Jun 11, 2009 10:14 PM
7447 Views
(Updated Nov 19, 2010 08:58 PM)
I am writing this review after using Airtel Digital TV for more than 6 months (Update: Nov 18 2010: 2 years).
Having been a long time Airtel Customer (Since 2002 - 5 mobile connections, 2 landlines with broadband and the Digital TV), I was so sure of the service that I didn't even consider any other DTH service when I decided to get one. But, it turned out to be a nightmare.
Here's a list of issues that I faced ever since I walked into Airtel shop one day to pick it up soon after it was launched.
The day I got the Digital TV. Paid Rs 2500 for a connection with 6 months free subscription. When I opened the recharge package, I found recharge coupons worth just 2000 bucks. Called up customer care number for activation. They told I am short of 500. So, I had to drive all the way back to the Airtel shop where I had bought it from and fight with the guy to get my remaining Rs 500 recharge coupon. They way the shop guy handled the issue was as if I was trying to cheat him or something.
Got it activated and was kinda happy to have got one. I was impressed with the universal remote having felt the pain of swapping DTH and TV remotes every now and then to change channels or volume (with Tata Sky at my native). But, there was more in store.
As it turned out, I had signed up for the North package as I am from north. But I saw all south channels. I complained to customer care and the response I got was that's what I had singed up for. I clearly remember telling the Airtel shop guy I wanted the North package as I dont understand any south languages. The solution they told me was to upgrade to the highest package which costs 425/month or something. I was so disapointed.
Talking about the channels, there were no sports channels with the Mega package (235/month). ALL sports channels were missing. That's so ridiculous. They say it's for the whole family. But, that's not the case here. Also, all the Zee channels are missing. Not that I care about Zee but it shows their lack of awareness about their customer's expectations.
The color scheme of black background, red highlighting and smallfont doesn't work. Also, the most frequently used button of the remote (the OK button) is placed awkwardly at the center and that too recessed and surrounded by the arrow keys which is very difficult to get used to. Someone please get Airtel a usability expert.
When it rains, the set top box loses signal. The disc is firmly fixed and well aligned to the satellite on my roof top. But, it still works like BESCOM (the power company in Bangalore) which cuts power at the slightest hint of rain. Come on people, aren't we supposed to be in the 21st century ???
Recently, I noticed another problem. The OK and Channel keys on the remote doesn't work properly. We have to press it 3-4 times to select a channel. The channel key sometimes jams and ends up jumping 8-10 channels if we press it hard. I replaced the batteries with brand new ones. But the problem persisted.
Called up customer care to complain about the remote. It took 5 minutes before someone picked the call. It has been like this since I bought the service. They never pick up the phone for at least 3-4 minutes. Once it took 10 minutes to get to their customer executive. See the irony - "India's largest and most respected telecom company has the worst call center !!!"
About the faulty remote, the response I got was since your subscription is more than 6 months old, you will have to go to an Airtel shop and pay Rs 400 for a new remote. This was the last thing I wanted to hear. After blasting that guy for 15 mins and asking him to forward my call to his manager, he put me on hold for a couple of minutes and came back with this - "Sir, my manager told me you can walk into any of our Relationship Centers and ask them if there are complaints about faulty remotes. If they feel it's a common problem, they will replace it. Otherwise, you will have to pay Rs 400 to get it replaced." !!! Now this is what I get for being one of their first customers in Bangalore and tolerating all the bad experiences I have been having so far.
Finally, I asked him about cancellation. He said I can cancel it but they won't refund the amount I already recharged (I had recharged it with Rs 1600 a month back).
Update(28 Sep 2009): The set top box takes 3-4 restarts before it comes up !!!
Update(1 Apr 2010): I had got my Airtel Digital TV put under safe custody before I went
abroad. When I returned, I called up the customer care to reactivate my account. They told me it has been reactivated and requested me to keep my STB on for 45 mins. I did the same. But, after numerous calls throughout that day, my account didn't get reactivated until the next morning (24 hrs later than promised).
Update(18 May 2010): The only reason I haven't switched to another DTH provider is because of my initial investment of Rs 2500 to get the connection. It pains me to see that Airtel now offers the same Digital TV for Rs 1650 (IMO, at the expense of all your loyal customers who bought their connections as soon as it was launched and got such a pathetic product and service). They have commented on this review and offered to resolve my issues which is a welcome sign. Let's see how they do on that.
Update(13 June 2010): So, it's almost a month since they had offered to resolve my issues. I did get calls from Airtel corporate office and customer care regarding the same. But, all of them acted very weirdly. All of them asked me if "my issues are resolved ?" without anyone coming to my place to check/fix/replace my STB. I was very irritated by the calls which seemed to be made to satisfy some process instead of genuine interest in solving my problem. I was promised someone will come and replace my STB 2 weeks back. So, far not even a single person or call has come regarding the same. Well, it was a temporary relief that some of my Airtel DTH problems will finally get solved. Looks like that was just Airtel Customer Care people taking me for a ride once again and showing their bosses that they are "doing something" to address customer complaints.
Update(18 Nov 2010): It's more than 2 years since I bought this connection and it never fails to surprise me with ever new and innovative problems and frustrations. About 3 weeks back, my STB started showing "First Installation Setup" screen when I started it after switching it off from the mains overnight. "First Installation Setup" after 2 years in service definitely didn't sound right. So, I call up their customer helpline only to get walked through the "First Installation Setup" and the channels were back. The problem re-appeared the next day.
They sent an engineer who "reset" the STB to factory settings which seemed to fix the the problem. But, the problem came back the third day and I was already charge Rs 100 to make it work for 2 days !!! They sent another engineer who did the same reset. Luckily, they haven't charged me again for the same problem.
The problem keeps coming back every few re-starts of the STB.
At this point, I have completely given up on Airtel DTH and have decided not to renew my subscription any more. To add to the fire, my new neighbor who moved in one floor below, got her Airtel Digital TV connection today.
I need not tell anyone reading this review anymore how bad Airtel DTH is. I feel my duty to keep everyone informed about such a bad product out there in the market which is still selling like hot cakes.
