The idiom “Customer is the King” is a very common one, but is the customer really the King? Most of the time it turns out otherwise. The customer has to run around begging for proper service and this is for private companies, if you fall into the hands of any public company God alone can save you!!
I had such an experience recently with BSNL when I subscribed to their CDMA based internet connection which they call the ‘NIC Card’. On Aug 2nd I went into their Customer Service Center in NR Colony, filled in the application, submitted the required documents and paid in the security deposit and got the device (Huawei EC325). I was told the number would be activated by Aug 4th (Monday). Monday came and went so did Tuesday, nothing happened, I was still unable to connect and no official communication from they about any blockers.
So on Wednesday (Aug 6th) I went to their office at 10am (which is their opening time for such queries), 5 mins….10 mins…20 mins…30 mins…still the concerned person had not yet come to the office. Finally one of the other official told me to give my contact details and told me they would get back to me.
Finally at around 12pm I got a call from the CSC office telling me that there was a problem with the exchange and they would have to reconfigure the device so I was asked to get the device to their office at 10am on Thurday. So next day I reach their office at 10am sharp…and the same story continues…the person who had called me was not going to be coming to office that day and the next in charge who would look into this arrived only at around 10:35. The official told me that there was a mistake in the number alloted, instead of the number number ending with 89 they had feeded it as 59. Oh! Come on…so the official had a long talk with the various dept’s and finally confirmed that the device would be reconfigure to have the number ending with 59.
Once reconfigured, there was no network available hence was told it would work, as it was already 11:30am and I had to get to my office, I accepted their word for it and went. Tried it later that night; it was still not connecting. So went to their CSC office once again at 10am…and as usual waited for the customary 30 minutes, after which the main official came, checked and tried various things and finally told me that there might be some malfunction in the device and it was best for me to cancel the connection and get a new one.
I squarely refused to do so, since there was a three month commitment period and if I ask for disconnection it would mean that it was my fault and I would have to end up paying the three months rental. So I gave them two options, either repair the existing device or if they feel it is not possible to do so they could give me a new device which they could without my involvement that is internally closing and opening a new connection. They went for the first option and told me that they would send the device to the Whitefield office to check and asked me to come on Tuesday (12th Aug).
On Tuesday….I wait for the mandatory half an hour and then they tell me that they are yet to send it to Whitefield. I ask them when I should come back for which I was told that they would call back when it is done. Days pass by and no progress, since I was free on Aug 16th (Saturday) I went into their office and enquired again, and they tell me it has still not been sent to Whitefield. W
Now this was getting a bit too much even for my level of patience, so I told them to check the device again and I sat along with them to see. They again started calling up different department, on one such call they mentioned the ESN number to the other dept, this is when I realised that they had the ESN entered wrongly into their system as well, and not just the phone number. Instead of the ESN number ending with 50D, they had entered it was 500. I told them this, they were really happy at my discovery and the other dept quickly changed the ESN number in their records to the correct one. Tried connecting again….still not happening.
Was this device faulty or something…well I was not the one to give up after all this…so asked them to reconfigure the device again, this is when I noticed that when reconfiguring the device earlier they had changed it from ending with ‘89′ to ‘99′, instead of ‘59′. This was the epitome of mistakes. They finally changed it under my hawk eyes and when they tried to reconnect…viola the connection happened. Half a month of patience, numerous rounds to their office and hours of waiting had finally ended. They thanked me for helping out and as I left I had just one sentence for them “Thank me now, but when the bill for the month comes I will be back again, since I have not had service for half the month (2nd Aug to 16th Aug) and you will have to deduct that.”
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September 14th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
And of course all of that was your fault?
It should not have to be like this. Not for anyone or anything. The problem is that the people working in consumer service never get paid to fix your problems. They are paid just to be there.
September 15th, 2008 at 7:44 am
@Aleksandersen: That was my whole point, the customer support people behave like it is always the customers fault, they never except it to be their fault.
I was infact lucky that the device was not faulty, if it was by any chance they would have made me disconnect the existing connection and apply for a new one. This would have meant that I would have had to run around their office many many more times trying to invalidate the huge 3 month advance bill (minimum contract period) which they would have sent for the disconnected connection.
And I would not say consumer service are paid just to be there, this may be true for many companies who just for the sake of it keep a customer service, but in many cases they have been helpful also.
October 10th, 2008 at 9:49 am
Nic card is best for internet
i have purchased it
just 250 for unlimited
i got avg. Speed of 140 kbps
i have been using it for 1 month
i have downloaded 16gb data in 1 month on website http://www.fulldownloads.us
16GB in just 250
I love it.
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:41 pm
looking forward for more information about this. thanks for sharing. Eugene
October 26th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
nic card is good actually. but i have a doubt. do the bsnl people charge any extra charge for sending sms from this connection?
and weather the calling facility is provided through nic connection?
October 26th, 2008 at 7:56 pm
do the Bsnl people charge extra if i send sms from this connection?
is the calling facility available with bsnl?
October 28th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
REAL THUG..GISM from BSNL…neither with the service. nor speed …it will extinct if not handled properly with all the so called IT experts of the very old & incept group of government communication in india..really feel SAD & LOOTED after purchasing & use of this NIC card.HOPE luck for BSNL bbsr.
October 29th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
will bsnl charge any extra amout for sending sms from nic connection?
November 8th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
I would like to know more about BSNL NIC (Network Interface Card)Internet Connection :
a) Can I use NIC Card on Vista!
b) Can I make a voice call with this connection (144 kbps)!
c) Is it available with USB Support.
Thanks in advance for your reply.
November 9th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
@Rajeev : I do not know about the SMS charges and if they allow you to send SMS. But I know that they do not allow to you to make using the device.
@Srinivasa :
(a) Please check with the BSNL csc for this, but it should be possible, else you can always get the drivers from the manufacturers site.
(b) No, outgoing calls are blocked.
(c) Yes, there are two type of devices, I was lucky enough to get EC325 which is USB based. Please let them known you want a USB device.
November 10th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
I BOUGHT A NIC CARD FOR INTERNET IN GUJARAT IT BEST FOR UNLIMITED INTERNET LOVERS .DOWNLOAD SPEED WITH INTERNET DOWNLOAD MANAGER IS UP TO 22 Kbps AND MINIMUM SPEED IS 6 Kbps MONTHLY RENT IS 150 RS FOR DEVICE AND RS 250 FOR PLAN
DEPOSIT IS RS 1281 IF YOU WANT TO BUY IT IT IS JUST FOR RS.3294 AND RENT IS ONLY RS 250 PER MONTH
November 14th, 2008 at 1:45 pm
here i want to share my BSNL NIC ,its very good one and 144kpbs is more than enough to make voice & video calls.last 15 days i’m using this .thanks to BSNL NIC
November 16th, 2008 at 2:49 am
Hi friend, I sympathize with you as you had to undergo a lot for that data card , I gotg itg in 1 day ( My Fatehr is a senior officer in BSNL
) But the problem now is tghat this device is really slow.. it connects at a max. speed of 230Kbps but delievers me an avg speed of abtt 3KBps ( arnd 30Kbps ) Now that’s really bad I cant even use Google Talk with that.. so friend I just wish to know that are you getting good speeds and is their a way of recieving good speed with this device or a way to somehow return this back , as I am also on this 3 months rental Plan !! Your response would be Helpful
November 24th, 2008 at 10:08 pm
do they provide us option to choose one of the two types of devices for nic. one is USB BASED which is the other?
November 25th, 2008 at 3:24 pm
Thanks for your valuable NIC card info. I am also planning to get this. But I have a question.
WILL IT WORK only in area of bsnl (where we purchase) or it can be used anywhere like what TATA INDICOM plug 2 surf does????????????
November 27th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Hello Nitin,
I want to Know how much speed does your NIC card gives using Mcafee speedometer.
http://us.mcafee.com/root/speedometer/test_0150.asp
Visit the above or copy and paste in your web browser
December 4th, 2008 at 11:42 am
how can i install pc suit on 64 window
December 4th, 2008 at 11:43 am
plese help me i have 64 bit window the bsnl pc suit dont work on it
December 5th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
hi, i have purchased nic card recently and i want to know the activation time of card.
December 5th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
hi,I am using BSNL NIC card(144kbps)from last 15 days.but i have a little problem.My downloading speed is so slow about 2-5 kbps.& some time it become in bytes/s.pleas tell me what is the reason behind it and also tell me that in future my downloading speed will increase or not.If it can increases manually (setting on my pc)please tell me on……. suhail_786@rediffmail.com
December 6th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
I want to connect Internet to my desktop.I am searchig for that .whether the usb modem/data card is suitable for this purpose and what is the cost of that.
Thanks
December 6th, 2008 at 3:08 pm
@jayprakash : Thanks for posting the complete details regarding the device.
@Bino : Great to know that BSNL have been able to keep you happy with their service.
@Vivek : Sad to hear that you are getting such low speeds, I too sometimes get the speeds you have mentioned. But the point to note hear is that it all depends on the network signal, hence nearer you are to the BSNL CDMA tower the better it is for you, farther you are the worse it gets.
December 6th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
@Kuldeep : They did not provide me with any option, I was specifically looking for the USB one, and when they showed that to me I was happy directly went for it. Best for you to ask the BSNL people if they provide it.
@Suresh : As per what I have read and heard, currently you are locked in to the city you buy the device. So you would not be able to move between cities like the TATA Indicom card.
As I said before the speed for me varies for 3KBps - 19KBps depending on the day and time.
@Anoop : Better check with the BSNK customer care center, else you can check for the updated software at Huawei website.
@Jaymin : Here in Bangalore they told me it would take one working day, but since I had issue with the wrong configuration it took longer. But it should not take longer than two days.
@suhail : Please check my comments above, it all depends on where the CDMA towers of BSNL are situated. Better check with your nearest BSNL CSC regarding this.
December 11th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Thanks Nithin for your valuable information. I have one more question.
I stay in outstreaks of Hyderabad, 5 KM away from the BSNL tower.
How much speed will I get?
Is it good to take BSNL NIC card as I am not nearer to the tower?
December 12th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Dear Nithin,
I am new to linux. Could I get your help to resolve some problems.
Please write to me.
December 13th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
Thank you BSNL for giving a latest technology for using internet.NIC is best for everyone.Thank you
December 22nd, 2008 at 4:11 pm
BSNL nic card is not good at all.
It is not depend upon you that, when you want to connect it .It was depend on that stupid device when it is connecting you.
It is not giving proper speed at all and also not faithful.
Overall Shit to bsnl to giving such a worst services to Customer
December 29th, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Hi,can anybody plz email me that weather bsnl vedio card provide voice call facility..
December 29th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
i take one NIC cunnection and rental modam form BSNL Kollam, but in my house have no signal , i inform to their office but they are asking helpless, now i think to return back the Nic , what is the procedure, can u sent a clossing application Form to my email ID, now Iam In Dubai,
pls send riyazbrasheed@gmail.com