Don?t be surprised with another Tata Indicom story for today.
I have recently moved to suburbs from the city. As a bad luck, I don?t have BSNL service in that area. My landlord (he stays in a different country) was using Tata Indicom enabled for Local calls only. Trusted with some brand loyalty, I decided to continue the service.
Tata Indicom was the only one to provide service in the new area and it?s wireless. The phone was subscribed to a different address though. So I wanted to change it to the new address and subscribe the STD and Internet services.
I visited their local office. The security welcomed and gave me a token. And I patiently waited for half an hour with a bunch of people already waiting.
The service centre people took almost 10-15 minutes with every customer. Before walking into their center, I have enquired about their rates for the new service at one of their Stations. Their Station Manager (!!!) told me Rs. 1000/- for STD Subscription. I was prepared to pay that. I was called to one of their agents and I asked about the STD charges. He told me there is no charge for that. You just fill up one form then everything will be taken care.
I was not convinced and had a doubt that it may be something like hidden charges. I told him about what the station manager informed me. That agent responded, then you drop a check for Rs. 1000/-. I really got amused by his wonderful response. I assumed it will be charged to the bill later and it was true.
Then I signed the form. My trouble started here. The phone is not under my name. I cannot sign the form and my landlord has to sign the form if I have to enable STD and other services. Half a day gone in this.
I asked my landlord to fill this form and fax Tata Indicom. He did it and faxed them. After faxing it for the 10th time, Tata Indicom acknowledged it and gave the service. The STD started working after 2 weeks.
Then I have to visit them again to get my billing address changed. I visited once again to get my internet connection. They told me a person will come and install. Another week is gone. But I have to tell the internet service is good. Fast enough. After moving to my new residence for more than 3 months and so far I have received only one bill.
I called them up and asked when I have to pay and paid it. The next day morning they called me up and asked have you paid the bills! You really need lot of patience to handle it. Everytime they need the owner original signaute. The intentions are correct, but its difficult like when youre acting on behalf of somebody due to some unavoidable circumstances.
While I was waiting at their lounge, I witnessed people having different problems. Their billing is incorrect, not picking up the signals. The customer service agents even though try to help them patiently; the back office has caused a big damage due to their billing errors. The surprise is the bills are only overcharged. The customer service agent was beaten up and the worst is they attend toooo many calls at a time when they handle the customers.
Due to all this hangama going around, the average wait time in the queue is more than an hour. To your worst nightmare, they will tell hazard different things we have to comply for the things to get done. You must have learnt now visiting their center with a minute-by-minute plan for the rest of the day will spell disaster.
Since served as product marketing and a customer service guy for quiet some time, I was able to understand their difficulty. But if they continue to service like this, they will definitely lose their market share. One night around 11.30 I called up Tata Indicom Telephone services with my internet correction problem, one female agent helped me. She tried to help and respond positively.
Once everything is installed, I don?t have any problems. I heard complaints from my neighbors who use Tata Indicom about the signals. Even I have seen them running around the house carrying the wireless phone when they want to talk. I never faced the problem, once I installed the antenna they provided. It?s nothing but a hook for the phone with a long wire which he has to put it in the roof. The signals were good.
Tata Indicom has to work hard to retain their customers first and they can try wooing and winning the fresh. Otherwise the bad mouth will spoil their accounts.