KnownSense

Updated. Why Airtel should fail and why it needs a maths lesson.

I’ve been having an ongoing customer service nightmare with Airtel for the past week. I’ve done the back and forth with them on their customer service numbers and via twitter for at least a week. No resolution yet and I feel this company now needs to fail for the sake of all its customers and the pain they feel. Despite being clear, despite showing them whats wrong, despite taking them through the paces of resolving the issue I get no resolution.

It was an easy error for them to fix. I upgraded from a 10GB limit to a 30GB limit. Somewhere in the back end of this company, some systems aren’t getting updated. So, on the 19th I get capped. My connection speeds drop from 2Mbps to 256 Kbps. They tell me that I’ve exceeded my quota of 10 GB, even while they confirm I have a 30GB connection.

I ve done all I could. I’ve shown them my meter readings from their billing site (when it works and another story by itself.), and told them they have made a mistake. 80% of 30GB is not 10GB.

I have no hope. However, the bills arrive on time, with calls pestering one to pay. To hell with these companies. Airtel Sucks.

Airtel, please hire people after a basic IQ test.

Morons Morons Morons … is all I can mutter all day.

Update

So they finally managed to get their act together. But it took some pushing. Pushing them to acknowledge their side of the error via mail took some time. Then I wanted discounts, which they agreed to and I insisted on an email to state this.

And then I got the printed bill. Everything was wrong again and I was unable to loginto their billing and payment system as usual. Wait another 3 days and I login, the online bill was the correct amount. So there, I paid it off and I hope my woes with Airtel are done.

Key takeaways:

• 1. Their twitter channel is staffed by slightly more intelligent staffers. Use it.
• 2. Ask for email acknowledgements for everything, summarize your discussion regarding discounts etc and send it to them.
• 3. Check your online bills rather than the printed ones. The printed ones suck, even for the trees.

ISP crapspeak

I’ve had to deal with a couple of ISPs lately. Here are a couple of pointers for cutting through the stuff ISPs try to sell you and a couple of words you need to be aware of.

Red words:

Upto: This usually means that the ISP can get away with providing vastly inferior service as long as they can show you that they can theoretically send you data from one of their in-house servers at the “upto” speed. Why does it suck, you want to know. Well, most connections start off good, but slowly deteriorate until you get the theoretical minimum under the plan which is 0Mbps.

Capital B vs Small b: 2 MBps is not the same as 2Mbps. Repeat that after me; 2 MBps is not the same as 2Mbps. Can’t say more. Most ISPs are careful about claims on their websites, but their marketing and field agents do not have a clue if it’s byte or bit and will sell you a MBps plan while the company will give you a Mbps plan. Strangely, they don’t like it when you pay the Bill/1024.

Bad billing: Ask for SLAs upfront and don’t be afraid to call up and ask for discounts once you put in a complaint for no service. An ISP I used sent me a bill for 6 more months after I stopped service and gave their equipment back. I even got a final all clear receipt. Despite that, I got collection calls 8 months later for the 6 months of service I didn’t use.

Coverage area:Do not buy a 3G dongle without asking the ISP to show that it works in your area at the advertised speeds. Showroom speeds don’t matter. A month of no service later, you will be stuck with the spectrum’s license fees.

I find most ISPs in India terrible, even the big names. They do seem to be trying to improve, but continue to fail on the field. Any other tips?