The rant of a frustrated Airtel customer...

 Its been 10 complete days. 

My SIM card, stone dead it lays.

Couple of mails to the Airtel customer care. 

Loads of things done but still not there.

Frustrated, applied for a new SIM finally

Vodafone it is, a firang company.

Being a true Bharatiya is all i tried

Responses from Bharti Airtel have left my brain fried.

Its a pain. A PITA to be precise. A customer purchases a SIM card, recharges it regularly. Doesn't complain when at times a few rupees go here and there, all thanks to those ill written programs which automatically enable value added services on your account. Displays 3 full years of loyalty. And one fine day the SIM expires, and he is simply a fool; a fool as he doesn't pay attention on the penultimate day and recharges his number with the princely sum of Rs. 333. He has faith that the company will help him extend the validity. But all that he gets is a couple of useless replies and an understanding that the number will no longer be usable...

Itnaa saara haath paair maara, 

par itne saare din company ne mera maara, 

mails par toh aise replies mile, 

lage aisa ke Aam ke ped par Karele khile.

To ease this bitter after taste, I feel like going back in time....

Life was great without cell phones. Today's folks find it unbelievable that someone can survive without one. I did; my 4 years of engineering. I was never part of major initiatives back then, since, as you know, you need to be connected to get things done, which i never was.

I missed out on maintaining a lot of relationships, thanks to my lack of connectivity. Friends were just a matter of time; we stayed in touch as long as we were seeing each other; by virtue of going to the same school or whatever.(Today, all thanks to Face Book, people are so disconnected even if they are seemingly well connected)

The times when I seriously used to think that yeah, its getting hard living a life without a cell phone, i used to think of the old days; how did people meet in those days, in places which both parties were not really sure of? Today, thanks to the phones which have moved from our desks to our pockets, we can randomly call anyone and set a meeting at any point, and still be confident of having it successfully. Alas, back then I had to plan as per the old style and yet, all was well.

Funnily the girl from my engineering days, who liked me, really appreciated the fact that I never carried a cell fone. In this regard, I was very proud to have a sort of identification with the character of Jai Singh Rathore, played by Imran Khan in Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Na.

Whenever his mom used to ask him to get a cell fone, he said "Jab jaroorat padegi tab le loonga" (will get it when i need one)

And jald jaroorat padi. I reached Mysore for my Infosys training and got a SIM card the first day itself. And it was Airtel I chose then, although Vodafone folks came up with a better plan the very next day. I simply had no SIM and no choice whatsoever - first time away from home and utterly disconnected.

And in all these years, I have learnt to send short messages, handle long calls; realised how good mobile internet actually is, specially today when an Android opens unknown possibilities like navigation on your phone. And WhatsApp! Really, what an app! We save so much on messaging thanks to it...:)

I also do realise that why we need to be so connected today. That is since we have built a society and a life style which simply is averse to socialising, the old way.

If you live a modern life, you need to adopt modern ways completely; half measures will never help. And phones are the connecting mediums which we all have to be addicted to - its a necessity, not a vice!

All this experience came at a good cost. This translates to the contribution from one individual in supporting a telecom company with his hard earned money. There are millions like this individual. And after this long journey, it pains when the individual is meted out treatment so bad.

The individual knows he is not alone. But then, he needs to act, and the best action in this case is to move on...

I guess its time to say bye

And i am sad its not a good bye

Theres a bitter after taste on my tongue

And you know the reason why

Kyunki Airtel ne aisa phasaaya

Humne Aam samajh kar Karela khaaya

Here is my reply to a long series of unfruitful mail exchanges between me and the AIRTEL PRESENCE team. Straight from the heart after a long time and pretty eloquent...

The response i received for my mails to Airtel presence team


Namaste,

You wrote in on 7th April 2013, regarding disconnection of services against your airtel mobile number 9975440165.

We tried contacting you on 9975440165, but we were unable to establish contact with you. Please provide an alternate number on which we can contact you and resolve your concern. 

For any further queries, you may get in touch with us at airtelpresence@in.airtel.com. 

airtel appreciates your business and always welcomes your suggestions/feedback. 


My Reply to the same

Namaste,

I am receiving this reply for the 2nd time now. Its been 10 days, and my fone is dead. None of the things i tried works.

Tell me sir, what exactly is that is that needs to be spoken on the fone which cannot be said on mail? Afterall, this is also a mode of communication.

U tried to call on my fone, this means u did not read my mail carefully. My SIM has EXPIRED, so how can you exactly even think of speaking to me on the same number?

As for the alternate number that you are asking for the second time, try to understand the plight of a single, working male, who has no other contact number other than the one which has expired. Then ask for the same.

But don't worry, this bachelor working male has already arranged for a SIM with Vodafone. Airtel will be losing a few customers owing to this episode through my word of mouth.

Your reply will determine what you feel about your company, about your job and about the 'esteemed' customers you are here to serve.

Have an amazing time doing an amazing job that you have been doing all this while

Frustrated,
Shrinath Shenoy