Jun 08, 2007 02:36 PM
2445 Views
We in chennai have been living in a CAS environ longer than the rest of the Metros. The only players then to offer services were SCV - part of the Sun TV group and Hathway cable. SCV though the better choice in terms of quality of service, was a no - no for me because of the high handed attitude the company has. Customer service is something that does not find mention in their dictonary. Hathway was the only other choice and the clarity of transmission etc were not up to the mark.
We were waiting with anticipation for the roll out of DTH services by TATA Sky as there is a lot of trust one places in the name TATA. Chose to ignore the Dish TV roll out by zee which preceeded the Tata sky by close to a year.
At the outset, service quality is good. Get to watch all channels at DVD quality picture and CD quality sound as they advertise. A marked difference from the terrrestrial cable wallas.
Negatives are as follows:
First and foremost most of us are not even aware of the fact that the DTH players have to make their set top box unit inter-operable. Meaning in case you choose to shift from a Tata sky service to dish tv or any other service provider, all you need to do is change the card ( akin to a sim card in a mobile ). This is one of the mandates specified by TRAI the governing body. This is to protect the consumer as one should not get stuck with the instrument after such a high initial investment.
At a dealer level, one is not even aware of what interoperability is. My calls to the call centre of tata sky evinced two starkingly different versions. The initial customer service rep said interoperability would be possible. When I asked him for the same in writing through email, he started hedging and put me on to his superior. That is where I came to know that this is not possible and you are stuck with the instrument . You cannot use it at present to change service providers... like mentioned above. The investment is not a small amount - Rs. 4000/- .
Channels are chopped and added on whims ... most of the zee tv boquet which were available were deleted. Neo sports - available earlier is not relayed. Sun TV network which was supposed to be added last year is yet to be added. You are not sure if you would get to watch the next sporting event or not.
Post the initial period of 4 months wherein one was on a inaugural package of 200 per month, we had to shell out 300 per month as that was the only scheme they had on offer. Customers do not have a choice of choosing what channels they want to watch... do not understand how this is a conditional acess system. The call centre had this a a reply... we are working on adding up new packages till then you would need to pay 300. Do not understand why a customer needs to cough up money for the inefficiencies of the system. It took them a good 3 months since to add up the new packages....
Recently they have added up three new schemes. If you study them closely, they have been cleverly designed so that you do not have a choice but to go in for the maximum payout one.
The number of channels on offer do not match that of dish tv, their closest competition. The terrestrial players offer much more in terms of choices in tailioring what you want to watch and pay for. Their call centre services are professional and the ease of recharge is good. However, Till the above issues are sorted out, it is not a value for money deal.** One gets the impression that one is saddled with the initial investment and in the hope that there would be a change for the good, carrying on paying up more that one should on a monthly basis.
