Quality comes at cost, tell Videcon. Review on d2h

I suggest you keep Videocon D2H for the people you hate to death. Or hang on, even that could be considered too cruel.

I don’t know why, may be it was their cheapest packages I must admit, that lured me to have Videocon D2H installed at my place. Boy, what a fool I have been. I curse the day I decided this. Those who say quality comes at cost, trust me, they have got a point to make.

Let me share my experience of dealing with Videocon D2H and then you are free to make up your mind.

I subscribed to them on 24th of April. The installation engineers came the next day(no uniform, highly untidy and naïve way of bringing in the instruments). Their verdict, the installation has to happen at the rooftop two floors above my flat. I asked them where do you see the problem in installing it in my balcony, I don’t see a single issue in line of sight.(I work with a telecom major software company and knows much more about this then the guys who came for installation trust me).

However, they insisted and I thought whats the big deal. I let them install the dish at the roof top. It is an access restricted zone with doors locked. I had to arrange for keys etc. to let this happen.Obviously this meant they used more wire then the standard 12 meter they use and I did pay for the extra 10 meters(they deduct it from your account balance).

Initial feedback. It’s fine with some minor issues. Like, as noticed by many other, audio is inferior on Videocon when compared to Tata Sky or Airtel. Also, the lag time when you switch from one channel to other is almost at “unacceptable” level. But overall, I wouldn’t say you have much to complain about if you can live with the two shortcomings I mentioned.

I casually logged on to my account and was shocked to see the account balance. They very conveniently charged me for something I wasn’t even aware about. I wrote to their customer service. They got back to me saying they accept the mistake and the money shall be put back in my account. Fair enough, could happen. What I wonder is, what if I didn’t notice it? This was the first bummer in my journey to using Videocon.

Its been 15 says since I am using the service. 16th day morning, its blank or should I say black. Nothing whatsoever. Tried everything possible and then called up their customer service. My complaint is registered.

Someone visits in the afternoon. I am at work. My wife calls me up to tell me that someone from Videocon is here and he says that something in the dish is broken. I asked her, how does he know, he cant even access the rooftop without the keys. She says, he has seen it from the ground. Well, you must know that the dish is barely visible from the ground. Anyways, I asked my wife to hand over the phone to him. I asked him, whatever is the problem, fix it. He replies “I am a leader and don’t do this. I will go back and find out who did the installation. He will come and fix it”. Grrr. what did you come here for sir?

I give him piece of my mind and also shoot a mail to customer service with a copy to the nodal officer of Videocon in Gurgaon. I am told that for first 15 days, any damage is Videocon’s and 16th day its customers. Wow, lovely. Right on 16th day something broke, why cant it be a lousy installation?

The guy turns back in the evening with the broken part and replaces it. Someone from Nodal office calls me in the evening and says that it has been done FOC and that the guy who visited has been instructed to do a complete job.

However, I don’t trust Videocon anymore so I check my account next morning. Lo and behold, I am indeed charged for the replacement. I write to customer service again. They asked me for the number I got the call from. And after few days, they decides that I can’t be trusted and this replacement shall continue to be chargeable to me. Alright, shove it up ur a$ Videocon. I will live with this. So I left the issue there.

And then, last weekend NCR had some rains. Now I know that satellite TV can go off in inclement weather. However, I spoke to a couple of people before I made up my mind to go for one. I was told that it happens in really severe weather. Spoke to a friend of mine who is in Pune which obviously get more rains both in terms of duration as well as intensity when compared to Delhi. He uses a Tata Sky and he told me he could remember about 2 to 3 instances when they lost signal in last one year and that too for brief durations.

However, my own experience tells me that Videocon signals ditch you is its even slightly overcast. So, the reception gone kaput on Saturday morning. I had already experienced it so decided to wait till weather improves. It did so did the reception of Videcon. But a new problem this time. All hindi movies channels are error prone and no reception on them. So is the case with music channels and to an extend cartoon channels. Though the English movie channels are fine. I called up their customer service and I was instructed to follow a series of steps. All done, nothing worked. Then I am told to leave the STB power on and they will be doing something from the backend within 2 hours.

I waited till Tuesday(24th May) and shot them a mail in the evening. Got a call from someone in their customer service department. He wanted “to confirm” what is the issue. What a joke. Bugger, if you can read English, read my mail.

They have no answer as to whatever they were to do on Saturday if they did or not. Also, they would not bother to call you to confirm if your issue is closed. I was told it was your responsibility to call back after two hours to report the issue still persists. They guy does not give you his employee id, nor does he give you his supervisors name. Reads from the script and fumbles at each sentence(it is true for all reps I have spoken to).

Been a long story, just one word STAY AWAY. I am going to throw it outta my house the moment my account balance dries off.