Hutch...Huch...Ouch. Review on Hutchison Essar Mobile Operator

Blame it on my company's mobile policy; I have been using HUTCH connection for close to three years now. Be it be in Bangalore or at Chennai, Hutch has always been a pain at one point or the other and at the most crucial juncture, its good for nothing. The only merits that I see with Hutch is the variety of Talk Plans they have, courtesy my company. Have listed down my observations:

Reception

In terms of reception, Hutch lags far behind its competitors. In Bangalore, I had to come out of my house every time to hear or speak clearly. That inspite that I lived at locations like JP Nagar.  If I had to call my friend at Adugodi, whatever he speaks will not be clear at all at whatever time you choose.  Subsequently, we had to come out of our respective houses and start talking. If this is the case with Urban areas, think of rural areas. Hutch has to learn a lot from its comptetitors in this department.

In Chennai, I was once in a shop at North Usman Road, T. Nagar which is a very busy area. The signal was very weak for hutch.  Surprisingly at the basement I could connect to Airtel and BSNL network, but not Hutch.  My office is located at the 6th floor in one of the prominent buildings in the IT Corridor. I have to come out of my office for some calls. Otherwise it’s literally cut. And even if I come out, the line gets disrupted after sometime. Initially I thought that it was my friend's(who called me) problem, but later came to know that this problem happens from the Hutch Chennai phones.

Customer Service

I am not sure about Airtel as I have never used it but one thing I can definitely say is that even BSNL customer care would fare much better than Hutch. Hutch is very good in advertisement, but I think they stop their job there.  Let me narrate a couple of my recent experiences

I was using two connections in Hutch. One for my brother and another for myself. I shifted to Chennai and my brother was still having the same number. A week before he lost his mobile and with that the SIM Card.  He went to the nearest Hutch shop and was advised that since me being the owner, I should sign on a SIM replacement request form and send them a mail regarding this. I did send the mail. But since I was in Chennai, I went to the nearest Hutch shop and asked him whether I can produce it here and fax it so that it can be verified from Chennai. He said that the SIM replacement request is indeed possible but I had to go to the TTK road Branch. I did go there at around 10.20 AM. I asked my brother to go to Jayanagar Hutch shop(Bangalore). To my surprise, the TTK road guy said that it’s not possible to request a SIM replacement for a Bangalore SIM Card at Chennai.  After persistent requests, he said it can be done but it will take a week or so. This is clear change in stance. If you don't insist, you lose.

He gave me another form(diff from the Bangalore one) and said I can fax it. I then called up my brother who told me that since the resident proof has been submitted, the Bangalore hutch guy was ready to give the SIM card provided he confirmed my identity with the Chennai guys.(I gave my ID proof). I called up the Bangalore guy and when I requested the Chennai guy to speak to him, the Chennai guy said he cannot speak now and I had to take a token for that. I said the Bangalore person just wanted to confirm and it requires not more than a minute, he simply refused. Know what? I took a token. It took a minimum of 30 minutes per customer for them to server(they care too much. don't they?) and when my turn reached, it took two minutes to complete the process. One to confirm my identity and another to send a mail and the replacement SIM was given. I was so tired as I had skipped my breakfast and it was already 1.30. What could have been done in two minutes at 11.00 took 2 1/2 hours to complete. Ridiculous. I could have always taken the token after he had spoken. But this guy will not allow me that.

And the funniest part is when my brother called up after the mail I sent they confirmed the receipt of the same while the email promptly returned back due to delivery failure.! Amazing system. Isn’t it?

Yesterday I got a message from Hutch informing that Caller Tunes has been activated on my request. I never requested them anything like this. When I contacted them immediately, the customer representative was simply clueless. She said they will investigate and get back to me. They are still investigating! I am sure they will not change this and I have a tussle after this month's bill.

Talk Plans

This is one area that I would give Hutch a big plus. They have tailor made plans for corporate. I had a 250 per month plan and anywhere in India it was Re.1/- per call. And I had 800 NSTD minutes and 1000 local minutes free. Best thing in this plan was that no deposit was needed for NSTD and ISD calls. As far as I know, I don't think this is available in any other network.

Billing & Payment

As with every operator, this area is a very big pain. Hutch gives us a call analyzer through the My Hutch website which I never was able to use it completely. The web page is damn slow that you lose interest after sometime.  Once since the amount was high, I paid through cheque before the due date. They also debited my bank account(ECS) again. I had to wait for one month to get it adjusted. Also there are so many miscellaneous charges which eat a minimum of Rs.200/- per month.

The bottom-line is, don't use Hutch unless you are forced to use it. I only hope Vodafone will refine the way Hutch works. We don't want dogs to follow, but atleast in urban areas, let the coverage be good. *