First thing first. Don’t be misguided by seeing my rating against Customer Service. I had to mark it, as I could not keep it blank to rate them as a big zero!
I have been using mobile phones
for the last four years and have tried with BSNL in Kolkata and Airtel,
Reliance and Hutch in both Delhi and Bangalore. I would like to summarize my
experience with all these providers.
BSNL(Prepaid- Kolkata; Year-
2004)
BSNL Prepaid offered some good
bargains and the cost per call was less. But in 2004 they had not all the
add-on services like the other providers. Coverage was not bad either. But I
faced problem in recharging them when I was out of station. Their customer care
was above average.
Airtel(Prepaid- Delhi and
Greater Noida; Year- 2004-2006)
Then I took Airtel Prepaid in
Delhi. They had more value added services than BSNL and offered competitive
call rates. They were and are still very good at promotional activities. They
have a lot of schemes to tie the customer. In Delhi and Greater Noida their
coverage was also of average quality.
Reliance(Prepaid- Greater
Noida; Year- 2005-06 and Postpaid- Delhi; Year- 2006)
For some personal reasons, at the
same time I took another Reliance connection. To be honest, it was the best
connection. At first it was a prepaid connection and the call rates were damn
cheap. Their coverage was excellent. Except when I was in a lift, my call never
got disconnected. I would be able to call from any place where no other
provider would work. When everybody had to move out to some place to take or
receive a call, I was the able to talk relentlessly sitting in the same place.
At that time they had some unlimited SMS promotions through out the country.
Later they restricted it only to any circle. After about a year, I converted it
to a postpaid connection and took “Freedom at Night” plan. In this plan, one
gets to surf the Internet from 10 pm to 6 am on any day for monthly Rs 400+
taxes. But the call charges are a bit high.
Hutch(Postpaid- Delhi; Year-
2006)
Then I discontinued with Airtel
and got a Hutch(now Vodafone) connection from my office. It was a postpaid
connection. They must have offered some good rates for the office. But the
problem with coverage remained. If you want to get rid of your boss, you can
take it easily! Your boss will not be able to connect to you and even if he
does, the call will be disconnected at any time. So, you know how to take
advantage of a Hutch connection! But their customer care was better than Airtel
and perhaps as good as Reliance.
Reliance(Postpaid- Bangalore;
Year- 2006- 07)
After shifting to Bangalore, I
continued with the Reliance connection, which was with me all this time. I
continued with the same plan. Yes, they also made some goof-ups once, perhaps
due to a new employee and converted me to some other plan, which resulted in an
enhanced bill. But the matter got resolved in less than a week and the bill was
adjusted in the next month.
Airtel(Prepaid- Bangalore;
Year- 2007)*
Then I took another connection
from Airtel(College Special Prepaid). It offered me unlimited local SMS. Other
charges are comparable with other GSM providers. They are good at promotional
activities. They come out with a lot of offers regularly and have good value
added services. But after using Reliance Mobile for about 2 years, I find that
their coverage is not good. Moreover, sometimes I end up having cross
connections. And now comes the main thing, which inspired me to write this
review- AIRTEL CUSTOMER CARE. Their customer care is pathetic, worst of the
lot. I took the connection in February 2007. At that time I had to hang on to
the phone for about 8-10 minutes before they would connect me to the customer
care executives. They did not have any option available to the customer to talk
to the executives. Only after testing your patience for a long time, you would
be able to talk. And now they have modified their menu options to “serve
customers better”- they do not have any option to talk to the executives. Even
if you hang on in the hope that you would be able to talk to them after some
time, now your call gets disconnected after a few minutes. If you are want to
get loads of offers or want to stick to free SMS(as it happened with me), then
Airtel is good. Otherwise, my advice would be not to go for it. In case of any
clarifications, you are totally handicapped. No one will be there to listen to
you. Perhaps running to the Airtel offices will be the only way out.
I have given a summary of my
experiences with various providers in the last few years. As you might have
understood, my choice will be Reliance, if I change the connection again.
Although their customer care executives will be free after 10-15 minutes, still
you are sure that somebody will listen to your complains and will take action.
I have never got any exaggerated bill. They also offer good value for money.
And to top it all, their coverage is the best.
Obviously these scenarios may
change with time. So take only recent feed back from your friends and then
decide. Things which you should keep in mind while taking a new connection
should be:
Coverage;
Pricing;
Availability;
Customer
Care;
Prepaid/
Postpaid;
Your
region
; What
your friends, relatives or colleagues are using
; Offers