I recently installed Airtel DTH at my village in Shimla District. The dish was installed on Tuesday, 6th October, 2009. The person who installed the dish assured me that it would be activated within 4 hours time. By 7 pm, 5 hours later there was no sign of any program on the dish.
I called up the retailer and was informed that Airtel system was down and would be activated the next day. Next day, I kept on calling the retailer who in turn gave me the number of the dealer in Shimla, who in turn gave me the number of the call center. Between the four of us, the dish was finally activated on Friday, October 9, 2009. It was an terrible ordeal for 4 days and I ended spending almost Rs. 500/ on phone calls alone.
What I found that the retailer and the dealer had no idea about the product at all. At one point of time, I was talking to the dealer helpline number 12149 from my Airtel cellphone and then took the dealer on conference with the call center. The dealer had no idea what the call center was telling him about the steps for activation. The dealer here was Excel Marketing in Shimla.
The procedure of subscribing to Airtel DTH is not simple. They have lots of inline processes. Add to this a novice and an untrained dealer and it is a recipe for disaster. I also spoke to the company executives of Airtel Digital TV. They sounded completely disinterested and one of them even told me he was a sales person and could not do anything about activation.
At least here in Himachal Pradesh, be prepared to deal with untrained people having no knowledge about the product and services. The dealer Excel Marketing in Shimla is a clown. Airtel executives responsible for this product are no less than jokers themselves!!
My customer id is 3001631038