In the good old days when ISPs were few in number and subscribers had to run from pillar to post to get a connection, the service providers got away with abusing the customers. Now in the current state of the nation, when ISPs are nearly dime a dozen with each one of them bending over backwards to provide the subscriber with facilities and freebies and even swag, my tale of woe might just appear to be incredible.

On the 27th of April 2006, I applied for a New Infinity 256 connection from Tata Indicom. The application was accepted and since I specifically mentioned an installation on the weekend, it was duly noted in the application and taken heed of. Now during the process, the time frame provided (verbally) for a new installation (the feasibility study for providing the connection being carried out when I had applied online) was around 10-12 days. Surprisingly, a month has gone by and the Customer Care keeps on coming up with new excuses. First it was that my contact number was required to be verified – wonder how to folks who were to install the router actually called me up on the same number and landed up to check where the router was to be installed. Then, in a display of unique processing of complaints, they opened and closed at will 3 different tickets (3497707, 3516139 and 3591356) for the same application (application number 1533340). Finally, on the 25th of May 2006, after a long call to the Customer Care I get to know that they cannot provide me with a connection right away. So finally, deciding to get an answer to the mess I am currently in, I call up the customer care number again – get put on hold for 20 mins before an executive picks it and provides the answer as your local area does not have any ports available to provide you with the connection. I ask to talk with the supervisor for that shift, get put on hold for 38 mins (yes, for the heck of it on a Sunday I did time it) and receive the fact that all ports in the local area are consumed. Doh !! And yes, they are sincerely apologetic and cannot tell me when I can actually get a connection.

Now ain’t that a nice situation ? Question is: don’t these folks process applications (once accepted) in FIFO ?

UPDATE:

Thank you for bringing your pending conneciton issue to our notice.

With reference to your email, we have verified our records and found that your request for new Broad band connection with Enquiry number 458582, has been cancelled due to the non-availability of the Port in your area. In this regard, we suggest you to place a fresh Broad band application after some time to check for the feasibility of yoru area to provide a new Broad band connection.

Thank you for your time and patience.

No talk about the refund of the application amount

Some months later, I did finally receive the refund. Well…it was worth it.