[Resolved]  Airtel Digital TV - Set Top Box — Problems with STB receiving signals since July 2011

Address:

Gurgaon, Haryana

Hi ,
My customer id is : [protected]
I bought an HD Set Top Box from airtel in Nov , 2010. I started facing problem in my Set Top Box in July, 2011.Whenever I switched On the TV and STB, It showed 'NO SIGNAL' on my screen (no error code) which used to continue for 30-40 mins and after it started catching signals and was fine.
I called Airtel Customer service couple of times, they tried to trouble shoot asking me to reset the STB, take out the airtel card , etc. Finally their technician came in August and told us this was due to defective STB and he was getting similar complaints with the STB not working. Due to the troubleshooting, the resolution of our TV changed and finally after calling for several times, we were told that no complaint was logged earlier and a complaint was logged on 16th october (complaint #[protected]. We were not aware at this point that in the complaint , STB was not mentioned and somehow the resolution of TV (and something crap , thanks to the highly trained people sitting at airtel customer care) was mentioned .After few days, a technician arrived at our place with an ol lookign STB and told us he will replace our STB with that one. We were taken aback as we thought we will be given a new one or the existing one will be repaired. He went back. We called Airtel officer (Delhi branch) with the name Pritam no. [protected]). he told that the policy is replacement of the STB with a repaired one and assured us he will get a newer STB for us. We messaged him our cutomer id and after that he never resopnded on our complaint nor picked our calls. We spoke to the territory manager also who assured to help us but nothing was done.

After repeated calls to Airtel customer service and someone in Chandigarh office also, no action was taken on our complaint. In November, a technician from Airtel came to our home to change the satellite orientation (for HD). He tried to reset the STB to no use and told us that we will have to pay 300 rs to get the STB replaced now. After that again we tried calling Airtel authorities (Mr Pritam ) with no response. Finally on Dec 21, I called airtel customer care again who told me their was no complaint logged against my customer id. I could not believe that they have deleted all records regarding the complaint .I called their Chandigarh office numer ( Mr Jayakrishna , [protected]) where it was picked by some cust care representtative. who again denied their was a complaint logged regarding STB. Unfortunately I was not able to find teh complaitn number. he told me he will check teh records and can only help if I can provide teh complaint number. I called again after finding the complain no. , this time it was picked by a different person whoc was not so customer friendly and told me just about policies. When I gave him the complaint number, He told me the compalint was not regarding STB. I was taken aback. I questioned him if the complaitn was not regarding STB, how came the technicians came to my house with another STB. He just denied all this and behaved as if I am telling a lie. He kept on repeating that I am out of warranty now and I will have to pay 750 rs (not 300 which they told me earlier) to get the STB replaced now. I was shocked by his unprofessional behaviour as he was not tying to understand my frustration and blaming me instead for telling a lie. I am surprised noone is taking into account the n no. of calls I made to customer care, delhi office and territory manager.
One of my friend had similar problem and even after teh STB replacement she is facing the problem again. So there is no gurantee taht after paying 750 rs also, everythign will be fine.When I told him, I will better discontinue Airtel cable, he asked me to go ahead and was willign to open a request for that. Even after expressing my dissatisfaction with airtel services and telling him that I am using Airtel mobile and broadband services , he did not realise the value of a faithful customer. And did nothing to resolve the problem. Though he opened another complaint(this time he told me it was regarding STB which I really do not trust now) , complaint number is 14747693.
I really do not know what to do now. I had great faith in Airtel services (using their mobile service for past 6 years) and professionalism and therefore decided to go for their Digital TV instead of renowned brands likeTata Sky. But now I have lost that faith. Their digital TV department is hopeless. They are selling defective STBs to customers and not listeining to their complaints, the customer care service is hopeless, they do not know how to talk and troubleshoot and even how to log a complaint. I am paying money for cable and not able to see anything since after coming back from office it does not start for hours (the problem has worsened now). If airtel really values its customers, it should take action on this and replace the STB without any cost. Otherwise I will have no option except changing to different service provider.