Wednesday, September 8, 2010

The Tata Sky saga continues


Around August 15, I made a complaint saying certain channels like CNN and BBC were no longer playing on my Tata Sky connection. I was told there were some issues with these channels, things would be sorted out in a day or two. A few days later I called to ask when things would be sorted out. The person speaking to me had never heard of BBC and CNN. Eventually, he took a complaint of a general nature. There was no follow up from Tata Sky.
Five days later I called to complain once more. This time, I was given an assurance of action within 72 hours. About 72 hours later, a man appeared, examined the cables, said they were full of water and would need to be replaced. He promised to come the next day. He disappeared.
Four days later, I called TataSky again, asking why the cable guy hadn't returned. My problem would be addressed in 72 hours, I was assured. 72 hours later, a different repairer arrived. I wasn't in Bombay at the time. He did some work for half an hour and left. When I returned, I found one of the two TV sets in the home working fine, while the other had no signal at all.
So I called Tata Sky again. They promised to send a man. Nobody arrived. I called again and spoke to a senior. She apologised and said she would check about why nobody had come. An hour later a woman called from the local office, saying the delay was because of the auto rickshaw strike. The man would definitely come the next morning.
He finally arrived at 4pm yesterday. He looked at the cables, said they were full of water and needed replacing. I said that's what the first guy had said. He didn't have the cable with him, so he'd definitely come the next day to do the job. I said that's what the first guy had said.
I'm waiting to see if the latest promise is kept.

Update, Friday September 10: Three more days of the same old thing. The man didn't return, I have spoken to three more Tata Sky executives and three more of their seniors, all of whom promised to tackle the problem immediately.
Finally, the engineer who had last visited my house called, only to say he was having trouble procuring cable and would therefore not be able to help.
Right now, the Tata Sky customer service number I've been calling for three weeks, 18604256633, seems not to be functional. I get an MTNL woman on the line saying the number does not exist.

9 comments:

jaimit said...

i have a new business idea that i have been toying with.
you pay me 299 rupees a month and my job would be to follow up with the customer service of anything that you have purchased. any service you have availed.
we will simply keep calling and following up with the company till its logical conclusion... be it your car, your stereo, your hotel, your credit card refund... whatever.. we deal with customer service.
i dont think it would solve your DTH problem any faster but atleast you know that you have set a sniffer dog on those companies.

Ruchik said...

Girish it is sad but true ..there is absolutely no customer service and zero customer retention service in India...and for a competitive space like the one in which Tata sky operates this is completely unacceptable..Bad customer service by companies who advertize saying the concept of service makes me extremely angry. Ask any lay person and he will narrate stories of horrible experiences..most big companies are only focussed towards client retention and not on service..may be you should do a column on yahoo on how pathetic after sale customer service is in India for all varieties of goods.FMCG,white goods, hospitality, financial products etc etc

Girish Shahane said...

Jaimit, I think you've hit upon a great plan; you have my subscription for a start.
Ruchik, I've been really surprised by exactly how bad the tata Sky service is. The only thing to be said for it is that the operators and servicemen are unfailingly polite. That puts it a tiny step ahead of MTNL.

Anonymous said...

I've been using Airtel iptv and I have to say my complaint against Airtel would be that they call a little too often (to confirm your address, to confirm the nature of the problem, etc) but really their service has been excellent! Oh and I love time-shift. I can't imagine not being able to pause television.

nash said...

Really customer service in India is exceptionally bad. You are right about MTNL guys. If i get some internet problem, there call center gives number of our local area office(instead of them rectifying it). Then the local office gives another number of some department in there office, and so on. They keep on giving numbers(once i was passed 7 different numbers) till you reach the proper person.More than anything, the worst is the emotional trauma a person has to suffer.
I always feel, India may have progressed, but in terms of politeness, manners, maintaining order, respecting others, accountability still has a long way to go. Whenever i see someone fighting say in traffic either verbally or even physically, i always feel that surely things could have been better handled if the people involved have respect for others, politeness, manners plus a realization that people do commit mistakes. Many Indians really need a lesson in all these virtues.

Girish Shahane said...

True, Nash. Anonymous, I'm seriously considering switching to Airtel, it seems to be better in every respect.

Unknown said...

Since Tata Sky is not on twitter or facebook (maybe coz they know of the customer backlash) you should write a letter to - Mr Ratan N Tata,
Chairman Tata Sons Ltd Bombay House
24 Homi Mody Street
Mumbai 400 001. Phone: 022-6665-8000
Fax: 022-6665-8001. Let's see how the-man-in-exit-mode handles this.

Satish said...

Airtel seems to be better. Have been with them for over a year now - hardly any downtime & customer service (atleast in Bangalore) is pretty decent.

LotusEater said...

Well when they said life would be "JingaLaLa", i guess they were speaking for themselves.

Hmmm What would Amir do?

Cheers