Airtel — Have asked for HD STB 1 week back... Still no service...

Address:

Chennai, India

We have requested for replacement of Airtel Set Top Box (STB) to be replaced with HD STB. This request was placed on 31st Oct, 2020 through Airtel "Customer Care".

Whatever call center was assigned took down the details and said someone will be available LATEST by Nov 2nd, 4pm. When I asked them, why so much time, to replace STB, they said, this is the latest time which system shows, but technician will be there much earlier.

Of course, no one showed up and at about 3p on Nov 2nd, I called Airtel Customer Care. They acknowledged that this ticket (they call it Complaint) was still open and someone will be there by 4p as promised.

Of course, by 5p no one had shown up. This is for my mother (aged more than 80 yo), and I was there to help with any technical issues that might arise and with anything else that the technician might want.

I waited until about 6p and called Airtel "Customer Care". After asking for almost the same details and of course without leaving out any of the verifying actions (registered phone number, customer name, customer number etc etc), and after taking about 5 minutes, the guy at this Airtel sub-contracted Call Center, told me that STB is not available and someone will be there by the next day, before 5.45p.

So, I asked the guy, how come they did not know this when the Request was placed initially, and then even at 3p I was assured that someone will be there.

And, well after the timeframe they had given, how come now, all of a sudden STB is not available, but will definitely be available by 5.45p the next day?

Of course, the call center person (aka Airtel "Customer Care") was clueless. I had rescheduled my trip to return back to my home (about 40 kms away), because they had assured me earlier that technician would be there latest by 4p that day.

Anyway, so, I asked the call center person (aka Airtel "Customer Care"), to cancel the request. Call center person (aka Airtel "Customer Care") told me that that is not possible for him to do on his system and that when the technician calls, then, I should cancel verbally myself.

So, I told call center person (aka Airtel "Customer Care"), if this was the case, how come there is any CUSTOMER CARE that has been exercised so far? I was so pissed off, that I said likely I will disconnect Airtel and move to another service provider.

Of course, call center person (aka Airtel "Customer Care") panicked a little (or atleast acted like he did) and said will tranfer to "manager".

After a further wait of another 5-10 minutes, yet another person came on the line...apologized... I explained to him why it was important that technician should have been there at the time they (Airtel "Customer Care") had promised, because my aged mother (more than 80 yo) will find it difficult to deal with technician and that I had rescheduled my whole day (Monday) around the time that Airtel "Customer Care" promised technician will be there.

Guy on the phone (manager) said he completely understands ... apologized again and PROMISED THAT HE WILL RESOLVE THE ISSUE WITHIN THE NEXT 2 HOURS.

I thanked him profusely.

Of course, NO ONE SHOWED UP OR CALLED that day...or the next day or the next day or the next day... not once and today is Nov 6th.

If Airtel cannot maintain a REAL CUSTOMER SERVICE/CARE system, to

1) Handle a simple request to upgrade STB (takes about 10 minutes most times to accomplish at customer home), in a metropolitan city such as Chennai, it is a real shame.

2) Also, this is in the heart of the city (Annanagar).

3) They still have an open ticket/complaint (unless the call center person...aka Airtel "Customer Care" changed it to completed by himself), and NO ACTION HAS YET BEEN TAKEN TO CLOSE THE TICKET/COMPLAINT/SERVICE CALL. This is less than amateurish. A primary school student can function much better.

4) Establishing really pathetic call center service, where no real action can be accomplished other than to take down one or two lines of text, upon which no further action is taken by Airtel "Customer Care", is beyond pathetic!!!