Hate to reminisce on my ‘ordeal’ in getting a new connection, but there are a few things which I felt I had to put down in the hope that some Customer Care executive would read n make sense/use of:

- speak to a customer keeping his/her problem history on top of your mind..
This lady I talked to, I let her know my displeasure(a very mild word!) at waiting 9 days to get the pre-paid SIM activated. I ask her to abandon efforts in pre-paid activation(since nothing seems to be happening) and to get it activated in post-paid ASAP (all documentss perfectly submitted previous day) and she tells me “Sir, it will take a maximum of 7 days”! Here I am giving her another chance at keeping a customer in the network and she goes on to tell me the worst-case scenario for activation!

- ‘server down’ is never an excuse..prioritize customer requests!
I worked for Reliance Communications and yes, there are lots of times when the server blanks and you can do nothing about it. But we made sure we were there when the servers were up, in the meanwhile we would prioritize the customer requests and make sure we got the serious SLA violations cleared first. In my Airtel ‘ordeal’, either people did not bother to wait for the server, did not bother to acknowledge my request or there were a whole load of chicken execs who did not know how to get my problem solved!

– Follow-up..
I interacted with 7 Customer Care Execs and I believe there was only one Jensy who understood the gravity and solution to the problem. She followed up(with me, the Mobile Store and the execs who came to my company) on the problem for the whole day and no matter what/who/where the block was, at the end of the day I had my activation. She updated me with the progress and I felt there was someone taking care of the problem and somehow I had this feeling my activation was going to be working soon.

All is well that ends well? The ending was not all that brilliant.. My given plan was not the one I opted for! I hate myself for adding to the general Indian attitude of ‘hotha hain, chalthe hain bhai’!

Edited : I did get the plan I opted for – the delayed “Welcome Call” explained it all well.

After 12 days of amazement(anxiety & enthusiasm can’t hold for that long a time), I finally got activated my new Airtel connection!!

I’m in not much of a mood to type now – I got to make all the calls that I had to catch up with from Friendship day! Thanks to my parents, my brother and all my friends for bearing with my old, faulty phone.

Will write on my experiences(Airtel – Express Yourself!) sometime later.

Have a very Nice Day!

Day 6 (!#&%$*!!)

I should say, I am impressed with my patience levels!.. It’s been a week since I PAID for a new connection and I am still to have it activated..

I got no reply to my mail to the Customer Care(and they say they reply in 24 hours!).. The store people said they got in touch with X and they were informed my connection will be active tomorrow…

Interesting thing is, tomorrow people from X are having a camp in my company premises.. .. if my connection is not activated by then, boy, I shall kick some *ss!

Irritatingly, Day 5.

Tried getting help from my friends but none of them have access to the Operation Support System..

Checked the Service Provider’s website and mailed my problem to their Customer Care.. I was pleasantly surprised to get their reply on a Sunday but the mail just said that my number became active on August 3rd(Day two) and that I should call their Customer Care number for further assistance.

The same response from the customer care number ” Please recharge to avail the service”!! It really angers me knowing that I have already recharged(TWICE!) and yet I have to hear this automated voice ask me to recharge so that I can speak to a Customer Care Executive!

Today being Friendship day, I was very upset on having to miss a lot of calls with my dear friends. X – it may be the last time you hear a ‘please’ from me!

I have sent a reply .. Also, I will make sure the store has their share of bone-picking with X done too tomorrow. Lets see..

It’s now Day 4.

Ok.. I’ll try tell this story as simply as I can(I used to be good at story narration in primary school, not too good now I realize)..

Day Zero : I got a new phone n connection on the last day of July(I salute the credit card’s invention!). The gentlemen at the store were very helpful with advise on which connection to opt for and also lent a very understanding ear to my requirements. So after considering all the positives, I got a number I liked from service provider X. (Alas! If I may add.) The store people forget to recharge my number with talk-time so my connection stays inactive for the day.

Day One : I take my Address proof to the store and get my number recharged but unfortunately the ‘server’s’ down at the service provider’s end and so the whole day my talk-time does not get reflected in their systems(and so I remain inactive). I travel to Kerala the same evening.

Day Two : Still inactive. The people at the store take my Kerala number from my filled form and call me to say that I’ll have to provide them another Address proof because X does not accept rent agreements as Address proof. Thank you, why was this not told to me first ??!

Day Three : I walk in to the store with my driving license copy and my inactive phone. The store calls the Customer Care at X, who tells them that there is no talk-time registered and that is the reason for not having my number active. So the store(from their pockets) recharges one more time for me.

Back to Day Four, Today : Yup, still INACTIVE. I call Customer Care from my friends phone, the lady tells me I have NOT recharged and so I will continue to remain inactive. I say I have the transaction numbers for the recharges done but apparently only those recharges that reflect in the system can be traced using a transaction ID number. Suggested Solution – please recharge with talk-time! I then call the store who says they will give me a new SIM(again their own expense)..

Well I’ve worked in the Telecom field for 8 months.. And I am very interested in knowing this story’s end. I don’t want the store to spend another dime just to satisfy their customer. I eagerly look forward to seeing how X takes this further. I’ll try calling up a few friends of mine (used to work in X) and check whether I can have my number active.

Meanwhile, phone stays inactive but still serves me with all the extra features I am new with.