I am not surprised by the number of people who are disgusted with Hathway. In-fact reading some many frustrated reviews about hathway, I was wondering if I should write mine!
Well, I finally made up my mind and would try not to have any curses or expletives in this review :-)
To start on a positive note, I am not really frustrated(anymore).
I have a hathway connection for almost 10 months now and experience has not been great but not as bad as some others here. I have 14 complaints so far with them and I am sure people have that many in probably one quarter.
I have had frequents disconnect issues, speed issues, internet not connecting issues and I don’t know what else. I am sure all their support staff know my customer id by now :-)
I live in koramangala 8th block where hathway has a monopoly because there is no other ISP here apart from BSNL. So when I shifted here, I didn’t have time try wait for BSNL phone to be installed and then wait for broadband to be installed because I work a lot from home. I had no option but go for Hathway after I checked with Airtel(the only other ISP I trust apart from BSNL).
I took 512Kbps prepaid plan for which they charge Rs 1770. All was well in the first month, then I noticed frequent disconnects and called them. Call center guy was not able to explain why I wa shaving this issue and gave me a ticket number with a promise that someone would call me in 24 hrs. That obviously did not ahppen and I calle dthem back. This time within 30 minutes of the call. Someone from technical team called and solved the issue. I had this problem three more times and was fixed as well. At the end of the quarter, just 4 days before the renewal date, internet stopped working again and I calle dcall center multiple times, got different ticket numbers. The issue was not fixed and last date of renewal passed. Finally they fixed the issue but never extended my package. I had to pay for the next quarter again. I asked them multiple times, why they can not extend the package as I have paid in advance for 90 days and in that internet was not available atleast 2 weeks. They ofcourse have no answer to that. Finally I gave up.
The internet connection has been stable after this. I havent had many instances of disconnects and even renewed it once again, which is great! However, I have always notices that 512 Kbps connection doesnt run faster than 100 Kbps. I haven’t bothered calling them as I atleast get a steady connection now and calling them would only make me agitated and irritated or maybe I am just scared that internet would stop working all together(judging by past experiences)!
Meanwhile, I opted for a bsnl broadband which has finally been installed and runs perfect so far.Hathway connection expires next month and I sure will not renew it :-)
I am sure lot of people have the same issue like me but question is what can be done against such service providers. Isn’t there any way we can make them responsible?
Prepaid connection for which money has already been taken and is suppose dto work 90 days, works 14 days lesser but there is no way we can make them extend package by 14 days?
Promised speed is 512 Kbps but we do not get 50% of that(forget 80%), nothing can be done? Money can’t be refunded!
Not only isps like hathway internet, digital TV providers like Dish and Tatasky who take money in advance for their service and arent able to deliver, what can be done about them?
Is there no way consumers could teach these guys a lesson, rather than just going by their rules, as if it was THE law!