Do not ever get a Tata Sky (with addendum). Review on Tata Play

March 19

I placed a request for new installation with Tata Sky at 7 pm on March 19th. The first thing they did was debit my account Rs 999(it is for the set top box . installation charges are free said the operator!). I was told that the connection will be done within 3 working days, but he ensured that this is likely to happen much earlier. Little did I know what was to come.

March 21

I called the customer care number in the evening and a lady informed me that the engineer would call me by 9 am on March 22nd and that he would do the installation by about 9.30 am.

March 22

I waited till about 10 am. Absolutely no signs of anyone. I called the call centre at about 11 am and I was told that someone will get back to me within 2 hours. Since nothing happened, I escalated to the floor supervisor Mr. Vinay by 6.30 pm. He assured me that he will get back within an hour. By now, I was pleading with them to get my Rs 999 refunded.

March 23

Since I did not receive any response, I spoke to an executive Mr. June at 11 am who promised me that an engineer will call back within 2 hours. By 3 pm, an engineer Mr. Dinesh called me saying that he works only till 6 pm and that I needed to be home by 5.30 pm! I reached home and called him and he promised that he will reach within 30 mins. He never bothered to pick up my calls subsequently!

I spoke to a guy named Karthik who put me on hold for about 20 mins and then informed me that I need to hold on for some more time. Their supervisor Mr. Asif spoke to me for about 30 mins(on a call that I was getting charged for) and promised that someone will call me and that my connection will be done in a day!

March 24

I spoke to their supervisor Ms Vandana who again promised that'someone' will call me within 2 hours. While I was on that call another engineer Mr. Raghu called me asking me to be at home now - 10 am! I spoke to another lady Ms Jyothi who again confirmed that the connection will be done today itself. I have given them a time of 5 pm! God save me!

It has been 5 days now and when I asked for a refund, they said that it will anyway take at least 12 working days. Here is a company that is arrogant, does not care for it's customers even at the acquisition stage, is just not bothered about keeping the promises made and has no escalation matrix for missed SLAs! At the end of the day, I am left high and dry with a higher BP!

Updating with additional inputs!

The Tata Sky connection was finally installed by 5.30 pm during the course of the India-Australia match. The service person demanded Rs 200 as installation charges and I informed them that I was told that installation is free!

March 25

While watching the SA-NZ match on TV, the screen suddenly showed the message'Digicomp not receiving the signal'. I placed a call with Customer Service and the automated message informed me that my account is overdue Rs 200! I argued that installation charges were free. They said this error message had to do nothing with payment and asked me to perform some steps which did not help. They said a complaint has been lodged etc. I was surprised to get a call from the floor supervisor Ms Sangitha who apologised for the Rs 200 charge and informed me that it is being reversed within 2 days and that my account will not be'deactivated'!

But then, I was not able to watch any sports channels and they said a Service Engineer will visit me first thing on March 26th(I missed watching SA being upset by NZ!). Supervisor got details of the Service Engr Raghu who installed the connection and informed me that she would try reaching him as can I independently. I contacted him and he promised to come by 10 am next morning.

March 26

I called the service engineer Raghu at 9.30 am and he reconfirmed that he would come at 10 am. After 10 am he refused to take my calls! I waited until 11 am and checked the TV again. Voila, sports channels were active now! I received a call from Mr. Sathish at 12.30 pm asking directions for my residence and I promptly informed him that I was able to view sports channels. I came home by about 4 pm to watch the SL v/s ENG match and to my horror, I saw the same message'Digicomp is not receiving the signal'. I called up multiple numbers and thankfully there was a Service Engineer who agreed to come "today or tomorrow". He finally came at 6 pm and replaced a faulty component on the Dish!

I am not done yet .

March 27

I got a message on the TV and my phone that my service will be terminated by midnight for non-payment of dues!

March 28

My service got terminated! I called up the call centre at 9.30 am and they informed me a new ticket number. I told them that based on my conversation with the floor supervisor on March 25th, I was told that the charge of Rs 200 was made in error as I had paid for my installation on March 19th itself. They(Rashmi) told me that I would get a call in 2 hours! I called them up again at 2.30 pm and escalated to floor supervisor Anil who put me on hold and finally informed me that the charge of Rs 200 has been reversed and that my account has been "re-activated"!  "Can you switch on your TV and confirm sir?", at 2.45 pm on a Monday morning!

The lady, Sangitha too called me to check if my account is active .

Apparently, installation charges of Rs 200 apply for new subscriptions from March 23rd(clearly indicating a completely broken process!) and hence they charged me ., although I had applied on March 19th itself!

So here I am, having made the payment on March 19th, got the account activated on March 24th, could not watch sports channels on 25th and 26th and got the account deactivated on March 28th! If any of you out there know how to initiate a case in the consumer court, please let me know the details - I plan to demand compensation for the mental trauma(not to mention hours of billable charges on my phone!).

And oh, by the way, I need to check if my account is actually active!