Posts
Rating customer service
Posted On Jul 19, 2007 at by Prakash G.R.The easiest way to rate a customer service is to see how they treat you when you disconnect from their service. Since I'm moving out of Bangalore, I'm disconnecting my mobile connection (Hutch) and DSL(Airtel).
Airtel it was breeze. I walked into an Airtel shop; said that I want to disconnect; got a small form; filled in 2 mins; walked out. After few hours I got a call asking for confirmation. I confirmed. Hope they would come to my house to get the equipments on the right date.
Hutch, it was different. Yesterday I walked into a store and said I want to disconnect. They directed me to an executive. He asked my number, looked something in his PC and said, "we can't take the request here, you have to mail to [email protected]". I did. I clearly mentioned my mobile number and the date. Today, I got a call from another executive. She asked me the reason for disconnecting and gave me nice offers (pay one time fees Rs 500/- your number will be valid for an year with incoming free, blah, blah, blah...). Finally she asked me when I want the number to be disconnected, when I'm moving out of the city, where should the bill be sent, etc. After all that, my mobile got deactivated tonight. I called the call center and the guy told me that the only way to activate it is, to walk into a Hutch shop. No phone call/email would do that. Hmmmm. I'm pissed off. I'm not going to walk into a shop. I've just emailed. I think I would have a bill of Rs 500/- for this month. I'm not going to pay it. If they really feel that its wrong on my part, let them sue me. Will meet them in the court. :-)
I had a similar experience 2 yrs b4 with Airtel and fellow asked me to come to shop and submit request. I said I didnt have time & left for project work for 6 months. I paid online my balance in full with few bucks extra and left India.
Came back and to my surprise found sim still active. Called the Call Center and they replied go ahead use it sir we wont charge u for 6 months.
Next bill carried the 6 months rental charges and that months usage. Customer service reps/managers were of very little assistance. They said yes its not logical but thats how billing dept works. I thought I can get rid of it, but with their legal team pestering me and their terms & conditions lurking around, I checked with my lawyer cousin. He asked whats the amount and said close the connection saying "paid with regret".
I ended up shelling out Rs 1200 and obvious stopped my connection with Airtel sighting their poor service(asking me to use; assuring they wouldnt charge). There was no logical explanation for the charge. Going by their terms they disconnect a cell after 2 months. under safe custody(which I didnt avail) max a number was kept safe was 3 months. Who experience pissed me off.
Bitter experience indeed. (Now I am very happy with a Pre-Paid connection with another providers and would stick to a pre-paid for life.)