Reliance Woes

Reliance Infocomm is one of the largest CDMA providers in India. Their service is as pathetic as big a company Reliance is. Here I narrate my experience of the past 3 months. I have always HATEd CDMA for no good reason but this time I have a good reason the provider sucks and so does the technology.

The Reliance saga for us began when my brother lent us his extra Reliance conn when we didn't have a cell phone conn on our return. Though not very happy with their billing process and extra charges (that is given a fancy name of monthly commitment), we continued to use it for 2 months. One fine day V lost the cell phone. It probably fell in the basement and someone stole it. So we blocked the calls. Assured by Reliance that the handset was covered under insurance and that we could claim a new handset we went to get a new one. That is when we were told to file a FIR at the police station. One hidden clause after another came out as we dug deeper. The new handset came a t a price which costed more than buying a new one. So we finally decided to terminate the connection. Their customer service SUCKS..termination meant traveling 20 Kms to a remote office..so much connectivity for a mobile company. Well, we set aside this last Saturday for this chore.A few observations at the Reliance customer Service

a) No difference between a government office and a Reliance office
b) Negligence is synonymous to service and customer delight.
c) An average of 6 service terminations in 1 hour.
d) Yelling customers at every counter, billing blunders, documentation oversight .
I can't believe we actually paid 4000 to get the service terminated after a 2 hour wait at their goddamn office. When I thought it was all done, did they spring a surprise..if you don?t return the handset during termination one needs to furnish a proof of losing the handset which is a police complaint. And we were told that the complaint should mention the words pickpocketing and not lost or missing. So we went to the police station yesterday. Believe me this was one of the worst experiences of my life. That 1 hour at the police station made me feel like a criminal.

4:00 p.m. - V and I enter the police station. It is a plain concrete building comprising of ground floor and a floor above. A few rooms on the ground floor. Smells of phenyl all over. Gives a nauseating feeling. We are directed by the help desk lady (which is a big deal I guess in Indian Police Stations) to the first room to meet the sub inspector.

4:05 p.m. - the sub inspector asks (not interrogates) a few questions, reads the complaint and then decides it is not his case and directs us to the 3rd room on the right corridor.

4:10 p.m. We are asked to be seated in a wooden bench outside.

4:15 p.m. - All the administrative staff scan us from head to toe wondering why we are here. Some are kind enough to ask us the reason too. It was probably the most stupid thing I have ever done ? to be dressed in a jeans to a police station. There were no signs of V and I been married..Sigh..After the same set of questions, all of them have the same answer..wait right here.

4:20 p.m. - We hear sounds of beating followed by a shrill cry. A guy is being interrogated and beaten up with a stick by 2 police personnel. I can?t describe what went through me .I was cursing us to have been so reckless in losing the cellphone.

4:30 p.m. - the crying continues and minutes later the beaten up guy walks out the door still crying.

4:40 p.m. - we are summoned inside by the sub-inspector, crime in-charge. V and I enter and I'm rehearsing the story in my mind, anticipating the questions and making up my mind not to fumble. Yes it was a fabricated story as the complaint had to have pick pocketing. So I made up a story (hating myself for lying) that my phone was pick pocketed while traveling by BMTC bus the day before. On entering, we are asked to be seated. I'm asked what language can I speak. The next question is how is V related to me. Though I said we were married, they did not believe and it was obvious in their glances. Questions kept coming from 2 sub inspectors taking turns to find any loop holes in the story. The sub inspector decided it was my mistake to have kept the phone in the purse and he decided not to file the complaint. He said "I don't care". I wasn't sure if he wanted money and V didn't understand the language. I didn?t want to offer him money and get charged for corruption. Huh..I just stood up and walked out after being interrogated like a criminal.

4:50 p.m. We speak to the people outside and they are kind enough (in the literal sense) to direct us to Inspector # 1 and he tells us to file the complaint for missing/lost. He wouldn?t accept the same letter with the words pick pocket struck and rewritten us lost. So we gave a fresh letter to the finicky one and he signs it.

I can't tell you how glad I was to step put of the police station.It is indeed a dark world inside that the common man never gets to see!

Back to Reliance customer service center and we close the conn. What a good riddance! More yelling discontented, frustrated customers, more terminations, the story continues. My sincere advice. Do not go for Reliance connections in India. If you do, then read the clauses carefully before deciding. You cannot park your connection if you are traveling abroad as one can do with Airtel.