Poor Service from Tata Indicom Broadband

I am writing after a long time and largely because of the internet problems I was facing for some time.

I have settled in Bangalore and my plight started with a naive decision of taking up a broadband connection largely dependent upon the fact that Airtel had no free connections in my area, BSNL had a waiting time, Hathway doesnt have service here and glowing accolades from the Tata Indicom Braodband Salesman (Vinod) . So although i wasn't convinced completely I took up the 6 month pre-paid Tata Indicom broadband connection paying Rs 2348 which had free installation while for 1 month connection you pay Rs 1000 as installation fee and for 3 month installation you have to pay Rs 500 as installation fee.

Now the nightmare started -

1. Small Problem: The installation was to happen in 3 days and it took 7 days and 7 phone calls to the Tata Indicom sales guy.

2. Big Problem: The second day internet stopped and I registered a complaint which was solved in 2 days flat. Remember that they promise service in 24 hours max.

3. Bigger Problem: So after 6 days I had surfed the internet for 2 days and had registered complaint twice and have called Tata Indicom every day for 10 days. I sit down to surf again after 6 days and again the net is down and again I register a compalint with Tata Indicom. Now the mayhem starts:
Day 1 : No one from Tata Indicom came, I contacted Salesman (Vinod) who gives number of a certain guy Khalid Khan who is maintenance guy and will help. I call Khalid and he says he will send someone but no one came.

Day 2: No one from Tata Indicom came I again called up Khalid and he said he is sending some guy Ramesh and said YOU call him and ask I had to ask Mr Khalid to himself do the honours.

Day 3: No one from Tata Indicom came I had to call Ramesh and blast him so he sent someone who came saw the router, cable etc. and said that he is going to fix it and went and DISAPPEARED. He never came back and when I called him he said he is searching for the cut in the cable.

Day 4: No one from Tata Indicom came I again called up Khalid who didnt pick my phone, I called up Vinod who also did not pick the phone and Ramesh picked and lamented that he is a new guy and he told someone to come and he didn't come. I was naturally furious it was 4 days and no help from any corner and the helpline said they will fix it and Tata Indicom has a stupid rule that says that as long as a complaint is not solved the 6 month pre-paid account is extended by that duration and I thought my 6 month duration connection was in danger of becoming a year long connection. Such pathetic service !! The workforce claiming that people are not doing what they are told to ?? I think Tatas needs to focus on local issues then to go for the big deals. I never could imagine such abysmally low levels of service from a brand that belongs to the famed Tata Group.Anyways....

Day 5: I had lost all hope yet as no one from Tata Indicom came I again called up Khalid who didnt pick my phone, I called up Vinod who also did not pick the phone and Ramesh also didnt pick the phone. I called up the Tata Indicom Helpline and demended a refund and asked them to take their stuff away. Now comes the clincher, another strange Tata Indicom rule no matter what happens if you have gone for a pre-paid braodband connection from Tata Indicom you cannot get the money back in any circumstances. I was naturally infuriated but decided to take a break and it was Saturday.

Day 6: I had lost all hope yet as no one from Tata Indicom came I again called up Khalid who didnt pick my phone, I called up Vinod who also did not pick the phone and Ramesh also didnt pick the phone. I called up the Tata Indicom Helpline and they reiterated that there people are in the field trying to solve the problem, by this time I had started feeling bad for the poor guys in the field, searching for a cable cut for a week and unable to locate it, awesome !!.

Day 7: I had lost absolutely all hope yet as no one from Tata Indicom came I again called up Khalid who didnt pick my phone, I called up Vinod who also did not pick the phone and Ramesh also didnt pick the phone. I went to the local Tata Indicom office and gave a good dressing down to the guys there. Foud out that I have to go to Brigade Office to fight it out as corporate office is there. Awesome and we say red tapism exists in government so is the Tata group a government enterprise ?? I don't think so yet the unfathomable levels of service indicate to a much larger problem which I would discuss later in the post.

Day 8: Finally when I was thinking of going to the corporate office as the customer have no senior to complain to even on helplines or direct numbers so the best bet seemed going to the main office and wasting my precious energy, time and spoiling my mood. I was thoroughly disappointed. Finally due to the shouting I did at the Tata Indicom office a poor guy Manohar came who fixed the problem in 15 minutes and told me that "Khalid and Ramesh usually switch off their phones when customers call".

Anyways so this long saga of Tata Braodband connection finally ended and touchwood it has been ok till now. The above incident apart from leaving a bad taste brings a number of things in perspective. Let us look at the above problem with a little more detail.

1. Sales team: The guy Vinod did an awesome job of calling me everyday before I gave him the cheque confirming the connection. So is the sales team justified in promising when they are fully aware of the fact that their claims will fall flat on their faces. Is it ethical ? Is their no law in India which caters to such issues of false promises? Can this be claimed as a fraud?

2. Policy makers: The really sad policies made by the policy makers of Tata Indicom. How can Tata Indicom make such policies that if Tata Indicom doesnt live upto their word of providing service in 24 hours nothing happens and if the customer is distraught he cannot even take his money back??

3. Workforce: The Tata Indicom incident brought some other aspects which have infested the service industry i.e. there is a serious gap between the expectations of the customer and the employees. Also there is a severe lack of customer focus on the part of employees and they perceive themselves as an entity which is different from the organisation and there is a serious disconnect between the employee's goals and the employer's goals and the organisation goals seem to be poles apart from employees. What does this imply? Does this mean we need to include a serious module on the salient features of customer service in the induction modules or a part of proffesional courses or does it indicate a more serious issue of a talent gap? Do we Indians who are proud of the fact that we are becoming a service driven economy actually should be proud of it? Do we have the wherewithal to sustain the advantage we have just about built in the last few years?

For the sake of India, I sincerely hope this is not true...............

Be Good !!
A