[Resolved]  ACT Fibernet — ACT TV - IPTV Pathetic product, useless customer care

Address:

Bangalore, Karnataka

Dear All,
Please think twice before you take the IPTV connection from ACT TV. I did the mistake of taking it and finally I was taken for a ride.

I took the connection on 1st May 2010 and within a few days the product would not work. I ended up spending my money by calling their call centre to get the product to work. Getting across to their call centre was one of the most difficult thing that you could think of. Now things have changed but then please be aware that it is not a toll free number. You are paying for each minute of holding the call till you get connected(At times it was over 5 -10 mins).

It just needed a small shower or some strong gusty winds to disrupt the services. They kept blaming it on the hardware supporting their product. I had assurances from Mr Raghunandan and Mr Gerard of the organization assuring me that I would not have any problem with their services, but that was never the reality.

They offer a discount if you surrender your existing set top box of other operators. Dont ever do that mistake. I retained my Tata Sky set top box and that was a blessing in disguise as I fell back to TATA SKY which is far far superior to ACT TV, in terms of the service provided by their customer care department and the reliability of the product.Kudos to TATA SKY!! You need to experience the customer care experience of TATA SKY(I have experienced the customer care experience of BIG TV and SUN DIRECT and hence can vouch for TATA SKY).

I tried to push my luck with ACT TV and gave them the benefit of doubt since they were a start up company, but my patience did not help. I finally decided to request for a deactivation 2 months after I had taken the connection and had told them to make the refund. They told me that they will make the refund after I surrender the set top box. The moment I returned that, the very tone from their side changed and they started mentioning the clauses in their agreement form. Eventhough I had requested for a deactivation in less than 2 months or use(totally interrupted service) they decided to deduct Rs 1000 towards installation charges, which they claim as non-refundable. If the product had worked as they had promised, I totally agree with their justification. But even in the 2 months that I tried to use their product, it was never an uninterrupted service(down time might have been more than the uptime). There was always a down time almost every day or very alternate day.Even if it did work, the screen will freeze or you can get to see all the error messages, which I have provided as attachments in this complaint.
Even after I signed the disconnection form(signed the form thrice - for one deactivation), they did not take things forward. I had to send repeated mails to follow up with them to close out my connection. I also had to send repeated mails to them to remind them to process my refund.

I have managed to take some snaps of the error messages that you can experience if you become a customer of ACT TV. Luckily I had captured these pictures as long as the product was with me. This is for your reference.

You can now decide whether you want to become another victim like me or not!!! You have a choice, but I was a victim.

Regards