4 hours funda!. Review on Airtel Broadband

Airtel boasts they would fix any problem with land-line/broadband connection within 4 hours. Well, not really. Here is how it works:

On Sunday, 25th Dec 2005 I realised that my phone was dead.

Called up airtel and filed a complaint (complaint no. 112000). I was promised that the problem would be fixed by 1:30pm the next day. Else, they’ll give me Rs. 100. The problem was fixed by around 8pm on Monday and I received a call from airtel to confirm the same.

The next day (Tuesday) I realised that the fix was partial - the main line which was connected to the broadband was still dead. It was only the parallel connection which was working. Called up airtel and filed a complaint - complaint no. 2789. Usual promise - the problem would be solved by 1:30, else, I’ll be getting Rs. 100.

At around 10:15AM an airtel executive called home. I was not at home. My mother picked up the phone. She can speak/understand only her mother tongue. Any other language is Greek for her. But still the person who was talking in Greek managed to confirm that the broadband connection was working! I came to know about it only when I called up airtel at 2PM the same day. By 2PM the phone was completely dead. The person at the other end apologised and promised to fix the problem by 5PM. No action till 5:45PM. Called up again and got the assurance that somebody from airtel would get back to me within 2hours. Nobody called me till 8:15PM. Called up airtel. I was in for a surprise - the complaint 2789 was missing from their records. It has vanished into thin air. The executive was kind enough to help me with filing another complaint - complaint number 127969. Usual promise followed - the problem would be fixed by 1:30PM the next day, else, I would get Rs. 100

1PM, Wednesday- the phone was still dead. Called up airtel. Another shock - the case 127969 has been closed! The phone was still dead, nobody from airtel visited my residence, no calls to the alternate number I provided, but the case has been closed. Again, the lady at the other end was kind enough to help me to open another case- complaint number 281316. The problem would be fixed by 5:30, else, I’ll get Rs. 100 :)

An airtel executive visited my residence at around 3pm and apparently fixed the issue. My father called me up from home to confirm that the phone was indeed working. That evening, once I reached home, I tried to use the broadband connection and realized that line was dead again.

On Thursday morning called up airtel to file a complaint - complaint number 138566. The problem will be fixed by 1:35 pm, else, they’ll give me Rs. 100 :)

11:30AM, Thursday - I get a call on my mobile from home saying that the problem has been rectified. I wanted to see if the broadband connection was working and reached home at 1PM. The broadband connection was not working. Called up airtel. They helped me to file another complaint - complaint no. 140705. They would fix the problem by 6PM, else, they’ll give me Rs. 100 :)

An airtel executive reached came to my residence at around 4:30PM and fixed the problem.

So a problem which I reported on Sunday, Dec 25th got solved by Thursday, Dec 29th.

I don’t know how much they’ll credit to my account. Even if the issue is not resolved, they close the case and force the customer to complain again. That way they make sure that on records all complaints are solved on time. Whatever be the amount they credit to my account, I’ll update that on this site. So keep watching.

One observation:

• if you call airtel call centre n times, you never get the same executive twice. The person at the other end is prompt to apologise for the inconvenience caused. He/She doesn’t take responsibility for the vanishing complaints, but is kind enough to help you to file another complaint.

Update on 5th Jan 2006:

The phone is again dead - complaint number 5924 .

I filed the complaint in the morning around 9am and the phone was fixed at around 4pm.

UPDATE

I lost count of the complaints I filed. It seems they too. So they just credited Rs 100 to my account !