Hardik says the idea to help people get such problems fixed came from a personal experience, where he had to run around to fix a broken appliance in his house. “We always wanted to do something of our own. We are ready to work hard and make this happen. So we decided why not put in the efforts for something of our own, rather than working for someone else,” reasons Hardik.
Theek Kar Do started in November 2012 and currently caters to suburban Mumbai. Over the next three months, the startup plans to cover the entire Mumbai region and then venture into neighbouring cities. The startup today has 100 technicians onboard and has serviced about 2,000 requests so far. TKD approaches technicians, plumbers, electricians who are well-known for their quality of service in a particular area and asks them to join them. Those who agree to come onboard are then verified and all their documents are collected before they are registered as a technician with TKD.On the customer front, consumers who have a problem, have to call the helpline number of TKD(8080 853 853) and register a request. On receipt of the request, a TKD executive will schedule the service request and get in touch with its panel of technicians. Based on the availability of these technicians, they are assigned to the job and the customer problem rectified. Once the technician has completed the assigned task, the TKD team will again call the customer to take feedback and gauge their satisfaction for the job done. “Customer satisfaction is most important in our venture and we cannot afford to slip there,” says Hardik. On an average, in a day the TKD team gets about 10-15 service calls. While there are two team members dedicated to receive and complete the service requests, just like in a startup, the job is not restricted to those two. TKD offers three months warranty on any service they provide and if the problem recurs within those three months, then it is rectified free-of-cost. TKD charges upto Rs 300 for a service request.
While it continues to expand its consumer side of the business, TKD is also in talks with housing societies to undertake all requirements that a society and its members will have for any repair work – either at an individual level or at the society level. While societies have expressed their interest in joining hands, TKD is yet to sign on their first society contract.
TKD was recently covered by a TV channel and following that, Hardik says they have received enquiries for setting up franchise from people outside Mumbai. “We want to be sure the service we provide is top class. Therefore we want to design a training module that can be used by our franchisees in other cities,” says Hardik.
The partners started TKD by boot-strapping and as on March 2013, they have managed to strike a balance between their income and expenditure. TKD advertises its service through pamphlets in newspapers, advertising on buses, rickshaws as well as through social media.
Both Hardik and Sonakshi are trained chartered accountants, who have worked with Ernst & Young and KPMG respectively in the past. While Hardik worked with E&Y for two years, Sonakshi quit her job to startup in six months. The other two partners are still studying. When we asked Hardik, what made them startup so early on in their professional life, Hardik says something which is very reflective of the attitude that youth have today. “If we wanted to do something ourselves, it made sense to start early, because this way we have more time to achieve our dreams. Later on if you get married or have other family pressures, there are constraints to pursue your dream,” says the young entrepreneur very matter-of-factly.
We wish Theek Kar Do all the best, and hope they manage to solve this large unorganized problem, through their organized approach.
