This is a story of one of the Reliance IndiaMobile Customer.
I came to know about this story recently ... and I really wondered, ’’How patient that guy(RIM Customer) about the RIM Service’’. Today he was on the deciding edge of terminating his and his other family members Reliance Connections.
First this guy went for the Reliance Service thinking great about the Voice and data capabilities of the phone as next generation (even today he says it is right)... and then he felt the RIM as the means to keep all his family contacts in touch.
He and his parents and his sister and his brother-in-law who are all located in 3 different states went for RIM, based on his advice... (Which he NOW feels as the biggest mistake he ever did. he can call to his sister that too disconnects as it likes, he can’t call his father completely, completely un reliable connection to his brother-in-law.)
He even disconnected his BSNL telephone, thinking great about Reliance Services.
The series of Blows-on-face delivered by Reliance is as follows ...
He received the phone before the launch of RIM, they said the phone may work or may not work as the service is yet to be launched... and also they said, due to the above reason, the service is free till launch.
True to what they said... the phone is functioning some times and not some times. If the phone works and connects to his family members ... he used to talk freely as the service is free... and he is waiting for the launch ...keeping hold all the problems of not having a reliable telephone connection...
The first blow: Reliance postponed the launch. It disturbed him a lot.
The second blow: He learned from the, launch postponement news, ’’the call are charged for the off-net charges’’.
Then he enquired about what is this ‘off-net’ ... then answer is very much frustrating one ... first he felt that he was completely miss-informed by Reliance... and called the customer service (not to complain about misleading information) to know the bill amount during the so called pre-launch/testing period. The customer support informed him, there is no billing information available with them, but they conformed that, he will be billed. He said to me, that, he actually called the customer support to know the bill amount, so that he can be prepared for that unexprected bill amount... but he was not able to get the bill amount. After repeated calls, he got a kind-of answer, that says -- if the bill amount for the pre launch/testing period usage is more than Rupees 500 he will be getting the separate bill in few days, if the amount less than 500 it will added to the regular bill-- To his surprise he didn’t get any separate bill till two days back, So.. He expected the bill will be less than 500 BUT he had been presented with a bill amount of around 2000 for the pre-launch/testing time usage.
No billing information to answer customers... but bill we be prepared, even before the launch of the service. So what it is telling us about Reliance principles; pull as much money as you can from the customer even before launch of the service in usable way.
One day he was on rush, not having sleep for whole night on the previous day and having a meeting by 11.00 AM and to pick up his father and mother-in-law from station at around 9.00 AM... He dialed 131 to enquire about the train late arrival ... but his effort just made him to listen to a highly asserting voice saying ’’Please check the number you have dialed’’
Again he felt that he was not informed by Reliance adequately. -- The Third Blow.
Any one out-there knows other means of accessing the railway enquiry? For that matter any local government services on three digit numbers?
His father got the RIM on his pressure, his father can call him...but he was not able to, it is the situation from the day one to till today. Reporting to customer service is USELESS.
He says “It is me who has the problem un-solved for many days...but at Reliance Customer Support every day a new fellow listen to me... it is a fresh case for them but for me it is a long pending case, simply I can’t make them to feel that’’
The typical responce from Customer Support will be, ’’as soon as possible’’. He says that he want to remove this phrase from the world of Customer Support.
He says “They can’t ’feel’ your sense at all. They are engaged in exposing, what they ‘trained’ for”
One day it happened for me to listen, when this guy was speaking to the customer support ... he was explaining how his family was suffering because of the in-availability of the service... I really felt this guy can be a better fit to teach/counsel the call center customer support persons.
Then came the launch of the RIM Service, (Reliance only know what is the meaning of the ‘launch’ and ‘commercial launch’) he was one of the persons who is waiting for it... I can say... he waited for it more than any one out there. His waiting boiled down just to discover.. that there is NO difference in service... When he called the customer service about the continuation of the same old problem of not able to call many of the phones... They (customer support) replied saying, ’’we are signing/signed interconnects with other providers and the problem will be solved ’as soon as possible’’’. This is the fourth blow.
He was appeared thinking very seriously about the meaning of ’launch’ ‘commercial launch’... poor fellow… seems he doesn’t know all these are for media purpose and not targeted to the service of the customer.
Next to customer support... where to approch for resolving a problem is completely not know to him, for that matter it is true for all RIM customers.
Now he is saying, how good the plain old telephone system. At the same time he also says, “but it is not flexible/extendable.”
You will get flexibility at what cost and mental peace?
He showed me a license agreement for R-Connect service, some of the lines in that license agreement are
really irresponsible.
You can get this freely from reliance website... no authentication... nothing... you can download. But if you see the license content, I am sure, you will be scared.
“Reliance hereby disclaims all warranties, fitness for a particular purpose, even if Reliance has been informed of such purpose.”
I am sure... no end customer can understand/accept that license fully.
With all these series of blows... he was frustrated... and he was in doubt about the R-World Service turning into an another blow(it is free at present… and NO one knows how this free period may turn to be a charged one).
To add to all these ... now the customer support is teaching him how he should be patient in listening to repeated cookie cutting answers.
Apart from all these... his battery gone in between... and it is another story... seems he took that lightly.