Yes, that’s me - a real sucker. I too am one of those idiots who fell for all those fancy billboards, banners and ads, and went ahead with a Sify Broadband connection. It isn’t a CONnection, it’s a CON.
Same old story. Guy comes, takes the money for X metres of cabling plus installation plus first month’s rental blah blah blah... Since this has happened to me for the fourth time (like I said, I am the King of Suckers), I think this is the REAL business model - make money from the cabling and initial deposit/payment... and scoot!
Well, my troubles started from the very first month. Couldn’t log on to the server most of the time, so much for Broadband! Have any of you ever tried calling the Sify Helpline? It’s designed for extreme frustration. Great strategy, that one. Ensure that your customers die of high blood pressure and burst arteries so that they automatically stop complaining after some time. Jokes apart, the Sify Helpline is a shady, shadowy organisation where Customer Service Executive Number 2 has no clue as to what Customer Service Executive Number 1 promised you barely fifteen minutes ago! It’s quite a bit like beating your head against a wall. Only worse, since you are incurring phone call expenses in doing so.
For four months, I was told that my connection would be up and working ’’in the next hour’’. Ultimately, I just stopped calling. When you realise that the party on the other side is fraudulent, you just back off. What’s that you said? Legal recourse? Hey folks, this is India, remember?
One good outcome of all this was that I finally learnt my lesson. After four bad decisions, I stopped looking for a decent ISP, much like a fellow who stops seeking solace in marriage after enduring four terrible wives. Today, I am with good old MTNL. The service? It’s awful! The speed? Worse! But hey, at least they aren’t trying to cheat me. For now, that’s good enough for me.