Tata Broadband: Bad User Experience
India Broadband News, Tata Broadband, Tata Indicom March 29th, 2006
Tata Broadband: Bad User Experience
Well, we get to hear about horror stories; ISP’s routinely trying to palm of customers for slow speeds or capping on the usage. This one is in the league of it’s own. And it pains even more when it comes from the house of Tata’s.
Well, to cut a long story short, this person works with a respectable computer company. He wanted to have a connection of his own to work. Since he lives in a place where there is no other service provider, he chose to trust his money in Tata’s brand name. However, despite repeated calls and efforts, he couldn’t trace the “executive” for his connection.
Here is the scanned receipt for the same on Flickr. I have obscured the name of the person for privacy reasons.
In his words and I recount it here. Emphasis is mine.
I know that I can claim for compensation. But you know the situation in our country. Even if I do file a claim it’ll only keep on dragging until God knows when. And that’ll be more frustrating than this. I am doing my very best to disuade people from opting for Tata. In fact,there were a few people asking me about this issue after they saw my post on your BB blog. And its only that I need net at my place urgently and there are no other providers that I am going for them.
So, service providers take advantage of monopoly. Well, is there any way to rap their knucles or flog them?
In another mail, this harassed customer related his tale as such:
After getting another assurance from their Territory Sales Manager, I waited for three days. But as in the past it turned out that these people are fast with assurances than their work. I called this guy up on Sunday morning and I was told that I’ll get a call from him in 5 mts with an update. After two hours of waiting I decided to call this fellow up and but to no avail. It seems that they have a policy of not responding to the customers calls, if they don’t have anything to say.
After being fed up with all this, I went to the cable operator who’s supposed to do the installation and told him that these people are putting all the blame on you. Hearing this, he also got agitated and requested me to talk to the Tata Indicom fellows in front of him. We tried but even his call wasn’t taken. Finally he told me that whatever these people had been telling me were all lies. He was told about my connection 10 days ago but he wasn’t able to provide me with one because the DSL port through which the connections are provided, were not sufficient enough to complete the requests of the 5-6 pending connections which he had with him. He told me that these guys had asked him to market for them,inspite of knowing the fact that they might not be able to keep their word or time limit to the customers.
I thank you readers for the time and patience you put in to spend here. I chose to do this post because we need a public platform to highlight the mess behind the hoopla. Why are theseservice providers trying to take us for granted?
In the same vein, I am pissed off from BSNL, but have to stick on to them because I really don’t have a choice.
Don’t miss the sub text. Even though this person can be compensated in the court of law, no one ventures to step in for legal remedies. Consumer courts cases can drag on for months to years even though it is legally mandated that the cases need be disposed off in a particular time frame. In any case, what do these companies have to loose?
A customer? There is enough captive base for them.
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Tags: Broadband in India, BSNL, Other Frustrated Customers, Other ISPs, Tata
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About
I stay in Bangalore. I tried to get an Airtel connection. After going to their office four times and calling up their call center 2-3 times I finally managed to get out of them acceptance to install the connection at my place. The person comes get the form filled up and asks for payment. I told him as soon as the installation is done I will pay. The installation happens after 18 days after being asked for money. I decided not to hassle myself further and asked not to install the connection.
The funny part was that after I said no I got 5 calls from various Airtel execs asking for reasons I decided not to get the connection.
It is simply a very pathetic state of affairs.
Poor service from Tata is legendary. I’ve said this before many times. Few are willing to touch Tata even with a bargepole these days where I live. The poor customer service experience extends across their Indicom brand products like mobiles and WLL Fixed line phones. Why should it be surprising?
Hi,
I have a exactly opposite experience with Sify. I will say it is the Worst Broadband ISP I have ever seen.
The SIFY contractor in our are does not allow other service providers to enter??? Where are we democracy or communism? The same operator has got BSNL Exchange and has given contact number of Airtel?
If he, himself is not loyal to his Business, how can he force customers to go for only SIFY and try to build monopoly of SIFY?
SIFY Is a broadband operator which was not having a single Postpaid plan??? A provider with no plan of Unlimited download?? A provider calling it Broadband and allowing customers to download free only from 10 pm - 08 am.
I don’t have any other words to describe about Unethical and pathetic marketing strategy and service… SIFY is not match for TATAs… not for next billion years….
Never Ever Take Tata BroadBand Connection…
I was using ICENET ISP’s cable connection and decided to switch to TATA Broadband connection. So i called up it’s sales representative(Name: DHRUMIL). I took 64 kbps unlimited plan and paid 3143 rs. I told him to install connection on 12th but nothing happens on that day. I called him and service center many times. Then and then they came and install the plan. But then one more thing happens. They installed 256kbps limited plan. I have done complain on this on VSNL on 13th May. But till date ( 22nd May) nothing happens. Today they are asking me to give written paper on this . It is not my fault and still i have to pay for it. Pay for money and pay for worst service.
Now, regarding internet connection, speed is ok but connection breaks at anytime. On saturday it breaks, i phoned him but nothing happens. Then i called on sunday and they told sunday is holiday. I called sales representative but he told me that i am sales person. So do his job completed once he sold the connection? i don’t think so. Whenever i asked him something, he told me i am doing this and i will talk to this in meeting and like this.
When net is down, tata’s engineer(Tilak) come on monday and after checking something he(Tilak) told me that your lan card is not working. So you need to buy another one. But before buying new, i check it with icenet connection and it’s working. Why the hell he is telling that lan card is not working without confirming. If i am not software engineer, this people will tear out my shirt.
Now, next thing. Tata’s great customer service center number. When you call his customer service center auto reply told you “Thank you for waiting” and it makes you waiting till 5 to 10 minutes on your call. Upto now i make a call of 50 rs and don’t know how many i will make untill 6 month. ( I bought 6 month pack without thinking and asking to anybody)
The conclusion is, never never never take tata indicom broadband. Worst connection. Worst sales representative. Worst engineer. and Worst Customer service.
Thank you,
Hi all
I just got a new computer and signed up with Tata broadband on the 12th of May. The sales guy told me that the connection will be provided by 5 days. And guess what?…Its the 22nd of May and i still havent got the connection. So i call up thier customer service and the executive tells me you havent paid for the service till now. When i provide the reciept number to the executive he tells me that he apologizes for 5 times and he will take care of it….lol…give me a break…wat should i do?….sue them????…jezz i dont know:(
I had written a letter to Executive Director - VSNL also about the problem regarding my inability to access Broadband but not got any response.
I got my dial-up account converted to Tata Indicom Broadband during last week of February this year. I opted for Always-On Connection and around Rs 1000 balance in my dial-up account was converted to Broadband account. In addition I was advised by Tata Indicom to subscribe for Auto renewal pack Surf 500 (costing Rs. 375 ) which would get activated on May 8 2006, on expiry of the Always-On pack.
From March 20th onwards the broadband service was very erratic, and I lodged 4 complaints with the customer cell. From March 30 onwards I was not able to connect at all till May 7 (38 days !), when the Always -On Pack expired. Always-On pack charges a flat rate of Rs. 15/day irrespective of the usage of broadband. I had been assured by the Customer service that I will not be charged from the day of the last complaint (i.e. March 30) till the expiry of the pack or till the connection is set right whichever earlier.
However despite several reminders to customer care, my account has not been credited for the value of the amoumt lost for 38 days.
Tata Indicom rectified what they called was a cable fault and I was able to connect for 2 -3 days starting May 8 using the auto renewal pack Surf 500 which debits the amount based on uploads/downloads. The problem of non-access resurfaced again on May 10 and persisted till May 23. Again after repeated reminders VSNL engineers set it right. However I now find that though my net usage is only for Rs 37/- as of today, I find that the balance remaining in my account is just Rs 138 instead of Rs 338 /- ( a discrepancy of Rs 200 /- !)
Inspite of my repeated reminders both vial e-mails and phone calls to Customer care, the reimbursement of 38 days of Always-ON account and the recitification of billing discrepancy on Surf500 account has not been done.
i’ve been having frequent disconnections from the past 15 days!!! tata sucks.. dont ever make the mistake of takin tata.. i wanna see them bankrupt! those ppl have made me, and by the looks of it a million ppl out there waste their precious money on callin their useless customer care..
tata is the worst there is… my friend had sify and thought that his was bad, once he got tata, sify seemed like heaven for him..
so trust me on this everybody.. taking tata will be the biggest mistake of ur lives..
TATA just sucks , prepaid connections not working since 15 days & i have been told that connection has been restored. i have lodged a complain in the consumer court..
U guys do the same
this is a copy of letter i sent to cnn-ibn hoping that
the tv channels can do something about this broadband scam
and the haplessness of so many paying customers
Dear editor,
My name is govind age 38yrs male from Coimbatore Tamil nadu
Address 52, huzur road
Coimbatore- 641018.
I am a great fan of all the English news channels and watch them with glee u guys are doing a great job keep it up.
I am writing this letter to bring to your notice of how the isp { internet service providers } take things for granted and take poor customers like me and a lakhs of others
For a nice ride.
I am a subscriber to the tata indicom broadband for the past three years I am not at all happy with the way they have provided service right from the day one
For e.g. I experience down time every seven to eight days for two days i.e. in a month I have to do without internet for about six to seven days on an average.
I have formally complained about it but they do not seem to care and the whole process of launching a complaint is very annoying to say the least.
Please try calling up 5508282 this is their call centre
It usually takes about five minutes of recorded music before you actually get talking to somebody when u complain about that they say they sorry call traffic is high
I am not joking please try calling this above no. to have an experience yourself then you will understand how I feel.
The call typically goes like this
Govind: i.e. me the hapless subscriber “hello “
Call center personnel x y z: “this is tataindicom broadband sir how I may help youâ€
Me: “my internet is not workingâ€
Call center: “what is your login id?â€
Me: govindv@eth.net
Call center: how may I help you sir
Me: my internet is not working
Call center: “I am extremely sorry sir let me check it upâ€
Me: okay
Call center: sir would you like to try the troubleshooting {that is check if all your wires are plugged… blah… blah….}
Me: “no because I have tried it before calling you “
Call center: I am extremely sorry sir this is your complaint no. ======
Normally a typical call would end here but if it was my third or fourth call over two days it really gets depressing that you are helpless without a connection
And this call center dude is equally helpless except for his mindless number of apologies which can be a bit annoying you guys please at least for the
Sake of some humor try calling this no: 5508282 you will not be pleased by the answers these dudes dish out like a machine.
It might not me right on my part to ask you to do a story on this internet scam I am sure there will be a lot more people like me who feel cheated and used
Please do this for our country which I am very proud of being update with technology and all that.
But as a common citizen of this country who believes things so easily and get taken for a ride and is running out of options and ideas it
Is my humble request that only an active and free press can do something about this problem?
Please investigate this problem further so you can decide
I feel this might not be the response if you are a business using internet
I feel only stand alone consumer are having this plight so put yourself In my shoes as a person using internet just for keeping touch with people and
For some browsing during my free time at home i.e. a typical home user
Because I am at last left with no other alternative but to go to another service provider who might be no different so I hear so from others who have tried them.
Why should we put up with such shoddy service?
How come this business alone is being run without any body questioning its quality and value when they charge us for everything and get away?
Thanking you
Yours truly,
Govind v
p.s. please read the attachment it is a story of another unfortunate soul like me who has a blog.
Even I had very bad experience with them..
How many times, they will verify even for prepaid connection is it required to check in bangalore and pune separately, the same customer?
They don’t have any online systems to check a consumer details?
The customer is paying huge amounts for initial activation..is it not their responsibility to come and collect the documents if any thing they feel it is missing?
Why the customer has to go around the Tata Indicom show rooms like to Govt offices in India even after paying the money?
Here is my experience with these stupids who are saying that we are perfect in address verification and services.
I had taken a Tata Indicom prepaid CDMA connection in Bangalore, India 4 months back (in June’2006).
I have submitted all the required documents and felt that the services are so pathetic and there is no customer support for that company.
Now, in Oct’2006 I have relocated to Pune, India and I visited a Tata Indicom showroom called Smartek in Chatushrungi temple road near Pune University circle where two useless young girls are managing the showroom. I requested them to transfer my connection from Bangalore to Pune. But, they told it is not possible and they asked me to take a new SIM card and get a new number.
Then, I accepted for that and took a new SIM and number by paying once again the activity charges, etc. I submitted all the documents whatever they asked, at that time itself. They checked the documents and accepted. Then I felt very happy about Tata Indicom ( I felt probably they might have learned from their mistakes).
But, the happiness is not there even for 1 week also. I am getting the SMS messages saying that your form is not complete and submit the documents.
Then immediately I approached the same Smartec showroom (even though it is far for me). They told, 123 people from Tata indicom will send sms like that only to all the people and don’t worry because your services are not interrupted. They have not even enquired about my case.
Then after 2 days, my outgoing service is cut and not working. Then immediately I approached the same show room. Then they told me that, may be some of the documents are missing (they don’t even have interest to find out which doc is missing because they already got the full money). Then, even though my wife is pregnant, along with our 2 yrs old kid, I sent my wife to that showroom to submit the docs ( as I have busy schedule in office).
She went there and submitted the docs once gaian. That time also they does not know what is missing in the docs. My wife came back and then she got a call from same showroom people saying that “the photoID which we have submitted and the photo which we had given are not matching” (eventhough both are mine only and I had given letter from my company also which is a gaint in IT industry).
Then we were shocked as the photoID (Pan card copy) and the photo that we had given are same.
OK, I called several times to that showroom from public booth and once in 100 trails, they used to lift the phone as if they are busy talking to customers.
Then the next day, my incoming also cut and phone is of no use. But I paid 700 Rs for activation and 1 month validity. I need to do lot of communication with mypeople since these days and which is missing becoze of these Tata Indicom Stupids.
Now it is almost 1 week, daily I am calling those stupid people and they will reply me that today it will be done sir, no problem, good day sir..like that.
I am very much upset on the pathetic services they provide to customers. What I have to do?
Pl help me and give me some good suggestions as I am totally in an emotional and aggressive situation about Tata Indicom.
I BEG YOU ALL, PL DON’T TAKE ANY SERVICES FROM TATA INDICOM STUPIDS..
That’s all from my side..I will post this in entire consumer related forums in internet and my wish is fulfilled if atleast some people who are planning to take Tata Indicom connection can stop doing that by reading this.
Seriously companies are taking consumers for a ride and on top of that they get what they want.
I applied for a TATA indicom broadband connection in Hyderbad near to hitech city on 1-st of March . They took my application and kept assuring me that it would be installed in 10-15 days …but after waiting for 45 days i gave up.
When i spoke to the area manager( Mr. Gandphati Bhat) of tata indicom about it , he said , Dont worry you will get your money back ! After waiting for 45 days .
I still got the appliaction receipt from them .
I am planning to go to consumer court.