The contemporary advertisements tempt you to choose something you need and end up with a monkey on your shoulder and make you contemplate suicide. We, in this part of the country are prune to suicide as statistics show. I may be another number added to official figures this year.
This city boast, the best in IT industry and we read about it, hear about, and see it every day. Yet, have we reached anywhere closer to a standard that is acceptable to a paying customer? We always take it as it comes and resign to our fate , blurting out “ chalta hai yar”
I had seen a half page colour ad of a “revolutionary”, the best of the best Internet services being made available to the citizens of Bangalore. For a fixed fee you get “24 / 7” service and the bonus is that you do not pay telephone bills or have no problem with the demon called Dot. “24/7” is you all know is 24 hours 7 days a week service.
You pay Rs 5000.00 ( Registration fee which is not refundable) and another Rs 5000.00 as deposit for the modem ( refundable only after three years) and Rs 500.00 per month as modem rent. That means you pay Rs 18000.00 over three years as rent for the modem to get your security deposit of Rs 5000.00 back against the modem which cost $ 19.95. In addition to this you also pay Rs 1995.00 plus another Rs 125.00 as service tax. It is a good bundle of money, then you get the facility of getting connected to the net 24 hours a day , 7 days a week.
But to top it all, it is suppose to be the fastest internet service, super fast than any other dial-up-connection, and one does not have to wait after midnight to download what you want or open your e-mail.
The offer was fantastic. The advertisement was eye catching and I fell for it. I contacted the company concerned and requested them for the details and was promptly assured that their sales personnel will call on me at my residence to discuss my requirement.
Nothing happened for the next two weeks. ( I should have shelved the idea at that time)
But then I went ahead and kept on calling them and after many assurances and promises later a sales person called on me on 16th May 2001 and I filled up all the necessary papers forms and I issued a cheque for Rs 12495.00. After receiving the cheque he handed over a printed document of 4 pages in fine print called “DSL connectivity Terms & Conditions” which I signed. ( In the night I keep a glass of water covered with a lid and when I want to drink it I put on the light, remove the lid, and look inside the glass if there are any insects before I drink. I am that suspicious. But signing this document did not take any time. It would have taken a couple of hours to read it and may be days to understand it)
Having paid the money and filling up many forms I was promised that the connection will be given with in a week. Three days later two boys turned up and asked me to advise the security people of my complex to allow them to draw the cable for my internet services which was promptly done. I had the cable laid out right up to my computer on the same day evening.
The wait continued and after many days of assurances, promises ( Tomorrow positively. sir…….. like Lord Ganesha’s wedding) finally on the evening of 31st May a gentleman from company arrived and connected the modem to the computer and configured it. At the very moment KPTCL decided to switch off the power in our area and he could not show it to me how it works. At sharp 6.00 PM he said his time is up and he went away promising to return next day. I felt like doing a Taliban on KPTCL but decided against it.
Next day around noon the same gentleman came and showed me how get connected to www and left, It took precisely five minutes.
My joy lasted only for one day. On second morning I found I am not able to log on to ISP. After making several attempts with the customer support department I was told that the “hardware” is being shifted to a new location and I may not be able to get connected for few days. For the next one week I was back with the Dial-up-connection spending money on telephone line usage and at the mercy of the demon called DoT.
Finally they relocated themselves to a new place and the I started using the services without having the fear of running up “obscenely high” telephone bills. But the joy lasted only three days. One morning the ‘link light’ was not glowing. Cause ‘cable’ fault. And is being investigated. The investigation report is out. “Manufacturing defect”. How come a six month old cable develop manufacturing defect. Poor quality. Why did you opt for a poor quality cable? It is the contractor who chose this cable. Why did you not ensure the contractor used good quality cable? I do not know Sir, Please ask the management. Ok when it will be corrected? We are getting new cable from Chennai and are going to replace all the cable. When will it be done? Soon Sir, Very soon.
I am back to “dial-up-connection” and the mercies of Dot.
I hung up, shuffled through my papers and find the Corporate HO telephone number in Chennai and call them up and found the telephone number of the Chairman, Director and the Head of Customer Support. The response was as below
Chairman……..he has gone abroad sir, do not know when he will return
Who is speaking
I am his private secretary sir
And you do not know when he will return
No sir, he does not tell me
Director……….He is in a meeting and does not speak to customers
General Manager Customer Support……….is also in a meeting, Shall tell him you called?
Yes, please and here is my number.
I wait till 5.00PM.No Call from Chennai.Obviously he did not want to spend money on an STD call. So I call the customer support manager. After a good 15 minutes of ‘elevator music” and shifting from one extension to another for another 15 minutes I get to speak to the right person.
“No. Mr. Ramachandran, they are wrong. The cable is of the best quality available in the country. The contractor did not know how to pull the cable. So I have sent a special team form Chennai to Bangalore and re-route, and correct all cabling in Bangalore, It will take a week or so, Please bear with us.
Good, One more week . My misfortune will be over and I shall be able surf as if I am a California sea wave.
Well! I should have known better. Subsequently I have spoken, sent e-mails, registered acknowledgement due letters, personally visited Bangalore office, spoke to scores of people from lower level staff to supervisory level people (the V.P was still elusive) and even when I am writing this, on this day, the third day since my last complaint, I am with out a connection.
It seems the VP has resigned. The chairman is still abroad. The “DSLAM” is “down”. Engineers don’t work on Sundays ( is it 24/6). They will come to work at 9.30 AM, It is only 9.45 Sir.
I am back with “dial-up-connection”. Mercy of DoT, Running up obscenely high telephone bills.
I have lost a good amount of money. Just one attractive , eye-catching advertisement. I do not know how many more idiots like me will fall for it? Or already fallen for it.
Can you do something to save unsuspecting people like me from such vultures in the industry besides saving stray dogs and trees.
M.Ramachandran
I have all the documentary evidence to prove every word I have written above.
