What’s with the Air Fare?

The Price War

Air Fare is the most exciting aspect of Aviation (or may be whole of Travel) industry.  Deregulation of Industry (in 1978 in US) and entry LCCs the market with their competitive pricing, forced legacy carriers to question their existing COST PLUS pricing strategies and come up with Revenue / Yield optimization systems, which started and intensified the price war by introducing concepts like demand based pricing which let airlines charge more from inelastic segments while having differential pricing for elastic segments and capturing the excess demand…

War is still on… and the air fare is no less than stock price – as volatile and you never get to buy the stock at that “Fundamentally Right” price!!

Let’s talk about what’s happening in India…

No, I am not going to get deeper into these pricing concepts (will park it for some other day…), what made me write this post is the recent happenings in Indian aviation industry, which  is in news for reasons no other than Volatile, Irrational nature of Air Fares and Airlines charging exorbitant prices, if you haven’t read these so far it’s worth reading some of these articles which explain in detail the current state of

• Demand and supply equation and hyper volatility in Air Fare
• With real air fare data of this one explains a bit about how Booking Velocity determines how much a flier will pay…
• And how Carriers jack up prices in situations which can very well be compared to blackmailing of fliers in need…

Flash back to August 2010

These news items last week reminded me of a news piece which I read in August 2010 when Air India announced reduction in fares…

…The national carrier will reduce fares on 48 domestic routes by 3-23% effective September 1. “This is a purely commercial decision, which aims at increasing the airline’s market share,” a senior ministry official told ET…  (Link)

Now, I have no idea if this reduction happened and what those 48 routes in question were (May be Air India can throw some light on that!!), what did happen was an exorbitant hike in Fares during Festive season in November 2010…

…While airfares across the domestic network are 15-25% higher this peak travel season, the Delhi-Mumbai sector has seen a 200-300% jump thanks to a number of factors plaguing the two airports that together account for almost 70% of all domestic flights… (Link)

Enter Regulators…

If these hikes were not enough Airlines were again proposing massive hike in fares…

… Domestic airlines have proposed a massive hike in air fares ignoring government’s calls not to resort to exorbitant fares after they were hauled up for abrupt rise in ticket costs even during non-peak season… (Link)

And thus intervened the biggies like Aviation Ministry, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Competition Commission of India (CCI)  talking of Cartel formation and the need for transparency in air fares and asking airlines to follow practices  like putting a price band to airfares every month and publish them in newspapers or their websites.

What Next?

This is just the beginning of the tussle between airlines and department and hopefully we will see some serious action in coming weeks.  Would also be interested to know

Is there any answer or a way to track the authenticity of fare reduction announcements, like the one highlighted above where Air India announced for cut in September?

How Indian consumer is going to react to this whole episode, it’s really sad to see how quiet they have been so far on this whole episode…

How ministry and DGCA will react and what steps will they take… will they take a step forward and provide this data of air fares on their websites?

This is also just a beginning for new topic on Factory …I will be closely watching this event and sharing more posts on this interesting topic of airline pricing… keep reading…

Bye ANZ, Hi Westpac

Account Opening with ANZ

When I came to Oz last year, my organization because of their existing relationship with ANZ got my personal account opened with ANZ bank. I was happy, for what i needed was a savings account, online transactions and good ATM network. ANZ was not bad on any of these, and i had not experienced any other bank to compare and wasnt aware of the fact that I can choose my salary bank… (as I could not in India)

Internet Explorer and ANZ loosing a customer

Early this year (2009) when I felt the need for credit card (I wasnt able to book my air tickets online using ANZ access card). I visited ANZ (as I was already banking with them) checked my options for visa debit and/ or credit card … there was nothing with Zero annual fees. And as Credit card will take long becuase of verficiation process, I decided to go with Visa Debit card.

I initiated the process, however LUCKILY guys internet explorer crahsed number of times and simply refused to register me and I was told that the whole process will take around 5-7 working days along with verification etc etc a. Anyways, thanks to internet explorer which crashed, guy asked me to come later in the day. I came out and just thought of visiting Westpac bank right across the road (one of my friend had credit card wtih no annual fees… thought of checking it out)

Hi Westpac

Friednly staff (at least i felt marked differecne between the treatment I got in these two banks … Westpac was more friednly, helpful environment, while ANZ was more business, formal and rule book environment). Discussed options in detail, really went ahead to understand why do I need credit card and yes they did have card with no annual fee for first year. Completed the verification process then and there online in 15 mins or so, opened the account and later card reached me in 5 working days. By the time ANZ was struggling with his Internet explorer, my account was up and running with Westpac. Later on I did informed ANZ guy about the same and he was amazed to know how could Westpac completed verification process online in 15 mins for a person on wokers permit and not a permanent resident of Australia. Well thats for him to figure out ..however who cares if one small customer goes !!

Finally Bye ANZ

Most of the banks are now waving off Account fee if you monthly deposit $2000. However I noticed that ANZ is still charging me $5 everymonth even when my salary is being credited to their account. I walked to the branch and enquired about the same …on asking why am I charged when all the banks have waived off fee? My friendly Bank rep told me .. sir, Not all the banks! ANZ is not waving it off .. however what we might be doing early next year is that we can give you Visa Debit card linked to your Bank account instead of this Access Card, however fees will still be there. Thank you! I said, I would like to close my account. Okie Sir, its simple you just have to fill up one form. I thanked him again told him will close the account in couple of days once I have opened the account with other Bank. Again! Seems like it doesnt matter if one small customer goes

Again …Hi Westpac!

I again crossed the road to visit the Red Bank .. completed formalities and my new account is up and running. Meanwhile I also closed my Credit card account with Westpac as they are offering Master Debit with personal account. So I have finally made a transition and hopefully will not be paying any monthly fees whole process took around 20 mins. Will soon transfer everything to Westpac and shut down ANZ.

I will miss…

Visa: Only thing i am not very happy about is that Westpac has Master Debit and not Visa Debit … will miss Visa….In past in India i had bad experience with Master Credit and Debit cards…and somehow i have this perception that Visa is a better Brand than Master (Dunno why).

Website: I loved the simple neat and friedly website of ANZ … will take some time to get used to basic and archaic looking Westpac website

Read the role of Technology in this story

ICICI UPdate 4

Track the complete story here

Finally …. Resolved

This mail took real long time….However it finally happened that Standard Charted and ICICI bank could talk and sort the issue. Appreciate the fact that ICICI has accepted their fault and have decided to credit the money to my account.

————–

Dear Mr Sharma ,

We wish to inform you that we have received the necessary NEFT details from Standard Chartered Bank. Based on the details, it is identified  that the remittance has been returned by us for the reason ” Beneficiary Name differs “. This reason was provided as your account was not activated and there was no name reflecting for the account.

We have initiated to credit of INR xxxx your account for the charges levied by Standard Chartered Bank for the return and will update you once the account is credited.

Sincerely,

xxxxxxx

Manager – Service Quality

—————

Overall – Alls well that ends well,  in spite of minor hiccups which I think cannot have been ignored the case and issue rests in peace with satisfied customer …

Finally

• Hope ICICI will take due action and put necessary info on the pre activated account kits .. and inform front end staff whats the difference between pre activated kit and actual activation of accounts.
• Finally an email alert would really be helpful when account is activated from back office. ICICI does have excellent email / sms alerts, not too sure why there was no alert this time…

Track the complete story here

Updates on ICICI 3

Track the complete story here

No resolution yet … Sad and disappointing ….

As requested in my last post and a mail to HiFx I had requested them to connect me with the relevant people in Standard Charted Bank in India. I should really appreciate their prompt responses so far and they did send me the name and contact number of Relevant person in Standard Charted bank India.

Post that I had detailed discussion with Standard Charted representative in India who provided me brief details about the transaction and also validated the fact that funds were returned by ICICI bank.  I had also provided these details to ICICI person to directly get in touch with Standard Charted Bank and get the issue resolved, to this they responded with such a curt one liner -

——————–

Dear Mr Sharma ,

We are also co-ordinating with them will update you on the same.

Sincerely,

xxxxxxxxxx (Name removed)

Manager – Service Quality

——————-

Now, am not sure if this was curt or not. But it did give me such feeling. So far  they were telling me that they are not able to get necessary details from Standard Charted Bank  to track the returned transaction and would need help from HiFx in this regard to close the issue. Now when I have provided them with all the details … they could not even care to acknowledge it with a THANKS!!

Further, its been two working days since I provided ICICI the details of contact person from Standard Charted I haven’t yet heard from ICICI on anything …  With every passing day they are testing my patience and loosing all the good words i had so far for them…..

Track the complete story here

Requesting HiFx and Standard Charted Bank

With reference to this issue what I could gather till now is that parties involved in the transaction are -

• HiFx (visible to me and I can interact with)
• ICICI bank (Visible to me and I can interact with)
• Australian Bank of HiFx  (Not too sure which Bank is this)
• Intermediary Bank in India (Transaction cannot complete without them in this case it is Standard Charted Bank in India)

Request to HiFx and Standard Charted Bank

HiFx has asked me to keep them updated about the case as they would be interested to know who is at fault and if Standard Charted is making up the story they would like to ask their Australian Bank to take action against them.

I have again requested them to check if it possible for them to provide me with the details of NEFT transaction that happened in India between Standard Charted and ICICI. Or may be connect me with the right person in Standard Charted with whom I can take up the matter. If anybody from Standard Charted reading this whole case, would really like them to come up and help me out.

Regarding NEFT process,  FAQ on RBI website clarifies in this question that details can be arranged from remitting bank (Standard Charted in this case), however it is not clear if Beneficiary Bank keeps the record of returned transactions or it is there in NEFT system

Q.24. Is there any way a remitting customer can track the remittance transaction?

Ans : The remitting customer can track the remitting transaction through the remitting branch only, as the remitting branch is informed about the status of the remitted transactions.

Further my dear banks can also reach out to RBI help desk to get it resolved, hope ICICI is doing this, no I don’t have the energy left to add another party in the scene …

Q.13. Whom I can contact, in case of non-credit or delay in credit to the beneficiary account?

Ans : Contact your bank / branch. If the issue is not resolved satisfactorily, the Customer Service Department of RBI may be contacted on nefthelpdeskncc@rbi.org.in or write to -

The General Manager,
Reserve Bank of India,
National Clearing Centre
First Floor, Free Press House
Nariman Point
Mumbai – 400 027

Let’s see how long will it take … wish they would not have taken special permission to open account

Tack the complete issue here

Updates on ICICI 2

Track the complete story here

Status

Simply put – Issue is not yet resolved.  Alas, mail to CTO could help so far that issue got escalated to Top management faster, else  I would have still been struggling with escalation levels…. and could not very well relate to the comments of others on my

I think its worthwhile to share the issue now

Opening of New Account

When I was travelling to India last month. I had opened NRE savings account around end of October. I am thankful to ICICI that they took special permissions to open the account with Zero Balance. I had promised them to transfer necessary money for minimum balance as soon as the account gets activated. However you can see that my thankfulness ends there!!

While opening account i was given  an account kit and was told that as soon as the account is active I would be able to use the login details provided there and it would normally take 3-5 working days. Here I was to depend on the number of days and no message will come when my account was to be activated.  After around 5-6 days I used the login details, it worked and I was under impression that my account is activated now and should transfer the money as promised. (Now – I cannot transfer money to NRE account from any domestic Indian account, it accepts money only from overseas international accounts so had to remit money from Oz)

Around 10th of November I remitted money to my newly opened account via HiFx (I have always used them for past transactions and has always been satisfied with their service and money has safely gone to my other ICICI accounts smoothly).

OUCH…

However HiFx guys called me up to tell me that money has been returned back to their intermediary bank (in this case Standard Charted Bank in India) as the account details were wrong. Now this happened because my new ICICI account was not yet ACTIVATED. It got activated only on 17th

In all this process I lost some money. HiFx gave me two options of calling the money back to Australia or wait for sometime and then transfer money (less the money I lost) to ICICI account again.

After consulting with ICICI that the account is now ACTIVE they advised me to transfer the money again to India account (this was sensible decision as in the process of calling money back I would have again given the foreign currency conversion charges). So my account got credited with lesser money on around 19th November.

Where’s the confusion

Here is the gist of conversation I had so far with ICICI -

Funny Pre activated Kit

Now ICICI customer care told me that the login kit provided to me was pre activated kit, and I could login to the account using given details very next day however REAL ACTIVATION only happens when they activate the account from Back Office which only happened on 17th of November. ICICI has accepted that if was the fault on their part that my account activation got delayed and was not given correct info by the front line staff (I do have mails from senior customer care members to back this claim)

ICICI can’t trace the transaction that was returned Back

They accept their fault about the delay in account opening and wrong information. However they cannot trace the records of transaction that was returned back because account information was not right. They simply telling me that no transaction happened before 19th Nov

I have provided them with the SWIFT messages provided to me by HiFx stating -

• Message from HiFx Bank to Standard Charted Bank stating ORIGINAL money to be credited to my ICICI Bank account
• Message from Standard Charted Bank to HiFx Australia Bank stating that money was returned back because beneficiary (my ICICI NRE account) account details didn’t match
• Message of last transaction of stating ACTUAL (and less) money credited to my ICICI account

ICICI representative also told me that in India Standard Charted bank transfer money to ICICI using domestic payment transfer process called NEFT in which the goof up happened and NEFT charges were deducted and that ICICI has not deducted anything. Further ICICI is not able to trace the details of NEFT transaction that happened between Standard Charted and ICICI.

ICICI expects me to take this up with HiFx and get them the details of domestic Indian transaction and when I provide me with these details they will be able to close the case. I am not too sure how fair is this expectation of ICICI – When they cannot trace the transaction sitting in India how can HiFx do that.

Clearly ICICI is at fault

Anyways, it doesn’t matter to me who deducted what and why. So far from the facts it is very much clear to me –

1. There are enough proofs to all the transactions that happened between any parties (HiFx, HiFx Australia Bank, Intermediary Bank Standard Charted, ICICI)
2. Fact that ICICI has accepted that they are at fault by not ACTIVATING the account on time and not giving me right information at the time of account opening
3. I have done the transactions in past too and have never been charged anything by any party, this time goof up happened coz account was not activated on time and thus ICICI should reimburse me with the money I have lost.
4. Special approvals and Special status are only while opening accounts… once you are customer … Rules start to come into action

(In any case they are the verge of loosing some faith of one long lasting customer.. if  at all they care.. hope they do)

Track the complete story here

Update on ICICI

CTO Act

While i was composing my last post on curious case of sales call, I had also forwarded the mail conversation of problem with NRE account to the CTO of bank Mr Pravir Vohra, whom i had met recently during FST evevt in Sydney.

Thanks to him that service managers are taking action on same and did called me up to discuss the case and are acting on it.

I am wondering…

1. What if I would not have fwded the mail to him? am sure it would have taken longer and I would have been struggling with mails

2. What if CTO would have just ignored it thinking its not his department but that of customer care.

What is your Institution doing for your customers?

I feel gone are the days when IT was purely back office, increasingly IT leaders are realizing this as Mr Dhiren Kulkarni  Joint CIO,  St. George bank stressed during his presentation at FST event that I as a CIO own my customer. I feel Its a big statement, customer is not only the responsibility of customer care rep or front staff or business but also of the IT. No wonder that CIO of CBA took sal cut when their Net banking was down and thus customer satisfaction levels went down.

All said lets see how long will it take at ICICI before issue gets resolved. Anyways, thanks to Mr Pravir for taking action.

Curious case of Sales call …

How’s your experience mate?

Yesterday I randomly asked one of my friend in India about his experience with ICICI bank, and he repeated what i broadly feel about them – it’s been best so far compared to all the banks he banked with’ for customer care he said that its good however their promotional and sales calls are very irritating. Now this was an interesting comment he made about sales calls, which also made me write this post …

New Account and a New Problem…

I recently opened Non Resident External (NRE) account with ICICI bank. Its just been a month and I faced one major problem. For the past  7-10 days I have been interacting with various people from ICICI bank over phone (making international calls) or having tough time explaining issue to different customer care reps over e mails. I will not go deep into the issue, as I still feel that team is making sincere effort to help out,  however am waiting to see  how long will they take…

Interesting….

Yesterday my mom called me up and told me that somebody from ICICI called up, took your Australia number and they might give you a call. I was wondering if they are trying to reach me out for the issue I am facing with NRE account, I also wondered why will they call up my home in India when I have already given them my Australia contact details. This lady calls me up at around late evening Australia time, being busy with another call that time I asked her to give me a call in 10-15 mins. She did called up again after couple of hours and that was late during night at around 11 pm, am sure she was not aware of my time zone. I was like no issues… at least she might be calling to help me out…

Sir, Why are you not using your Trading account?

However to my surprise (or not so surprised now) she was asking me why am I not using my online share trading account for quiet some time now …what the hell!! Now I did informed her about the time and told her that I am not using my trading account for the reason that I am not in country … I thought of giving her my peace of my mind asking her about other issues I am facing with NRE account, but then realized no point telling her all this as she might not be aware of the fact that I hold NRE account with them too. (and that too interestingly when all accounts are opened at same branch!!!). She was simply doing her job and trying to meet her target of making calls …

Sir, read our research reports and gain more …

Then she went on telling and selling me about ICICI stock research reports and asking me to invest in market as Indian stock market is looking bullish and I should read daily morning reports and weekly calls and invest accordingly to get good returns. I did ask her if she is giving me guarantee of those returns or not (I know its not possible, was just checking how she responds and unnecessarily grilling her..) however it was very late at my end so I asked her to send me all that info on mail and I will see what to do with that. Thank God they had my valid mail id !!

ICICI, Any answers??

1. If sales rep can take so much of effort to call my India home, take my International number and give me a sales call, what’s stopping rep from After sales team to give me a call to understand the issue I am facing, rather they are just playing mail mail …
2. If sales rep can make an effort to get my number, they can also make an effort to do some more research to know that this is Australia number and what should be right time to call up … Put some effort to delight customers mate …
3. In terms of Technology, ICICI is really great in India, however Sid with trading account is still different from Sid with NRE account! I would have felt much better if customer rep should have first updated me on the status of issue I am facing with NRE account and then went on asking me about my trading account. How wonderful it would have been !!
4. And please somebody check why are you so promising on phone that reading ICICI research reports and then investing in market would give good returns … Indian market is looking bullish, this is the right time to invest… things like that ..are you going to take guarantee? I don’t think this is good example of selling ….

Finally…

I have been banking with ICICI bank for quiet some time now. Thanks to their sales force they follow you every where. Be it student account while I was in college, salary account with all my employers till date or Online stock trading account and latest entry being newly opened Non Resident External (NRE) savings account. In my relationship so far I have had my share of good and bad experiences. Overall its been a decent experience compared to all the banks I have dealt with so far in India. They are simply ahead of every other bank in terms of services and technology they provide.

However…

The kind of effort you put to sell the product and start the relationship, please also put similar effort to sustain the relationship and show similar level of enthusiasm for AFTER sales effort.

One rep went ahead to take my number from my mom to give me a sales call in Australia at 11 pm in night… am waiting to see how much time and effort will you make to resolve the problem with my NRE account…

How’s your experience with bank so far? Do share if you have some interesting story or experience.

 

Updates…

…On Another GoAir (Mis)Adventure story

1) Spicejet was better and smoother experience

2) Exchange of number of calls i was finally assured that i will get refund of my complete money (Rupees 3945) in two parts: (a) Money transferred directly to credit card – Rupees 1420 (b) Money sent via demand draft – Rupees 2525.

As i mentioned in the last go air post -

“Anyways to cut the coversation shot, I confirmed with her that amouht that will be credited (in next 7 working days) to my credit card is Rs 3945 (Rupees Three thousand nine hundered forty five). She assured me that nothing will go the voucher now and all amount will be credited to card. And she again said no mail will be sent on this, for mail you can contact on feedback@goair.in”

It took them more than a month to return complete money, although amount (a) was transferred in 7 days, it took them more than a month for for amount (b)

Alls well that ends well …. however from next time i will have to think thrice before choosing go Air

Tata Indicom harassment story

Vivek sent this mail conversation. This is between Vivek and Tata Indicom guys, which is (just) another Telecom operator in India which like others take us (subscribers) for a ride.

Read on the unabridged version of the conversation…

______________________________________

Fwd: I have been SO HARASSED!!!!

Vivek Chaturvedi <vivek2050@gmail.com>

Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 12:10 PM

To: siddharths@gmail.com
This is my last mail to them….   

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Vivek Chaturvedi <vivek2050@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 11:36 AM
Subject: Fwd: I have been SO HARASSED!!!!
To: Nodalofficer.north@tatacommunications.com, nodalofficer.delhi@tatatel.co.in, nodalofficer.upw@tatatel.co.in, nodalofficer.corp@tatatel.co.in, dotpg@bol.net.in, jayanthi@titan.co.in, mail@tce.co.in, suroor.hussain@tatatel.co.in
Cc: contact@tatanet.co.in, corporate@tatatechnologies.com, ttl.ho@tatatea.co.in, corporate@tsmg.com, sanjay.choudhry@tatasteel.com, help@tatasky.com, msonawala@tata.com, tataryerson@vsnl.com, shalinis@tpc.co.in, am@tatamotors.com, mjkotwal@tata.com, tintl@tatainternational.com, tismarketing@tatainteractive.com, njdriver@tata.com, rjuneja@tata.com, financial@tata.com, cummins@tata.com, corporate.office@tcs.com, ravindran.s@vsnl.co.in, corporate_communications@tatachemicals.com, veetika.deoras@tatacapital.com, partners@serwizsol.com, shvetal.diwanji@tacogroup.com, kiran@tataamc.com, tajair@tajhotels.com, ashok.lalla@tajhotels.com, feedback@corusgroup.com, jhzhan@tata.com, tata@tataafrica.com, tata@tata.co.uk, info@tata.com

THERE HAS BEEN NO REPLY FROM ANYONE ON THE LONG MAIL BELOW!!!
TATA INDICOM is spoiling the name of entire TATA GROUP!!! hence i am cc’ing this mail to as many Tata group company ids as i cud get hold of…

I plan to use spray paint and write on the roads around Tata Indicom delhi office, saying “Tata Indicom SUCKS”… I would ideally like it to be covered by media via helicopters but i guess all this is just a pipe dream…. untill then… i can at least spread the message in general interest of humanity and goodness!!!!

MORONS!!

check these:
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/tata-indicom-c90551.html
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/cheating-the-customers-on-the-tariff-plans-c16306.html
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/broadband-connection-c17006.html
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/fake-promises-c42531.html
http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/not-providing-good-services-c33445.html

there are many many more here..

____________________________________________________________

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Vivek Chaturvedi <vivek2050@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 4:21 PM
Subject: I have been SO HARASSED by Tata Indicom!!!!
To: Nodal Officer North <Nodalofficer.north@tatacommunications.com>, nodalofficer.delhi@tatatel.co.in, nodalofficer.upw@tatatel.co.in
TO WHOMSOEVER THIS MAY CONCERN!!!!
(Depending on whose nodal “jurisdiction” does Noida fall under)

I have had such a horrendous experience with Tata indicom that I have stopped payment of a 6.5grands cheque for a broadband connection that i was about to purchase.

I purchased your wireless internet device (USB modem) a couple of weeks ago and part of the relevant communication is attached below. The marketing team was very prompt. The person came over to my office, accepted whatever papers I gave him, took cash and gave me the device on the same day of the call. My net got activated the very next day! So far so good. Unfortunately, I lost my device within a couple of days, and I didn’t have the 10-digit number saved. This is where you people began to harass me. i called at least 20 different people over 2 days and no one was able to do ANYTHING… everyone just kept pushing me to the automated helpline where i need to 10 digit number to enter, or some different number. each time i explain that i have lost my device and the sim, your people either dont understand or dont comprehend. YOU HAVE IMBECILES WORKING ON YOUR HELPDESK. now i’ll tell you why…
one of the delhi customer support person told me that someone will call me the next day and give me the details…i call back the next day post noon because noone had called back and the same lady, very promptly takes my customer application number and gives back a 10 digit number!!! WHY CUD SHE NOT DO IT ONE DAY BEFORE!?!?!?… and then THAT number is WRONG!!…
so i call back… and she gets all worried and tells me that she will sort it out within an hour… after 3 long hours.. i am given another number…
and now YOUR people tell me that i have to VISIT YOUR OFFICE to deactivate the sim and get a new device!!!

WHY?!?!…. when you want to sell the device you come begging on your stomach and take the money..

then i get the good news that my sim has been deactivated already because of negative address verification… NOW!… this is interesting… your verification person had called me after i purchased the device and I was out of delhi…so i tell him that do the verification when i am back… he calls me the day i am back and says he will come over within an hour.. i was in office!!.. and noone is home!…. i request him to come after office hours so that address can be verified when i am home… HE REFUSES!!!! I mean WTF!! and then he gives a negative address verification!!!

coming back to the lost device…I decide that i will rather purchase a new device than go to your office and do all the unnecessary paperwork… SO NOW your people say that it will take 3 days to get everything going… whtever…
your person comes again (same guy)takes the papers from me… which are in fact more detailed this time… and takes the money… CASH..

my device is not activated for 3 days… and on 4th day (yesterday) your person calls me saying that the papers are not OK…1!!!!! WHY?!?!…. your freakin company accepted the same papers last time>!!>>,,,,?!?!,,, now what???,,, he says that the company address is NOT mentioned on the paper!??!?!…. MMMMOOOORRROOONNNNN…. its a COMPANY LETTERHEAD … a company letterhead has the OFFICIAL REGISTERED address of the company in the header or footer!!!…. what the HECK is your problem… he doesn’t accept (Name INDER – 09891937167) i ask him for his senior’s number and he gives me the helpline number which is “SWITCHED OFF” since 15th august… FREEEDDOMM I SAYYY FREEDOM…. then i call him back and then he gives me his seniors’ number and he has the same issue… blindheaded people (name.. some jeet – 9990046823)

another issue they have is that the name and designation of the authorised signatory is not written!!!…. THE SAME LETTERHEAD WITH SAME SIGNATURE AND SAME OFFICE STAMP WAS ACCEPTED JUST TWO WEEKS AGO!?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!… then why not now?!?!?!… What stupid processes are these?!?!? i request both these people over 2 hours that PLEASE activate my device as i have office work to finish and i’ll give them whtever papers they want the next day… i told them they cud talk to the authorized signatory… but NO BLOODY HELP!!1…. i told them that THEIR person has visited my office twice and done the address verification on office address!!!!… still…. no one budges… SARKARI BABUS ARE BETTER THAN TATA INDICOM…

this senior promises to me that he will call me today first thing in the morning and sort it out and someone will come to office to take revised papers… its 4pm NOW… noone has called… and my device is still inactive…

i had ordered a tata indicom broadband recently and had given the cheque of 6500 which i have now cancelled… i am taking airtel broadband…

SMS

______________________________________
following is the sms messages i sent to the INDER chap and his boss  -

“This is your chance to accommodate my request and change my perception about Tata indicom. so please help. thanks a lot—– “17.33pm 17th aug –9891937167

NO response to this too
_____________________________________________

GO DIE ALL OF YOU!!!

Vivek Chaturvedi
Genuine Tata Indicom Hater
9873693951
A-67, Sector 35, Noida- UP

Sim Card Number – A000000ACF     ED60(8026D8D9)
Device Number – SXC – 1080 , S/N: EUSC332885, ESN: 05B340DA

PS.
Am an avid blogger and am going to make sure that a Tata Indicom hate club is created online across all social networking websites. I might use spray paint to write on the roads near the Tata indicom office that “Tata Indicom Sucks”.

____________________________________________________

On Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 5:27 PM, Nodal Officer North <Nodalofficer.north@tatacommunications.com> wrote:

Dear Mr. Chaturvedi,

Thank you for writing to Tata Communications Ltd.

With reference to the appended mail, we apologize for the inconvenience caused to you due to interruption in services.

We would like to inform you that Delhi & NCR are feasible for us but to resolve your Concern for port feasibility we need some details about your installation address so as you see this mail kindly revert me back with your complete address.

For any further assistance please,

• Contact 24 hours toll free Customer Care: 1800 209 7070or call the Customer Service number in your city.

• You can also write tousat customerservice@tatacommunications.com.

Assuring you of our best of services at all times,

Nodal Officer – North

Tata Communications

---

From: Vivek Chaturvedi [mailto:vivek2050@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, August 04, 2008 4:04 PM
To: Nodal Officer North
Subject: Need broadband in Noida
hi jasleen

ur helpline guys are unable to confirm if tata indicom broadband is available in noida sector 35 or now.

do let me know

thanks

–
Vivek Chaturvedi
+91 9873693951
[ www.crimsonfeet.blogspot.com ]

……Thanks Vivek for allowing me to post the same………