I tried dialing a Delhi number from Bangalore today only to be told the "service wasn't enabled" on my fixed line. I called Airtel on 198 to check. Spent 30 minutes and spoke to two CSR's.
The first one kept asking me what number I was trying to dial and really didn't get it despite repeating the number about 3 times. Then she was convinced that 011 is an ISD code and I was dialing international. I hung up in disgust and tried again.
The next attempt took about 20 minutes to reach a CSR. This time round the person assured me that he could and would get STD enabled on my phone within 4 hours and refused to give me a tracking umber.
5 hours later -- no surprises, STD remained disabled. I called 198 again and asked for a complaint number which the CSR claimed would only be resolved by December 24th (three days away). When I asked to escalate, I was given yet another number where I had to listen to that irritating Airtel IVR tell me the escalation department works only reduced hours from Monday to Friday.
I'm still without STD.
Does Airtel really believe that the way to do good business is to have customers deal with flaky IVR systems instead of competent people who can help resolve issues? Given the interactions that I've had with Airtel CSR's, the term moron readily comes to mind.
However, being the good Samaritan that I am, I've got a suggestion for Airtel. Get into the healthcare space. Here's the rationale: given the crap product and lousy customer service, Airtel causes immense grief to customers. This grief, frustration and stress will eventually lead to health issues for customers. What better way to make even more money from customers than by getting into the "healthcare" space? The quotes around the word healthcare are deliberate: I don't expect more than a facade from Airtel -- proclaiming to provide a service while actually just continuing to fleece customers.
Die, Airtel, die!
The first one kept asking me what number I was trying to dial and really didn't get it despite repeating the number about 3 times. Then she was convinced that 011 is an ISD code and I was dialing international. I hung up in disgust and tried again.
The next attempt took about 20 minutes to reach a CSR. This time round the person assured me that he could and would get STD enabled on my phone within 4 hours and refused to give me a tracking umber.
5 hours later -- no surprises, STD remained disabled. I called 198 again and asked for a complaint number which the CSR claimed would only be resolved by December 24th (three days away). When I asked to escalate, I was given yet another number where I had to listen to that irritating Airtel IVR tell me the escalation department works only reduced hours from Monday to Friday.
I'm still without STD.
Does Airtel really believe that the way to do good business is to have customers deal with flaky IVR systems instead of competent people who can help resolve issues? Given the interactions that I've had with Airtel CSR's, the term moron readily comes to mind.
However, being the good Samaritan that I am, I've got a suggestion for Airtel. Get into the healthcare space. Here's the rationale: given the crap product and lousy customer service, Airtel causes immense grief to customers. This grief, frustration and stress will eventually lead to health issues for customers. What better way to make even more money from customers than by getting into the "healthcare" space? The quotes around the word healthcare are deliberate: I don't expect more than a facade from Airtel -- proclaiming to provide a service while actually just continuing to fleece customers.
Die, Airtel, die!
