Reliance India Mobile Dis-Services!. Review on Reliance Mobile Operator

Let me write this as a narration of my experience.

Letter from Reliance Dhirubhai Ambani India Offer share holder you are our family hype! Offer free with no down payment and a monthly commitment. I sat on it till the last day of the offer, just being my lazy self there, and then venture to investigate. Posh office at Bangalore, but as crowded as a railway station. The offer seemed reasonable and convenient (a mimimum commitment of Rs 600/- pm) after speaking to their customer reps at Reliance Webworld, so I decided to pickup two handsets, for my Dad and I. I notice that I was bounced from one customer rep to two more.

I request them to arrange it so that my Dad can pick up the phone from my native town while I pick up mine from Bangalore. ''Sorry Sir, we cannot do that.'' OK, I crib a little, then gave up, maybe a sales target issue, let them make their living. Their manager came into the act and agreed to make the request for change in service area, could I please come back after an hour! OK, I had to be in that area for sometime, so I meandered around a little, gave them an extra half an hour (Indian Standard Timing! you see). When I went back, ''Sorry sir, we were not able to complete the procedure''. This seemingly medical statement indicated the health of my phone instrument. ''Please come back in the evening''. Heck, you should have told me that earlier. OK, evening then.(This was now around 2:00 pm). So I come back later carefully coming back around half an hour before their closing time. Same story!!! ''Sorry, no procedure''. I was hopping mad now, you have my phone number, dont you have the courtesy to call up and tell me etc. etc. I harangued them, I almost gave both phones back then and there. They apologised profusely, offer to deliver the phone to my address as soon as it is ready. I told him that a friend is going to my native town a week later. ''Definitely sir''.

5 days went by. I was trigger happy with my new handset and merrily went about making calls and exploring the set. Child with a new toy! I noticed that ''The call failed'' message came up fairly frequently once in 10 to 12 calls. Hmm must check these out in the bill, am I being billed for these? I did not remember about the other set until… I call up and ''This reliance customer is not reacheable'' Very inconvenient. I try again a couple of times and finally get the Manager person. He said, ''I have been trying Sir, Just an hour back I tried that procedure again, but it is failing Sir, please give me another day, I assure you etc.'' You have ONLY one more day, I said, otherwise you can keep the phone. By the way, are you going to start billing me on the day I took the set or on the day you activate this service? This brought a silence from the line. ''On the day you took the phone Sir'' came a thoughtful reply. But it has been in YOUR careful custody, neither I nor my Dad has been able to use it! ''I will see what I can do about that Sir. I will try Sir”.

I check up about the hype about the wireless net with the Mobile. Didnt look good at all. First you must buy a connection gizmo which will set you back Rs 1300/-. Then you need to pay for the internet time. But how much, ''Dont know Sir. The policy is being finalised Sir. Maybe 40 paise per minute Sir'' Hmm, I put it back in the back burner.

After many reminders, the phone gets delivered a couple of hours before my friends train left. What is the new number? The person does not know!! The next day, it had reached my Dad, who did not know what his number was to call up and tell his friends. My Dad likes to show off newly acquired possessions you see! I had hoped to spare him a visit to the Webworld, but that was not to be. He called me up and tells me his number. Later, as he went down pages of the instruction booklet, I received his SMS test message, then his MMS test message and so on. Child is the father of the man!

For the next 40 days or so, there was peace and quiet. Then I remembered that I have not received my bill. I call up the webworld. He said that the first bill will come end of second month. I thought to myself. So how do I verify the billing when I wont remember the calls I made?.

This is now the third month, I have not yet received my bill. A few days into the third month, I receive an SMS message. Now, I am not an SMSer, I must have looked at this SMS late by when another SMS came from Reliance. ''Your usage is very high. Please make an interim payment of Rs 1300/-'' The second said now Rs 1500/-. Hey hold on, am I going to get different amounts every day. I call up the customer services my first *333 number. For English dial 2. So 2. Then another story so I dial 0 for a live person. She came online in under 15 seconds. I begin telling her about my billing voes. ''Thank you. I will transfer you to the billing department''. Off I get offloaded. I tell them about the SMS messages and that I am awaiting my first bill. ''We understand your complaint Sir, but the Bill is being generated and will take another 15 days, the 25th of November. In the meantime, please make this interim payment of Rs 1500/- thank you''. I am very upset by now. I said I will not make a single paise payment until I see my FIRST bill. You have my e-mail id, cant you send me a softcopy if it is a mailing issue? ''Sorry Sir, but I will register your complaint Sir''.

A few days later, I find that I cannot dial STD calls now! Off I go with my *333 again. Oops wrong department, you must speak to the Network department. Network says you have not paid. I said I will not pay without bill. ''Sorry Sir no STD then. Please speak to billing. I will recommend you as a good customer''. Billing says no Interim payment, no dice. I stick to my gins of no bill no payment. They apologise profusely. I have seen customer service in the Western World, but at a certain point, when they realise that they cannot solve the customers problem, they escalate the call to someone more responsible. So the billing problem is a day to day problem.

Nov 29th I call up*333 again. ''Sorry sir, your bill is not ready so cant tell you the amount, it is being generated, will take 4 to 5 days more''. I am now on Dec 2nd. Still no bill. I call up again. I want to make that change of plan to a lower one, heck I am having to pay for the higher one for 3 months as there has been no bill so far. ''Please make a payment of Rs 350/- Sir and fill up an application at the Webworld Sir, you can get the change of service in your next billing cycle''. Hell I have not got my first bill my boy! ''Sorry Sir, will transfer you to billing''. Billing, and she speaks to me in Hindi. I say I want an English operator, she says you asked for Hindi Sir. I said no, I spoke English. ''OK I speak English sir''. I tell her that I have not got my first bill, no STD and now I cannot transfer my plan to a lower one. She says ''You have not got ANY bill so far Sir!'' I say can I get someone who speaks English, when I say FIRST bill I mean FIRST bill not ANY bill. Poor girl! OK then tell me why my bill is not ready till now it is Dec 2nd. She says please hold on, no response for close to 2 minutes. ''Sorry Sir your bill is being generated, 4 to 5 days''. I want to lower the plan. ''Sorry sir next billing cycle''. No STD. ''Sorry sir no payment''. I am fed up. I am going to the Webworld to surrender my phone.

Meanwhile I recall that a friend had said he was not able to get to my mobile at 2:00 AM in the night from Mumbai and twice! We are sorry all routes to this area are busy!! He had some irreproducible comments in chaste Hindi about Reliance Mobile.

One thing, they apologise very profusely for their mistakes. They had better. They provide and apology of service and products!!! Hmm ... In your Review there should be an option ''Never had any Billing!!!''