Bharat Sanchar Nigam [BSNL] — BSNL lied to us about a broadband plan and ignored our complaints since the first day.

Address:

Ranjit Avenue and Majitha Road, Amritsar

We bought a BSNL landline broadband plan SUPERSTAR_500_GB worth Rs. 949 on Nov 9, 2020, from BSNL Ranjit Avenue Amritsar office (Customer ID: [protected]). BSNL employee Kirpal Singh (Contact: [protected]) was at the front desk. Kirpal informed us that there is no Fiber internet available in our area Parbhat Avenue. According to him, fiber internet would take "around a week" to reach our area, so we could wait for it. But, as we were facing a lot of problems with Jio internet and our work from home tasks were halted, we decided to take landline broadband for a month and then upgrade to fiber when it would reach our area.

There was a handwritten chart pasted on the wall behind Kirpal, which listed fiber as well as landline broadband plans. There was a landline plan worth Rs. 949 which said, "500GB at up to 50mbps" (handwritten). We asked Kirpal about this plan. He informed us that "it is a 50mbps plan and would give us a real speed of around 8mbps". We were satisfied that at least we would get 8mbps in the budget of nearly a thousand rupees. Kirpal asked us to deposit Rs. 500. We gave him that amount and filled the two forms. Kirpal gave us the phone number of Shashi Kant Chaurasia ([protected]) to ask how long will the fiber internet take to reach our area. Chaurasia gave us a couple of weeks' time.

When we went home after filling the form and paying Rs. 500, we were called and asked to pay the remaining Rs. 449 as "the form was not accepting a smaller amount". I went to the office again and completed the payment of Rs. 949 and received the receipt. Later, we were informed that Chaurasia wasn't the incharge of our area, instead, it was Sharnpal Singh ([protected]) from Majitha Road. Chaurasia misbehaved with me on call while giving me Sharnpal's number. Sharnpal did not pick the phone.

In disappointment, I contacted the PGMTD of Amritsar Mr. Hemant Kumar Mahay ([protected]) via call. He asked me to share our details via Whatsapp. I shared the details with him on Whatsapp. The same day, Jatin ([protected]) and Gurpal Singh ([protected]) came to our residence to install the modem wire. They installed the wire and asked us to buy a router. Gurpal came back after two days with Sarvan Kumar ([protected]) to install our new router and activate the connection. They left and the internet started working.

Since the first day of activation, the broadband kept disconnecting on its own. The speed was extremely low. We were unable to take any advantage of this connection. During the next several days, we sent Whatsapp messages to Hemant Kumar, who never responded to us, neither took any action. We called Gurpal, Jatin, Tajinder ([protected]), Sarvan several times, but most of the time they did not pick the call. Tajinder never picked our call. Jatin was stubborn and kept insisting that he will fix the issue. Gurpal too ignored our calls most of the time. PGMTD Hemant Kumar never responded to my Whatsapp messages (check the screenshot of my conversation with Hemant Kumar where he only read the messages and never responded: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1T_wvbT4Bcg73XRTpIuRezGX3HBDB0sKi/view?usp=sharing).

I became to know that the SUPERSTAR_500_GB plan worth Rs. 949 is actually a 10mbps plan, not a 50mbps plan. This plan can offer a maximum speed of around 3-4mbps. Kirpal lied to us about this plan. I called the GM office again. A representative talked to me and I told her about the lack of responsibility of BSNL employees and the lie Kirpal told us. She connected me to Kirpal via call, where Kirpal refused to accept that he lied to us. When I told him that a chart behind his back said "500GB at up to 50mbps", Kirpal responded, "the chart does not matter". I have the call recording of this conversation.

Next, I called Jatin again and this time he picked. I told him about the continuous problem of the broadband disconnecting and the slow speed. He later informed me that he had fixed something and that the disconnecting issue would not occur again. Nothing changed, the disconnection issue is exactly the same. We were so fed up with BSNL that we decided to stop the struggle for some time and focus on our work using Jio 4G. We did not get upset about BSNL for two days, but it remained to disconnect whenever we tried it. The speed was supposed to be 3-4mbps, but it was mostly around 500kbps. Whenever two people tried to use the broadband together, the broadband failed to give even 3G speed.

During this time, I and my brother also reported to BSNL on twitter, but BSNL sent just a robotic message and never gave us any updates (DM conversation with BSNL on twitter: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12WHnpWShADB9LzoT5GSzhZdC9vqS8RHe/view?usp=sharing). I also found out that maximum people have given negative reviews to BSNL on the internet.

I called BSNL customer care twice and the call disconnected both times from the BSNL side. We are feeling extremely cheated by BSNL. From top to bottom, all BSNL people are unprofessional and insincere. BSNL's official Twitter account doesn't respond to tweets or DMs.

Gurpal and Sarvan visited our home after several calls. They showed us that the download speed was around 4mbps, but the upload speed is only 200-300kbps. 949 plan is supposed to give us at least 2mbps upload speed as well. I called customer care to ask about this plan, they told me that the plan gives 10mbps upload and download speed.

We are unable to upload anything as upload speed is like 3G speed. Jio 4G is working better than BSNL broadband. We had hoped to upgrade our internet, but BSNL downgraded it.

We need correct upload and download speed or money back. We also need action against Kirpal Singh and other BSNL employees.