A year back I was forcefully made to take airtel dth connection as a free gift along with a LG TV monitor. Anyway I survived with ups and down during the entire 12 months. As the subscription was coming to the last few days, I decided to switch over to HD setup box.
This is how it started! While browsing the net in airtel dth section for HD, I happened to enter my name and contact number since I was interested in going for HD setup box. I was surprised to get a call in just 4 hrs! Wah what a prompt service! I was given a brief lecture on HD and its features by a male person. He was just eager for me to make the payment and put a mark on his scoreboard. Well I gave in for Rs. 2200 under exchange with my old setup box and was promised for connection in 48 hrs. Payment was promptly swiped through IVR. I had a balance of 3200 (1000 + 2200) on my airtel account and I got a sms that the balance now stood at 1900. So the amount deducted 1300, I wonder what calculation they had made.
Anyway on the second day a service person called up and promised to come to my residence in 1 hr time but never turned up till the next day noon. I grew impatient and redialed the service person’s number and I pestered him in such a way that by 3 pm he was at my residence and it was just a simple work of switching the boxes and he left once the connection was activated.
To be frank, I am not satisfied at the clarity of the so called HD feature. I was using the HD feature way back in 2006 when I was at Singapore till 2008. The clarity from the new HD setup box was same as it was with my previous normal setup box. I have a LCD TV which is HD ready. I tinkered a lot with the setup box features but still clarity remains the same, I even tested the National Geographic and DD channel for common wealth games, I could see just 20% more clarity then the other channels. The setup box signal and quality strength was at the best 70/100. I have Blue ray and HD movies and definitely I expected the clarity equivalent to them. It is not at all worth to go for Airtel HD. I would like to know what Airtel is trying to tell the customers.
I called up the customer care several times and always my call goes to the hindi speaking section even when I select the english option. And it is really difficult to converse with their hinglish accent. Once I asked them the reason as why I am not getting connected to the english speaking people then I heard a click sound! I had to call atleast 10 times and I had to bring out the best hindi as I was left to their mercy! I had requested for a couple of channels and i was always intimated that the requested channels will get activated in 45 minutes but that NEVER HAPPENS. It took me 2 days of calling and arguing to make the channels alive! The website is another rubbish bin, requests through Airtel website NEVER NEVER WORK.
Airtel DTH is certainly is going to the dogs. Poor customer service, poor response etc and etc. The complaint list seem to be endless. The top management seems to be just busy counting the profits and confusing customers with confusing price options. They don’t care to see the problems at root level. Any guesses why hindi speaking people are coming up even when english option is selected. What is the condition of people who are not from hindi speaking regions? Are they trying to shoo away the non hindi customers? Readers kindly give your comments.
Updated on Oct 26th: Airtel people are desperately trying to reach me after I put up this section as you can see their replies below!!! Are they trying to plaster my mouth? When I approached them for days, there was no sympathy and no courtesy to give me a feedback call. How come they are begging me now?? Do we have to use MS everytime to prove their wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing attitude?