Oct 08, 2001 11:32 AM
7114 Views
We all know that Tata is one of the largest industrial group in India. It is like the sort of GE of India. For years Tatas have taken advantage of India's huge bureaucratic rules and made their expansion and profits. A cleverly designed and sustained PR campaign has helped the company the status of ''Tatas can never do wrong''
Well, I agree that Tata's may not be doing illegal things to achieve their means, but I may disagree with a lot of you who might think that the Tata's know how to treat customers.
Recently, the Tata group realized that they are in a big mess when it comes to Information Technology. So hurriedly, they started an ISP (in 2001) which is way toooooooo late.
They call it Tatanova--I have no idea what nova means. So they gave full page newspaper ads and hoardings and promotions. Now you know how I react when I see full page ads about products. The Tatas has made big claims in the ad, such as:
The fastest ISP in India
Large bandwidth
Best customer support.
I called their toll free number. I said: ''So you claim to be the fastest ISP in India, what is your benchmark of fastest'' You must prove yourself. The customer service rep said, ''Madam we are the fastest, because we have the backing of the Tata group'' I burst laughing on the phone. So I asked, do you know how much bandwidth Tatanova has? She replied that ''I cannot reveal this to you due to company policies.'' I got irritated, I asked for a supervisor. The supervisor came after 5 minutes. I asked him the same set of questions. He goes, Madam, we are the fastest according to many benchmark tests. If you want I can send you some ''literature on our ISP'' I asked him if he knew how much bandwidth Tatanova has, he said he does'nt know that but he can find out.
He took my name and address. He promised to send me ''materials on Tatanova'' and also complimentary CD for one week. It has been several months. I have not received anything.
Phone call aside, I personally bought Tatanova and tried using it. The connection speed is ok. It connected in one go on several ocassions, but I was frequently disconnected. I called their helpdesk and they could not figure out. They told me that my modem settings were wrong. I replied my modem is fine when it comes to VSNL.
Overall speed after connection seems to be not too great. It can be compared to Satyam etc. I still think VSNL is much faster than all of them. Except that VSNL does'nt have a hi fi call center to take complaints. But I have heard even that is improving now and VSNL helpdesk is actually helpful now.
For years, Tatas have sold in a monopoly environment, things like big trucks and railway engines and steel. They never had to deal with the retail customer. Now they have to deal with retail customers and I am sure, they are learning a lot of new lessons. Until they learn their lessons, my advice is to stick to VSNL or the likes.
