Consumer Service in India - Part 1
I had listed out the pathetic instance of consumer service in India. Many a time, we as such we never care of Consumer Rights and we are being taken for granted. Telecom Revolution in India has come in a big way, but the way Telecom companies do work in a sh*tty way.
The Following are the excerpts of my letter to nodal officer of karnataka (when i was in Bangalore and this letter contains few derogatory references to the company and the way they treat their customers. If you kick few asses in India, things get done. I would encourage all people to write to their bosses, in blogs, to media to promote consumer awareness so that we don't we don't get shitty customer service. You have every right to screw them as they do if we don't pay. The moral of the story - Screw them.
Madam R,
I have just got your details from the Airtel website and if you ask me, i can publish reams of grievance and concerns about the poor customer care standards maintained by Airtel India. This is not the first time, I am at the receiving end from Airtel, but what is really astonishing to me its the sheer arrogance of your employees particularly the customer care to address and settle issues. I solemnly believe it is better to stand in line physically to address our issues w.r.t PSU like BSNL, then wait for days by pressing the keys to get replies from your IVR system. I have four Airtel connections ( 2 in chennai - of which i am still maintaining one, and 2 in bangalore, a mobile connection (997249XXXX)and a now broadband connection which is yet to come. If you want i will quote my problems and grievances with Airtel Chronologically.
1. During my Chennai days, It so happened that after 4 months of prompt response and bills sent, I never received bills all of sudden except for SMS, even though i have subscribed for paper bills. Suddenly Airtel is so conscious being environment friendly, forget the number of unnecessary phamplets which features all your Ads. All the time, i need to talk to Airtel, that i never received my bills on time and to waive the fee. ( I dont expect this to be answered, as you very well - say its a chennai issue. But can you provide me an assurance that these "ugly practices of charging late fees to customers due to faults of Airtel in karnataka circle is not there" ?)
2. My Broadband connection in Bangalore. I have requested for a connection on 21/07/2008 and they told me that i need to wait for couple of days for checking the availability of broadband in my area. Fair enough. Inspite of myself providing my neighbour's number and connection details, i never received a call for 5 days. On the 6th day, when i enquired CCare, I was told to call back after 1 hour. After an hour, the history repeated the same way. After few hours later, when i tried later, the madam (one Ms HaXXX has left for the day), leaving me to stay as a foolish chap. Inspite of my repeated yelling, one gentlewoman saved her friend and she was not ready to take my grievance, nor provided me solutions. Now tell me, If i have a problem with network / services, i report it to Customer Care. If i have a problem against Customer care, Whom should i report it to ? Sunil Mittal (or) Shahrukh Khan. ?
3. After few days, one more gentleman (SugXXX) called me and told me that he would provide me a broadband connection within the next three days. I had prepared to chuck airtel and go for BSNL and thanks to this gentleman's promise, I was retained by a false promise. One thing is common to Mobile and Credit Card companies here. As long as you need new connections, they would run after the customers, once the payment happens, its the customer turn to chase you as a dog. On last Saturday (02/08/2008), finally neither the gentleman turned up nor Airtel has changed. Yet another false promise like a politician during an election rally.
4. The last of the wonders from Airtel. This evening i was in a meeting, when one gentlewoman from CC called me to pay my bills by tomorrow, if not Airtel would be prompt in disconnecting my connection, as i was over my credit limits. Thanks to "Chota Credit"....What i couldn't understand whether the lady who spoke to me doesn't have the sense / so stupid to understand that i have a mobile office (Blackberry connection / service) for which i have subscribed for 12 months in advance. Hence the major portion of my bill is with the blackberry service charges and associated tax charges, where i would have hardly spoken for 500 Rs out of 8300 Rs worth of bill.
Could there not be proper soft skills training be imparted to your staff to address the customers properly and also have little knowledge whether they hold any premium services, its only voice and data before harassing a customer ? I am getting highly irritated with the credit alerts / notifications, as i never violated single payments w.r.t all my credit cards / loans / payments. nobody has bugged me better than Airtel. By now, you might be tired of reading my mail, as i am tired of your customer care (which i am sorry to say second to sh*t. You can very well discard this mail, as all your colleagues have done previously to ignore my grievances. If nothing happens, there would be day where i would never even hesitate to take this matter to Sunil Mittal / even TRAI. Thanks a lot for your patient listening and sorry for being harsh to you for all the mistakes of somebody else.
--
Thanks and Regards,
LaksXXXX
Ps: I would be happy if you can truly act on this mail and forward this mail to VP Customer Care and other big shots.
The best thing with this mail - I got calls from the nodal officer for the next 3 days till all the things were settled to my satisfaction. I would write in my next blog - what are the TRAI recommendations and suggestions to protect consumer interests and also the contact details of nodal officers to lodge complaints..
Lakshman
The Following are the excerpts of my letter to nodal officer of karnataka (when i was in Bangalore and this letter contains few derogatory references to the company and the way they treat their customers. If you kick few asses in India, things get done. I would encourage all people to write to their bosses, in blogs, to media to promote consumer awareness so that we don't we don't get shitty customer service. You have every right to screw them as they do if we don't pay. The moral of the story - Screw them.
Madam R,
I have just got your details from the Airtel website and if you ask me, i can publish reams of grievance and concerns about the poor customer care standards maintained by Airtel India. This is not the first time, I am at the receiving end from Airtel, but what is really astonishing to me its the sheer arrogance of your employees particularly the customer care to address and settle issues. I solemnly believe it is better to stand in line physically to address our issues w.r.t PSU like BSNL, then wait for days by pressing the keys to get replies from your IVR system. I have four Airtel connections ( 2 in chennai - of which i am still maintaining one, and 2 in bangalore, a mobile connection (997249XXXX)and a now broadband connection which is yet to come. If you want i will quote my problems and grievances with Airtel Chronologically.
1. During my Chennai days, It so happened that after 4 months of prompt response and bills sent, I never received bills all of sudden except for SMS, even though i have subscribed for paper bills. Suddenly Airtel is so conscious being environment friendly, forget the number of unnecessary phamplets which features all your Ads. All the time, i need to talk to Airtel, that i never received my bills on time and to waive the fee. ( I dont expect this to be answered, as you very well - say its a chennai issue. But can you provide me an assurance that these "ugly practices of charging late fees to customers due to faults of Airtel in karnataka circle is not there" ?)
2. My Broadband connection in Bangalore. I have requested for a connection on 21/07/2008 and they told me that i need to wait for couple of days for checking the availability of broadband in my area. Fair enough. Inspite of myself providing my neighbour's number and connection details, i never received a call for 5 days. On the 6th day, when i enquired CCare, I was told to call back after 1 hour. After an hour, the history repeated the same way. After few hours later, when i tried later, the madam (one Ms HaXXX has left for the day), leaving me to stay as a foolish chap. Inspite of my repeated yelling, one gentlewoman saved her friend and she was not ready to take my grievance, nor provided me solutions. Now tell me, If i have a problem with network / services, i report it to Customer Care. If i have a problem against Customer care, Whom should i report it to ? Sunil Mittal (or) Shahrukh Khan. ?
3. After few days, one more gentleman (SugXXX) called me and told me that he would provide me a broadband connection within the next three days. I had prepared to chuck airtel and go for BSNL and thanks to this gentleman's promise, I was retained by a false promise. One thing is common to Mobile and Credit Card companies here. As long as you need new connections, they would run after the customers, once the payment happens, its the customer turn to chase you as a dog. On last Saturday (02/08/2008), finally neither the gentleman turned up nor Airtel has changed. Yet another false promise like a politician during an election rally.
4. The last of the wonders from Airtel. This evening i was in a meeting, when one gentlewoman from CC called me to pay my bills by tomorrow, if not Airtel would be prompt in disconnecting my connection, as i was over my credit limits. Thanks to "Chota Credit"....What i couldn't understand whether the lady who spoke to me doesn't have the sense / so stupid to understand that i have a mobile office (Blackberry connection / service) for which i have subscribed for 12 months in advance. Hence the major portion of my bill is with the blackberry service charges and associated tax charges, where i would have hardly spoken for 500 Rs out of 8300 Rs worth of bill.
Could there not be proper soft skills training be imparted to your staff to address the customers properly and also have little knowledge whether they hold any premium services, its only voice and data before harassing a customer ? I am getting highly irritated with the credit alerts / notifications, as i never violated single payments w.r.t all my credit cards / loans / payments. nobody has bugged me better than Airtel. By now, you might be tired of reading my mail, as i am tired of your customer care (which i am sorry to say second to sh*t. You can very well discard this mail, as all your colleagues have done previously to ignore my grievances. If nothing happens, there would be day where i would never even hesitate to take this matter to Sunil Mittal / even TRAI. Thanks a lot for your patient listening and sorry for being harsh to you for all the mistakes of somebody else.
--
Thanks and Regards,
LaksXXXX
Ps: I would be happy if you can truly act on this mail and forward this mail to VP Customer Care and other big shots.
The best thing with this mail - I got calls from the nodal officer for the next 3 days till all the things were settled to my satisfaction. I would write in my next blog - what are the TRAI recommendations and suggestions to protect consumer interests and also the contact details of nodal officers to lodge complaints..
Lakshman
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