Lot of issues with unprofessional DTH Service. Review on Airtel Digital TV

You will be surprised to know the issues I am facing with so called innovation Digital TV.

I bought 3500 Rs package on 21Oct2008, called customer care and fixed installation date on 23Oct2008 and told the guy that I want to go for Ultra Pack which is quite obvious ( not the South Ultra pack). I also told him that because I am staying in the rented apartment so I want the installation to be done in the balcony on the iron railing not on the floor, so let your guys know it.

Due to some official meeting I got to know on 22Oct2008 that I will not be able to have this installation on the set date so I tried to reschedule the installation date for 2 consecutive days but according to your executive the system was getting upgrade so he could not do it.

Finally 3rd day (24Oct2008) I talked to customer Care and she said the rescheduling is done and the new date would be 29 Oct 2008 at 8 AM. Just to recheck I called the customer care on 25 Oct 2008 but to my utter shock the executive told me that there is no installation booking on my name for 29th. Again had a argument and wasted my precious time and finally got a slot of 29 Oct 2008 10 AM.

On the set date the Technical guy came, checked my house and told me that installation cannot happen because it needs special mounting kit for the railing. I told him that I already told this at the first place to the customer executive.

Again I was told that now to get the special kit it can take 2-3 days.

On 31Oct2008 an engineer came and installed the dish and by 9:45PM, I started seeing the channel.

After some time I realized that its only value pack channels which are coming.

Again called the customer care to know what was least expected, due to first executive mistake value pack got activated on my account, now to change the package extra 75 Rs will be deducted from my account.

I got really angry and the executive had raised a complaint request for the technical department regarding this issue and told me that next day before 3 hrs I will get the call from the technical department and matter will be sorted out and your account will show Ultra package and no money will be charged.

Next day nothing happened. This was 1Nov2008, I again called at 11AM and Talked to floor supervisor , he told me another story which was a final shock to me.

Airtel Digital TV needs time till 6Nov2008 to sort out the matter, means a professional company like Airtel has a turnaround time of 6 days to sort out the small matter like mine where you just have to change the package without charging me anything.

Told supervisor that why can't you people talk to your technical department to sort out this. He said he can put his comments on to the complaint request so that things can expedite. After long argument I said Ok and waited the full day. As expected nothing happened.

Again called Airtel and this time talked to another supervisor, again same argument why Airtel is taking too much of time, why this matter can't be sorted out by calling the Technical Department, Why Airtel needs 6 days to close this matter, How it can happen when I told the executive that I bought 3500Rs kit and value pack got activated.

Giving me assurance that I must wait for max 6 days in a situation where I spent more money and being forced to see 65 channels for 6 days is not agreeable to me at all.

Are you giving me any compensation ? or any extra amount in my account so that I happily wait for 6 days and see less number of channels ?

Why should I wait ?

Its almost 2 days since I raised my request and no action taken so far. I have already recharged my account with 3500Rs vouchers.

People should be aware of the daylight robbery which Airtel guys are doing and the turnaround time of 5-6 days for issues for which Airtel people are responsible instead of the customer. Making people see the channels which are worth 99Rs per month in case when the customer had paid for 424Rs per month channels without any compensation is not a ethical practice.

Sincere advice to the people - Do not go for this Airtel DTH, you will have a very tough time in sorting out the matters specially when Airtel have the SLA of 5-6 days for sorting out any issue even if it is created by their own people. I will keep posting about the updates on my issue on mouthshut.

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Update as of today 4Nov2008. Already talked to 3 floor supervisors in the last 3 days. No action so far. Their customer care department can't even talk to the technical department to sort out the issue. Technical department is taking their time to sort of small issues like mine.Another Update is that the Airtel's claim that one can use set top box remote to manage TV also is not completely true.In my case I do have a Philips TV. Set Top box can either switch on my TV or switch Off. It cannot do both. So be ready to carry both remotes.

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For change of Package for example from Value pack to any other plan, Airtel charges 75Rs (This is the cost of changing the package only apart from this you have to actually pay for the new package charges eg for Ultra 400+ Rs per month). My issue is also related to this. Airtel has to change my Package to Ultra without charging me these 75Rs as it was not my fault that Value Pack got activated on my account.So guys beware of this hidden cost.

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Update as of 12Dec2008. My Ultra pack got activated on 5Nov2008 night after 5 days. But let me share one more issue with the Airtel. After nearly 1 month or more I still get "No Data" in all the fields on my "Account Status" Page. I am sure that other Airtel users might have also faced this issue. Due to this problem in Airtel DTH , I am not even sure that when my account will get expire and whether my account had started on 31Oct2008 or on 5Nov2008. Legally/logically counting of 6 months should start from 5Nov2008 (I was promised by Customer care that my billing will start from the date when the issue will get resolved). I cannot attach the photograph of this screen coming on TV otherwise I would have shown you all. So still DTH service of Airtel is pathetic.People who claims that its very good I request them all -- Check your account status screen and u will get to know how professional Airtel service is.

Another observation is that many times the information projected on screen that shows what is the current program and what will be the next program is incorrect. Channel will be playing say "Golmaal" movie and at the bottom of the screen information will show "Yalgaar".