HTC — Past 100 days, HTC mobile phone not received from Service Centre.

Address:

Mumbai City, Maharashtra

This is in reference to my mobile phone (HTC Desire 816 dual sim) which was ordered from Snapdeal.com on 14th Nov 2014 and received to me on 21st Nov 2014. The invoice specified the dealer name as Girnar Newtel Solutions Pvt. Ltd, Bangalore. The mobile phone started giving problems 10 days after it was delivered. There were select places where there would not be network connection in the phone. I Initially ignored thinking it was a network connectivity problem from the service provider (Vodafone) so I got it checked from the service provider. The provider agreed and took 7 days to send a new sim. I found that even after inserting a new sim the phone continued to give problems. I again visited the service center and the service center guys were apologetic and provided another sim which also came after 7 days. This time also, the phone gave similar problem. This is when I realized that there could be a problem with the phone itself and I asked my wife to visit the nearest service center at Borivali, Mumbai as we reside at Borivali. On 19th March 2015, my wife visited S. G. Infotech, Borivali West where she was told that the problem is in the phone and they will need 15 days to check the phone. The phone was handed to S. G. Infotech on the same day. They also added to check if the phone was ready by 2nd April. She again visited on 2nd April and found that the phone was not ready. She was told to come on 7th April, hence she visited on 7th April. After waiting for a long time, she was handed the phone which she checked in front of the service guys and found that it was not working. One of the guys took the phone from her, checked it again and tried using different sim cards for the phone to work. Meanwhile she kept asking the person what was the issue but the person did not bother to answer. After asking for 4 to 5 time the person said that the phone is not working and it will not work. My wife asked for further assistance but they failed to give any. The only thing they said was to speak to customer care and write mail. We called the customer care and spoke to Dheeraj from HTC CC and Dheeraj could only give me a solution to go to another service center at Malad where the phone can be repaired instantly if parts are available. Looking at the treatment I have been given at the Borivali service center, I’m sure even the Malad service center will ask for 10 to 15 days more. There were no calls after 10 days. On calling the Customer Care I routed to Rohit from the escalation department. Rohit informed that some part on the phone needs to be replaced and this will take few more days. After waiting for few more days I called again an found that the replacement part has not come. I hence asked for a stanby phone which should be an HT Desire 816 or higher configuration. It again took a few days to figure if you can give me a standy phone or not. Finally it was decided to give a standy phone but of a lower configuration than HT Desire 816. I was told it will reach my closest Service Center in 5 days. I agreed to that. After 5 days I was handed a standy phone but without a battery. I was told by the Service Center that I have to buy a battery.On further talks with the Service Center I was told battery will come in 48 hours. I again spoke to Rohit after which the battery came in 10 mins. I then kept following up on the original device. After around 10 more days I was told that the device will come in the next 5 days. After 5 days I was told that the device will come but it will not be packed and it will be in an orange colour and not the original grey colour I had. I denied to receive an orange device and insisted I need the grey colour only. I was told to wait for a few more days. After a few more days I was told that "we are searching for a grey device and meanwhile you can use the orange device. I agreed and was told that the orange device will come after 5 days to the nearest Service Cente. I got a call after 5 days that the device has reached the Service Center. This is when I asked Rohit to confirm if the device has actually come to the Service Center. On checking Rohit called again and said the orange device had not reached and will take few more days. After a few more days I was told that the device has reached and I can pick it. Since there was no way I could trust HTC, I had to take a leave from my office and visit Borivali Service Center. On reaching there, the Service Center team said the device will reach through the evening courier. I again called Rohit. Rohit spoke to the Service Center team and I found that the device was lying at the Service Center only. I had yet not received any confirmation on my my original HT Desire 816 (grey colour) I asked for a refund but I was told there is no refund policy. After all of this I was assured that the original grey device will be received by June 15. I had also informed Rohit that if I do not get the original device by June 15 I will need ask for a compensation on using my valuable time for all these months. I never got a call back from HTC. On 24th June, I gave a call and on speaking to the escalation team they checked and reverted on 26th June that the device must have reached the service center. I have again asked for a confirmation on wether the device has actually reached the Service Centre as I do not want to take a leave from my work and waste time and energy on this. I would request the you to take notice on how HTC is fooling people by asking more and more time. I have also checked twitter and facebook and found that a lot of complaints are with the HTC Service Centre. HTC also does not have an official email ID where we can write to them. They have a page on their website where complains can be written in max 1000 words and that mail cannot be marked to anyone else (eg: the consumer court) Since it has been more than 100 days, I will now need your help in getting compensation from HTC for my and my wife’s time / money spent on this for the past 100 days and the stress of leaving work and following up with HTC.