There is a serious issue with the login page, each user much go through a stupid login page to do anything. Moreover there is no port forwarding, therefore all torrent downloads are excruciatingly slow. For example, I was downloading a well seeded torrent at 6.5 kBps on my 256 kbps connection.

Another problem is no VPN, you cannot access your company’s VPN with the TATA Wimax account.

The point to be noted here is that none of these problems had existed with Tata Broadband’s original DSL.

I have been in touch with multiple engineers in TATA Communications over these issues, none were able to help me. All they would suggest was to purchase a static IP for 2000 rupees (am i nuts). MTNL gives one for free with its 256kbps plan. MTNL too has pathetic customer service though.

Lets hope some senior TATA Communications guy reads this and drills some sense into the stupid policy makers.

Pros :

• Good Speeds, they deliver what they promise and a little extra.
• No hassles of wires and wirecuts.

These are the only 2 pros I can think of over a normal DSL connection, the list of cons is much longer, but these cons are very specific. I am still using the connection inspite of all these cons since they dont affect me a lot (except for the 1st con). Really hope the antenna doesn’t ever need service.

Cons :

• You need to have access to your roof,  installing the antenna can be a sour experience if you have un co-operative neighbours.
• The connection goes down just like that for 1-2 minutes every now and then.
• There is a stupid login page which normal Tata DSL login did not have. Prepaid users are forced to have this login page since they cant get a static IP for free. Idiots have the audacity to ask me to spend Rs. 2000 extra for removing the login page. Also the connection just logs itself out for no reason.
• Pathetic customer support especially from billing department. The engineers who visit your place are usually good enough.
• No port forwarding without Static IP.

The photos below show the sleek antenna in its full glory after the installation. Its a Telisma model Antenna. Will show the indoor photos of the antenna which I had taken later on. The last photo shows the clamp used to secure the antenna.

Sorry for the ugly watermarks, but these are sort of personal photos and hence marked.

A review on the installation, usage and performance plus pros and cons will follow. There is a slight problem with DNS settings and all as I have a dynamic IP address, it sometimes hangs and i need to change the DNS, dunno what that is about.

Anyway, continuing from my previous post. Tata Indicom broadband illegally disconnected my prepaid broadband connection on 21st May in the evening.They are discontinuing Wireline services in my area, so only wireless services via Wimax will be provided.

Checkout the letter below, I should mention I received the letter on 21st May, one day after the date mentioned on it. I wonder what the person drafting the letter was thinking, why the hell would I even think of using dial-up in this era. Maybe he is living 10 years in the past.

I have been in touch with their nodal officer and countless employees. Despite requesting politely for priority reconnection, I haven’t been given any. Infact, in all their emails they will mention that my complaint is being handled on priority, but on the phone everyone is quick to point out that preferential treatment is out of question. “Sir, it takes 7 days on minimum to get the Wimax installed” is what i hear most often. Its been 3 days since I got my network disconnected. Tomorrow being a Sunday is a holiday, so the focus shifts to Monday. I am hellbent on ensuring that the person who got my connection disconnected faces the music for all my woes. Looking at legal options and precedents also. Apparently I have a good case due to the fact that the letter seems to be predated. Someone probably forgot to mail them on time or probably the letters were an afterthought. Also looking at MTNL Triband as an alternative to this connection.

Moreover to get my internet on again, I have to get this Wimax Antenna installed on my house’s roof which is owned by someone else but according to our sale agreement, we are allowed to place stuff on the roof including antennae and water tanks . More stuff to take care of then. Mr. Ratan Tata, had i not purchased shares and FDs in your company, I would be praying for their failures , I wonder which broadband you use for your home ? BSNL , best hai ! And thanks for starting TISCO, the rally in its shares was great for my budget.

Tata Indicom broadband is indeed the worst service to go for, dont go for it unless you are stuck with it like me. They have absolutely no regards for customers or any work they may have to do. Treat Tata Communications with contempt. Almost all Tata brands are filled to the brim with arrogance and a pathetic level of customer service and regard.

Please boycott Tata Indicom broadband/VSNL if you believe in consumer rights and can identify with how lowly this move by Tata was to cut my internet with 6 hours of notice.

The fact is that many customers are frustrated by the attitude of ICICI bank and therefore have to resort to using rude language with the ICICI customer care team who are most of the time ill informed ,ignorant and powerless to help the customer in the bigger scheme of things. I have experienced this first hand as a customer. in various interactions.

I was surprised to read a note on their website :

Dear Customer,

ICICI Bank gives customer service paramount importance. Our personnel treat customers with politeness, courtesy and respect at every interaction. Sometimes, mitigating circumstances, like systems downtime, policy-related issues and compliance-related concerns, may compel us to convey decisions that may not be to your entire satisfaction. These are, however, only the exception and not the rule. The rule is to provide agreeable solutions, and that too at the first interaction itself; and the compliments we receive from satisfied customers – through our website, by phone, by e-mail and by letter – while indeed very heartening, serve to inch the bar higher.

However, customers resorting to provocative and unparliamentary language or rude and disruptive behaviour stretch tolerance, cause distress and impact on morale and efficiency. This can lead to a compromise in the level of service received by other customers and is therefore untenable. Therefore, despite the acknowledged primacy that a customer in the service industry commands, we must inform you with the greatest reluctance and deepest regret that henceforth, customers found to be offensive in their interaction with us will be required to close all their relationships with ICICI Bank.

Sincerely,

ICICI Bank Ltd.

What it essentially means is that if a customer loses his cool with the customer service team of the bank, he will have to close all his accounts with ICICI bank. I do not even know the legality of this as RBI must be having some rules about banks having to accept deposits without discrimination. But see how blatantly anti-consumer the whole statement is. I mean if you keep frustrating a customer by providing him stupid answers to his replies or not replying to him altogether, ofcourse he will lose his cool. And instead of better training your staff to handle customers, you have decided to blame it all on the poor customer. I am disappointed in this bank , hopefully they will make more customer friendly policies in the future and emerge as a good , honest and customer friendly bank.

I do not know to what extent they are enforcing the rule, but i guess they have pretty much taken away your right to protest against the bank. Just dont lose your cool.

Indian publishers who access the my account tab will be able to see that the secured delivery via DHL option is no longer there and only a local courier option is there. These couriers will be sent via Bluedart which is infact one of the fastest domestic couriers of India and probably pretty reliable too as banks frequently trust them with their credit cards etc.

But Google is still tightlipped about electronic fund transfers for India, we heard its due to taxation issues and laws,lets see how this new Blue Dart saga turns out for Google  and its Indian publishers when they start receiving Bluedart cheques from next month.

A statement from Google Adsense India team read :

“AdSense publishers in India will receive standard delivery checks mailed via the local courier service Blue Dart for no additional charge. Cheques mailed by Blue Dart should arrive within 10-30 days of the cheque date.

So the Secure Payment option has been removed from all the Indian adsense publishers account.

Blue Dart is not able to service all areas throughout India. If you live in a location they don’t service, your check will be sent by Registered Post and should reach you within 2-3 weeks of the mailing date.”

Another tale of woeful customer service, this time from Femina , a brand of the Times group (yeah its the same one as Indiatimes , we know you are no longer surprised at the low level of customer service). So here is the long and short of it:

We have a Femina subscription at home, this week the Femina issue is supposed to have a free tube of Lakme Sunscreen. But it wasn’t there in our copy, mom had received it without actually seeing whether the magazine had the free sunscreen or not. Anyway, when I noticed the offer I was shocked to hear from my mom that the magazine’s seal was broken and the sunscreen was already stolen when we received it.

It is not as if we cant afford sunscreen, mom uses a better/equivalent brand already. But the fact is that Lakme probably spent lakhs of shareholder money (I am a shareholder in Unilever and Trent) to promote their new sunscreen. And their target customers never receive the free gift, probably the magazine couriers will be applying the cream (probably another target audience).

Also, most appalling thing in all of this is the attitude of Femina and its so called customer care team. Despite repeated emails I haven’t been able to solicit a single reply from anyone in their organisation (except a cc from their main office which asked the Delhi office to respond). In an earlier incident despite paying for the magazine our copies weren’t coming, even then multiple emails went unanswered after 1 initial reply, this time also the same is looking like the trend. Their customer care system has no tracking and tracing, so its their wish whether they want to answer any email or not.

Poor customers are now pasting their sorrow caused by Femina all over the internet as one consumer complaint page will show. I will be sending this link to their customer care team and any corporate emails I know of, at-least Indiatimes took notice when blogs wrote about their shoddy service, lets see if Femina really cares !

Update

After emailing them again with a copy of this link, got a call from them yesterday, they said that they will send me the gift ASAP. Lets see if that happens, will keep you guys posted. Hopefully their customer care team will be more responsive in the future and adhere to the standards they are supposed to.

ee if Femina really cares !

Update- 2

Got the gift now, also received another call from Femina confirming if i had got it. This issue is resolved.

After getting irritated from HP due to their services I could not help but make people more aware before buying notebooks. The following mail which was sent to HP services manager has been exactly reproduced here to admonish you all against HP. The mail would give you a fair idea about the grievances faced by the customers

Sir,

I submitted my notebook “HP dv 1743″ with “Serial No. : XXXXX” and “Case Id : XXXXXX” approximately a month back. Since then I have observed a very irresponsible behaviour of HP Service Centre (Kirti Nagar). All the people whom I happen to talk to, gave me completely different status of my laptop. Initially optical drive was to be changed which was done after 7-8 days. Then I got 2 different views. According to one, there was a problem with my motherboard “only”, and according to other there was a problem with my bluetooth “only”. Since then I have heard four times that they have received wrong part and it would take them an another week for receiving the right part, which has till now never happened and I anticipate that it is never going to happen.
I have already spent close to Rs. 300 on my phone bills for calling HP and for your kind information except for once I never received any communication from your side regarding the status of my notebook.

I request you to kindly compare your services with your competitors like “DELL” which takes not more than half an hour to even replace the parts like motherboard or anything. I know that you would never be able to emulate them but at least you can fix an upper limit like 7 days or something before which the problem would be rectified. And if you can’t do that, it’s better you shut your service stations and outsource the services.

Will someone from the HP India team please take notice ? If you know someone in HP India , bring this case to their notice.