Blackberry 8830 And Tata Indicom Reviewed

We are all very acquainted with the Tata Brand Name , which in India is synonymous with the line from Mr. Ratan Tata – “A promise is a promise” . One would expect that Tata Indicom ( a Tata group company) would have similar ethics.

It is a pretty long review I have written here which only goes to show my level of frustration and then surprise that ensued with the experience. I shall provide the latest engagement I had with them and which happens to be  the third experience i have had with Tata Indicom in the last 6 months . How it turned out is something you can decide for yourself at the end of the read.

I had before this experience gifted my father a Blackberry from Tata Indicom . The experience was soured by the fact that it took 5 visits and 2 weeks for the personnel at Tata Indicom to resolve the issues.

Date 20.03.2009 : I went to the Tata Indicom True Value Hub which is located in Bistupur , Jamshedpur to ask about the formalities of getting the Blackberry service.  Since mine , unlike my fathers was a new Indicom connection , i needed the update.  To my pleasant surprise , the cost of BlackBerry had dropped from Rs 27,000 to Rs 23,000 ( I got a dealers price : retail is still 24k) . I was asked to bring the document next time over and get handset as they did not have it with them. I paid some deposit and off i went.

Date 23.03.2009 :  Equipped with all documentation asked for , I reached at the TVH. Took about an hour to get all the papers in and finally have the handset in my hand.  Well, though i had the handset i was told it will take around 48 hours to activate the handset and get things going.

Date 26.03.2009 : I get a call from the Customer Support and she asks me to to provide the ESN number which was needed for activation. I provided that to her on the phone. I am told i need to come the next day and to bring the phone along for activation .

My thoughts, finally things are getting better at Tata Indicom

Date 27.03.2009 : On the third trip, 3 days after i had provided the documentation I was asked to come to the True Value hub for activation purpose. I called before leaving and reached the hub at the appointed hour. The saleswoman , Ms. Simmi Kumari asked me to wait while they activated the phone. 1 hour later i was told that i had given them the wrong ESN phone code( Wow ! I get blamed for doing there job   Can You Imagine ??? ). On asking her to provide me the reference as to where she had written it down , we came to know that the number noted was indeed correct ( luckily she had the paper where she had written it) and then she accepted that it was a mistake on their own part. I am very forgiving to people who accept there fault and so all i did was just smile. They said they would fix it soon and so i waited.

1 hours past I am told i will have to come back again later as it was not done yet. On my insistence the superior , Ms. Mana and her superior (I forget his name) requested me saying that by 04:00 pm I would receive the phone at my home.I was asked to deposit the phone and that i did , no receipts were provided.

I waited till 04:00 pm and then called on which i was put on hold twice for 6 minutes each and the phone disconnected. Finally Ms. Mana came to the phone and said they wanted some more time to find out what had happened. On asking for her senior’s contact number she said ” He is busy with lot of work. I am afraid , I cannot provide his contact number” which is strange ,as it was on his request that i had left the phone with them and it was he who had made the promise. She said she would call in 5 minutes and noone has called for next 2 days.

As you can very well imagine I was so bugged that i almost swore never to use a Tata Indicom product for the rest of my life. ” These scoundrels took people for a ride and treated there customers like junk ” is what i said to myself as i was  very annoyed at there lackadaisical approach.

Date : 28.03.2009 – I wrote to customer complaint and the response i got from them seemed like a cliche reply with absolutely no reference made to the behaviour of the people in charge and 4 days waiting period for me to find out where my handset is and what is being done about the problem.

What does one do????  Is there anything I can do to get heard from someone sane enough , within the company.  Then a thought came to my mind,  which i am sure most people having an issue would probably never think of.
Guess What !!!!!!!

Yes. I wrote an email to the Managing Director of Tata Indicom ( Mr. Anil Sardana). Got his email address  from undisclosed sources, of course

In the letter i mentioned the entire details of what i have been through for the last week and the hopelessness of the service i had received.

LETTER TO THE MANAGING DIRECTOR ( Mr. ANIL SARDANA)

Note : I have removed all email address’s from the  letter to preserve individual interests.

From: Rahul Kumar
To: Anil Sardana
Sent: Mon Mar 30 07:45:21 2009
Subject: Obscene treatment of Blackberry Service Request

Dear Mr Sardana,

I would like to bring to notice the unfair and absolutely ridiculous treatment of Blackberry Users by the Tata Indicom True Value Hub.( Bistupur Main Road Branch Jamshedpur)

My apologies for having to write a long episode but it was imperative that i brought forth to your notice the amount of harrassment i have been through due to my decision to stick to Tata Indicom. I will just have to say that i remember the words of the man who is known for his words, Mr. Ratan Tata,  ” A promise is a promise” and if not responded to , I am afraid i will have to question him about the same.

To bring to light the fact that this is the second instance of my dealing with Tata Indicom BlackBerry Service which has been dealt in a callous manner and which leaves a very bad experience for me to tell as far as service is concerned  at Tata Indicom.

The first was when i had bought a Blackberry for my father’s use , who is a senior Tata Motors employee. To his and mine utter dismay , it had taken 5 visits and more then 2 weeks of insistence on his part to retrieve the same.

Due to our 25+ years of association with the Tata Group i decided to give them a second try while purchasing a Blackberry service for my own personal use.

I had applied for my Blackberry a couple days ago and after 2 visits ( first made to get the details and the second to provide the documentation as required along with the payment of Rs 23,000 as required for which i have the receipt) I was hoping that there would be no further hassles.

Phone No : **********

Date : 27.03.2008 : On the third trip, 3 days after i had provided the documentation I was asked to come to the hub for activation purpose. I called before leaving and reached the hub at the appointed hour. The saleswoman , Ms. Simmi Kumari asked me to wait while they activated the phone. 1 hour later i was told that i had given them the wrong phone code( She had asked me for this a day earlier over phone). On asking to her provide me the reference as to where she had written it down , we came to know that the number noted was indeed correct ( luckily she had the paper where she had written it) and said that it was a mistake on their own part. They said they would fix it soon and so i waited.

1 hours past I am told i will have to come back again later as it was not done yet. On my insistence the superior , Ms. Mana and her superior (Name not known) requested me saying that by 04:00 pm I would receive the phone at my home.I was asked to deposit the phone and that i did , no receipts were provided.

I waited till 04:00 pm and then called on which i was put on hold twice for 6 minutes each and the phone disconnected. Finally Ms. Mana came to the phone and said they wanted some more time to find out what had happened. On asking for her senior’s contact number she said ” He is busy with lot of work. I am afraid , I cannot provide his contact number” which is strange ,as it was on his request that i had left the phone with them and it was he who had made the promise. She said she would call in 5 minutes and noone has called since.

Date : 28.03.2009 – I wrote to customer complaint and the response i got them seemed like a cliche reply with absolutely no reference made to the behaviour of the people in charge and 4 days waiting period for me to find out where my handset is and what is being done about the problem. I have attached the response to the end of this email. It is unacceptable to me that this is the kind of service that comes along with a premium Blackberry connection.

I am utterly disappointed with the service , or rather the lack of it. No communication, an overbearing attitude and a complete lack of professionalism is what amazes me. I would like you to take a personal interest in this matter to understand that if “Tata Indicom” wishes to become the number one service provider in the country, there is a lot it leaves desired for.

Looking forward to your response.

regards,

Rahul Kumar

Astute Visions
Managing Director
Website Development and Internet Marketing Company
Office Phone : (0657) 6544594
Mobile : +919934181511
Email : XXXXXXXXXX

From: Anil Sardana

To: Rahul Kumar

Cc: Pradeep Dwivedi

Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 9:07 AM

Subject: Re: Obscene treatment of Blackberry Service Request

Dear Rahul

Thanks for the feedback. While I am traveling abroad, I am endorsing this mail to my senior colleague Mr Pradeep Dwivedi, who would ensure immediate corrective and preventive action.

Pradeep – after due corrections, please let me know names with shortfall in performance, for exemplary action!!

Pls keep me informed on ATR.

Regards

Anil Sardana
Sent from My Blackberry@Tata Indicom

Was i shocked ?? Yes , absolutely . I guess anyone would be.  The MD of a multi million $ company who is travelling abroad , whose sales representatives do not have the courtesy or the time to reply or correspond with me for days  and who made my play merry go round for days , replies to my email of duress within 2 hours . WOW !

The best is yet to come !!!!!!!!!!

I had the regional heads come over personally to my house with the blackberry the same afternoon of  30.03.2009. Not only was the phone activated, but they offered there sincere condolence on the issue.  The matter was taken care of  so professionally thereafter that it made me wonder whether i was dealing with the same company.

I received some 20 or so calls from various cells of  Tata Indicom in  the following days to ensure i had no problem with the service.

CONCLUSION :  At the end of this episode , all i can say is that the company is run by a thorough professional , Mr. Sardana of course.  His responsiveness definitely goes a long way in making sure I can bank upon Tata Indicom for my needs.  However , about the after sales service , it is still a big QUESTION MARK (?) .

I have written this and am posting it so that people  can actually take hint and no , not start emailing the MD ( wont be easy getting his email id anyways ) but do take things up with senior management of a company. Definitely helped me , and am sure will help others as well.