Exactly a week ago, I came across an ad somewhere- The Happy 2006 offer from Reliance. It promised customers Free Talk time worth Rs. 2006 (Valid for 2 months) + 2006 SMSes free. My old cell was already in its last stage and I succumbed to the temptation and went in for this offer, despite well-intentioned warnings from friends.
Everything was OK till the evening of 17th February. I tried to download a Ring tone and gave up because it got stuck midway. I cancelled the download cos I had to make a call. Later that night my balance was Rs. 1990. The next day I went out of town for a picnic. I left my ‘new’ cell at home. In the evening I tried to call up my mother, and was shocked to learn that my balance had come down to 66 Paise. Innumerable calls to Reliance Customer Service didn’t yield any results. They were uncooperative and most of the time sounded like ill-programmed robots, rattling off their Quality Policy. Earlier on, they were not able to get the details, as their system was either hung (hanged- to quote Reliance Customer Service) or getting upgraded. When I asked them to escalate the issue, I was told that the superiors had left for an emergency meeting. A few more calls later, I was told that the amount was deducted because I had been downloading Ring tones. I was then promised that the matter would be ‘escalated’ and the issue would be resolved in a few hours incase the error had occurred on their side. I visited the Reliance Infocomm website and dashed off a few mails to the Chairman, and yet the issue hasn’t been resolved.
At present the matter has been referred to the Technical Team, who has not been able to figure out that one cannot, even if one wanted to, download 284 rickshaw errr.. ring tones overnight. Either something is wrong with the handset- LG6230, or there is a problem with their software.This should go down as the most expensive ring tone in history, (and one that never got downloaded at all) I’m sure I could have watched Bryan Adams perform live for the same amount.
Ah.
ReplyDeleteQuite a tragedy, I must say.
That too from such a "reputed" company.
Atleast I am not extorted that much on my "Reliance India Call" scheme.
Good luck in getting your money back....
aww....poor you....try nudging them....
ReplyDeleteGud Luck...:)
Cheers!
:)
My boss had a similar problem and he wrote to the CEO of the service provider and the problem was resolved. Have you already written a letter to Mr.Ambani? If not, give it a try.
ReplyDeletethought of media kya?
ReplyDeleteeven a small time report followed by a link to the same to Mr. Neebupaani must do wonders *smirk*
Oh between my cousin bro came in close working relation with Reliance guys while he was a manager in 1990s in Mahanagar Gas - he used to tell me horror stories of small time contracters robbed by reliance of their due wages and left totally bankrupt!
Wookie, Ashish, I have dashed off atleast 4 mails to The Chairman- mr Anil ambani, and sent the link of this post to a few newspapers already. please link this post to ur blogs as well...am trying my best to make them sit up and take note...atleast
ReplyDeleteI happen to be a Reliance customer too. In the beginning, I used to make payments but it never used to get reflected in their statements. It took them one year to clear that mess and they would keep saying things like their stupid sytem does not work or gets hanged.
ReplyDeleteNow fortunately things are ok but this is a sad reflection on a company that used to go to its customer's customer during Dhirubhai's time. Anil had to face a lot of flak from Reliance Energy too and the CM of Delhi had to write to him.
Seems Reliance does not live up to its name anymore.
Reliance was always a lootmaar company! Never did trust it when it came to mobiles! Better to go with Tata! They are reliable at least! Don't lose sleep over this ... what's done is done now! Either sue them or write to the Consumer Protection Society but whatever you do ,, move on with life! Cheer up now! :)
ReplyDeleteThe best way out is write to the media. TOI, DNA, EXPRESS or MID-DAY. Try posting on the reliance info website too. In anycase, Consumer always suffers, be it reliance or anybody else. Once they have sold a product, they are hardly bothered and this is a global scenario. All the best !!
ReplyDeleteShanty.
ouch.. that must have really hurt... I didn't know that reliance was that bad... lets send a mail bomb to the customer service dept. teech.
ReplyDeleteheh heh, time to live without the mobile. jus' kiddin' :)
ReplyDeleteHope this gets resolved. I liked the title of the post.
Try approaching consumer forum...but easier said then done...hey but u can sacrifice a little for Bryan Adams...which song of his were u trying to download
ReplyDeleteAh....that's the reason I haven't had a connection from them despite they claim to be the cheapest. They stand true to their motto but missed out on one word in between Kar do Duniya ke paise muthi me..
ReplyDeletethe solution is "FOLLOW UP", i know thats easier said then done.
ReplyDeleteTake the matter to the highest authorities.
Raise ur voice at all available forums.
I ve heard abt such stuff even in tata indicom. These guys make money out of such ill-managed stuff! Anyway, thanks 4 letting the world know!
ReplyDeleteWell there have always been problems with cellular cos..especially Reliance and Airtel. However,we have to live with these problems!!The only thing I guess you can do is to pursue the matter until justice is done...But its unnecessary inconvenience!!
ReplyDeleteI think consumer forum and media is the best option.do not give up the issue.Ofcourse money matters but most imp is it should never happen again not with anybody.
ReplyDeleteTry and tell them that i will go to media,issue will be considered when thier rputation is at risk
Best of luck