Nithin Kamath's Weblog

It has been a long time since I last blogged, I was just waiting for something which would ring the right cord for me to get back. And here were are, BSNL and their staff always help me getting something to write about, hope to get back with at least one post a week.

Around mid-February I had disconnected my BSNL NIC card connection and had moved to broadband offering from the same provider. Now 4 months down the lane, I am yet to get the Security Deposit and the 10 days additional amount I had paid as rent back.

Getting back the money which was paid as security deposit is looking as much tough as it was to get the device working when I initially took the connection, at that time I had to run around their office every other day asking them for them to get it working. The whole thing is documented read – BSNL NIC Card and Customer Support.

Now that I am facing these many issues in getting back my own money, I thought of documenting this too. The story thus far is:

Feb 19, 2010 : I give a letter to BSNL CSC, Shakarapuram to disconnect my NIC device and handover the device to them.

May 29, 2010 10:30am: Three months are over so head over to their accounts department in DVG road to ask them when I can expect my money back. Once I reach there, they make me wait for 15 minutes and then tell me that for NIC card (which falls under WLL) I would have to contact their office in Palace Road. They point me towards the wall which has the numbers to be contacted. The numbers were 22355772, 22355771 and 22355773. There was an additional number of a JAO 22931179.

May 29, 2010 11:30am: I called at 22355772 to be told that the file has not arrived and they cannot do anything till the file reaches them and the line was disconnected without any opportunity for me to speak.

May 29, 2010 11:45am : Still with hopes I contacted the Junior Accounts Officer’s number (22931179). The person who received the call who I think was the JAO told me that he was not sure and needed to check, so asked me to call back after 10 minutes.

May 29, 2010 12:00pm – 1:00pm : I keep on trying, the number is always busy.

May 29, 2010 4:00pm – 4:30pm : The number is still busy.

May 29, 2010 4:45pm : Finally manage to get through and was told that they have not received the file and they cannot do anything till they receive the file. He tells me that he will send a note to the department from where he is to get the file and at the same time asked me to call them at the numbers 22205392 and 22875567. As it was already 5pm, I thought there was no point in calling the number so kept it pending for the coming week.

June 19th 4:15pm: After missing out on calling them on 5th June and 12th June. I called the JAO directly again. This time he asked me if I had called earlier, I told yes, he told that the file had not yet come and he cannot do anything till the file is received. He mentioned that there are many such complaints and he keeps sending these details to the department concerned but for action it is best if I call them. So he again gives me the number 22205392.

June 19th 4:30pm: Called 22205392, a lady picked up the call and even before I could tell my issue completely; cutting me off she told me to contact the number 22282000 which is of her assistant. Called the number but no one picked up, kept calling till 5pm, but no luck.

So much struggle, already spent over 2 hours of my time on this. Now wonder what would have happened if I do the same to them and do not pay the bill for a couple of months, will they sleep on it. No way, they have 10% penalty if one misses a payment date and disconnection follows. So why this laziness to return back the money they taken from people?

Only thing that makes me laugh each time I visit one of their offices or call them is that they always have network problem or their servers will be too slow for the office staff to work. This for a company which goes by the tag line “Connection India”. A quick suggestion to folks at BSNL, start internally so that people do not have to run around from one office to another to get their grievances addressed then think about India.

That’s the story till now, Next time I call if they give me another number I know which number to ask for “Consumer Court”. What do you think folks, when will I get back my money?

Last week my BSNL CDMA based internet connection (NIC Card) was giving very slow speeds of around 1KBps. So I needed to call the BSNL people to register a complaint. Here are the telephone numbers that I came across (for my future reference):

[1] 080 – 28450010
[2] 080 – 28450410
[3] 080 – 28450420

All the numbers seem to be diverted to some other number and were mainly busy all the time. After a couple of tries a person lifted the phone (with number end 010). He listened to my problem and told me to report it to another number, which is mentioned below:
080 – 22385969

The above number looks to be some call center but might be of a technician, don’t know. He told me a solution wherein I needed to take my data card to their Customer Service Center and get some configuration changes done. I didn’t care to implement as I was sure it was not the problem. So I asked him if that does not work what should I do? His reply was upgrade to EVDO.

The solutions provided involved just looking at the issue at customer end instead of looking at the issue as some problem with their infrastructure, hence they provide options which involve me running around to the Customer Service Center or buying a new EVDO device.

Anyways since yesterday I am back to normal speed. So no issues at the moment.

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.”