Mar 26, 2007 05:58 PM
2487 Views
I'd been contemplating going for Tata Sky ever since I saw their "Isko Dala to Life Jingalala" campaign on TV. While their proclamations were too good to believe, I did believe that they would be a far cry better than my current cable TV Operator whom I shall succinctly describe as a thug.
I purchased the Digicom and starter kit at a Store( faster than calling for it through the Tata Sky Customer Service helpline). It cost me Rs. 3999, of which Rs. 2999 was the price of the Digicom kit, Rs. 500 activation charge and Rs.500 credit towards monthly rental of Rs.200.( The monthly rental has now been increased to Rs. 300 and so has the no. of available channels)
Now, I was desperate to get this thing installed either the very same day or the next day, because it was a long weekend interspersed with a Bandh. The fact that non- Kannada channels would not be aired on the Bandh day aggravated my desperation to get it working.
It was 8 pm on a Saturday when I called customer service to schedule the installation. The representative informed me that it would take at most 72 hours to complete the installation( and that would include the Sunday). On seeing my desperation to have it activated sooner than that, he reassured me that he try to have it working as early as possible. If it could not be done on Sunday, then the earliest possible date would be Wed because Tue was also a holiday.
I was pleasantly surprised when I got a call from an engineer at around 09.30 pm the same day, informing me that he would come at 10.00 am the next day(Sunday) for the installation. And I was flabbergasted when he was actually there at sharp 10.00 am. The engineer was professionally dressed in a dungaree and spoke decent English. He explained all the procedures before he got to work and also took my advise on where and how I would prefer to have the Dish Antenna Installed. The private balcony in my apartment was not suitable for installing the antenna because it was not South East facing and I had no other choice but to settle for the roof-top.
The roof-top was common area and I was particularly worried because of the kind of goon my Cable TV Operator was. I feared that he might tamper with the dish or the cables if he noticed this new contraption. Seeing my apprehension, the Tata Sky engineer consulted on this with his supervisor and helped me get it installed at a place which was not easily accessible.
The entire installation process was completed in about 45 minutes with minimal drilling. Once this was done, the engineer got my account activated on the phone and gave me a detailed demo of all the features, patiently clarified all my doubts, got my signature on the documents & gave me the contact nos. for contacting customer service.( its been 4 months since I am on Tata Sky and I have not had the need to call customer service even once).
The quality of the reception is excellent and there is no deterioration in the signal quality even on a cloudy day/ rainy day ( this was one apprehension which lot of people had raised with "Direct to Home" technology).
Getting recharge vouchers is also hassle free. Either one can purchase recharge vouchers of denominations 500 or 1000 at a local store or one can purchase it online at indiaplaza.com. (I did experience a delay of 1 week with Indiaplaza because they had run out of stock and still took my request). But that I hope was a aberration.
