After years with Hutch, I decided to switch to Airtel recently in Delhi.
Why, asked everyone when I sent them my new number...The reasons primarily:
1. Airtel network is better
- Airtel offered me unlimited GPRS at Rs 499 per month whereas Hutch charges on data downloaded [which can add up to a lot considering my usage and high rates Hutch charges]
And what happened?
Airtel network is no better. Probably worse. Signals are just as disgusting as Hutch. But I had been warned!! Those on Airtel had warned me they are no better off than Hutch subscribers, but I went ahead anyway!! Sucker!!
And the GPRS? At the time of writing this piece, it has been 10 days since I got my Airtel connection. And it is just not getting activated!! Everytime I call Airtel, I am made to go through a long process before I am promised activation within four hours. GPRS is still missing. And I am seeing the expensive PalmOne Treo 650 being wasted without GPRS.
Airtel: Super advertising, Pathetic support services
Let’s give the devil its due: There is little to beat Airtel advertising. Its TVCs (Television Commercials) strike more than a few chords in your heart. They really connect. And the music could stand on its own on bestseller charts. Kudos to the creative minds behind Airtel advertising. World class by any standards.
And their call centre, or support services? Illiterate class by all standards. The people who take your call don’t know a thing. Their accents are crude. When discussing some settings for your phone, you have to spell out names of mobile handset models (shouldn’t they know these by heart?). They themselves don’t know what they are saying: One of these guys wanted to give me the name of a website, and he started off by saying ’’dot dot dot w’’ rather than ’’w w w dot.’’ Make a general query about things like GPRS, and the guy sounds like he is wondering when they changed the order of the alphabet from GHIJ to GPRS.
Ten days after I out in my request for GPRS on my new connection, I am still waiting. Everytime I call, I am asked to check after four hours. Sometimes they say it is not activated, sometimes it says activated but there is a technical hitch and is being reset. The settings they try to give me make half sense only. Go to their outlet in the city where I booked the number, and they say they cannot set my GPRS settings on the phone: They have been trained for some models, not PDAs like the PalmOne Treo 650. For that I will have to make a trip to their out-of-the-way office in Okhla in Delhi.
By the way, Hutch (from whom I shifted to Airtel) are world class with their call centres. The people out there know what they are talking about. And things happen as promised!!
For a nation aspiring to be the call centre capital of the world, let Indian companies set the standards first.
Written by Ajay Jain