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I’ve received so many emails from all of you regarding your own experiences with the Airtel Data Card and I’ve also received comments on different blogs. Here’s a comment that I want to share with you and the reply I posted to this comment.
“You have had a bad experience with Airtel. Someone else has had a bad experience with Reliance. You tell us to not use Airtel. He tells us not to use Reliance. Add every other company on the surface of the Earth, and, if following your advice, it would be the end of consumerism and capitalism. Great, if you ask me.”

And he goes on to say what I need to do to get a response from Airtel. (Interestingly, one of his suggestions is not to use an Airtel Data Card because it is very outdated. He suggests that we buy another data card and then use an Airtel SIM to connect to the network. Hm…)

Read the whole comment here.

My answer to this comment:

Hi Pundabee,

You are right - every company might have some issues. I don’t think Reliance is any better and I have had my own experiences with them too. But the fact is, that had I known about the problems Airtel has, I would have never wasted my money in this data card.

I’ve already done everything you suggested, and presented my case in a calm and composed manner to the Airtel Customer Support. But of course that did not work.

I didn’t start my blog the first day I realised the card wasn’t working. I took my laptop and data card to the Airtel office and waited there for a whole day for those guys to fix it or at least figure out what the problem is. Didn’t work.

Then, I waited for a week to hear from them, called them again, went back to the office - this time with two laptops just in case they thought my laptop was faulty. The Airtel card did not work in either of the laptops.

Then, I waited for two more weeks - went to the office, this time with two laptops and one more data card - from Tata. The Tata one worked on both laptops, the Airtel one didn’t. Don’t you think that should have given them a clue? NO!

Finally, after I found out that the Airtel people didn’t know how their own product works and they refused to replace it for us, I started my blog.

As far as the warranty goes - I’ve been there thrice and my data card hasn’t been replaced yet. What does that say about their 24 hour replacement guarantee?

All I’m trying to do with my blog is to show people what they can expect if they buy an Airtel Data Card. If I had found this info before I purchased the data card, I would have never considered purchasing the Airtel Data Card. Unfortunately, I found this info 3 weeks after I got the data card and it was too late then.

And I am not the only person - after I started the blog there have been lots of people who wrote in to me and said they have had the same problem with Airtel - and some of them have been fighting for years. So it’s not like Airtel is going to smile and give me a replacement right away (and yes, they also have a NO REFUND policy - I guess they would rather have unsatisfied customers than no customers).

Maybe the Airtel Customer Support in other countries is way better than it is in India, but that doesn’t help me because I am in India and I am stuck with this horrible experience with Airtel. You are right in saying that we shouldn’t take decisions based on other people’s opinions - but if we don’t share our experiences companies like Airtel and Reliance will get away with anything and keep on scamming more people. Sorry, I’m not going to accept that.

These companies got away with this kind of a behavior for so long because they thought no one was going to complain. Each scammed customer would try for sometime, get no results and then think that they are the only ones unfortunate to get a faulty product and just leave it. But now, with the power of the Internet, we can share our thoughts and opinions and warn others about such companies and this is what I am doing. And hopefully, companies like Airtel and Reliance will wake up and realise that they can retain more customers if they start selling better products and offer reliable customer support.

Rangoo
http://www.reviewsuseek.com

We learn new things about Airtel almost every day. Yesterday, I learnt that Airtel does not have a refund policy at all. If you are stupid enough to buy a data card from them, all you can do is pray that the data card works. Because, if it doesn’t work, all you can do is use the faulty data card as a paper weight or a coaster! Do you think 4,999 Rs. is too much for a coaster?

Back to my story - the manager did send someone as promised - but it wasn’t a technician or even a customer support guy. Instead, it was a sales person(!) who just didn’t know what to do. We don’t blame him - his job is just to sell the stuff, not to figure out whats wrong with it.

The whole time he was here, he was on phone with R trying to figure out what he needs to do. I have a feeling that the manager wanted either R or a tech person to visit our place and fix this issue, but R was so scared that he sent a scape goat instead.

But at least we got some info from Airtel - the most shocking one being that Airtel has NO REFUND POLICY! Can you believe that? No wonder they dropped the price of the product by this much. The data card, when it was first launched, was priced at Rs. 13,999. Then, it dropped to Rs. 6,999. And when I bought it, it was available for Rs. 4,999. I thought they did this because they wanted more people to have access to it. But no, the actual reason is that they do not believe in their own product. Check Venu’s Blog and you will see so many people who have left their comments about the faulty data cards and the horrible customer support. Some of them spent Rs. 13,999 and paid their monthly charges and have still not got any response from the customer support!

Maybe the problem is just with the customer support level - the people who actually interact with the existing and potential customers. The manager seems to be really helpful, and till now, whenever he says he will call us back or send someone, he has kept his promise. I wish he just sees the effect R has on his customer base and realises that keeping people like R in his team will just ruin the image of Airtel in the customer’s eyes.

Anyways, the final update for today is that the sales guy accepted that the data card did not work - this makes a total of three people from the Airtel office itself who have accepted the fact. He wanted to take the Airtel Data Card with him, but I refused. These people have lied so much to us and made us go back and forth so much, that I did not trust them to be able to get the data card repaired and give it back to us. As it is they do not have a refund policy. I spoke to the manager and he assured me that he will get the data card checked and it’s his responsibility that we get a working data card back. So I made the sales guy give it to us in writing that he had checked the data card and it was not working and he was taking it back to get it checked.
So, I feel a little more optimistic about Airtel today and will keep you posted on what happens next. Lesson of the day, next time you encounter a guy like R who refuses to help you even though you are a paying customer, talk to the manager.
Rangoo

http://www.askrangoo.com

I just SMSed the link to this blog to R and his Manager and within a few mins I got two SMSes back from the Manager saying someone will be here tomorrow by 1.30 p.m.

Well, looks like someone’s listening What do you think? Will it work? Won’t it work? Tune in tomorrow for the latest update!

Rangoo

http://www.askrangoo.com

Yes, they proved it! All they are after is money - and once they have our money, they don’t care whether their product works and they don’t care about their customers. And all the stories I’ve heard just prove this point!

Well, back to my story - Today is Tuesday and R was supposed to come and resolve this issue. Well, he didn’t (what more can we expect from him!).

I called him up and he again gave me the same old story that I needed to go somewhere else to get this fixed because according to him, this is a ‘Hardware problem.’ I asked him if he had ever checked my laptop and data card to know for sure that it’s a hardware problem. He accepted that he had not checked my data card and that he was too busy the other day. Of course, when they want money, they are never too busy.

On top of that, he says he’s doing all this because of ‘company policy!.’ Wow! Did you know Airtel actually has a company policy to ignore their customers and sell them faulty products. I bet you never knew that
Anyways, I didn’t expect any better from R, so I called his Manager.  The manager was shocked to hear what R had said and assured us that he will get back to us in 15 minutes.

He did call after 15 mins and I told him the whole story again - we bought the card a month ago, it has never worked, we came to the Airtel Office twice and were assured someone would come and fix it, but no one turned up.

Then the manager asked if someone was able to connect to the internet - I said yes, we can connect, not through the Mobility Manager, but from the Network Settings. But that still does not make a difference because none of the webpages open! Then, the manager says if it connects then there is no issue. Well excuse me, I bought the Data Card not just to connect to the Internet but also to be able to view websites, download stuff and send and receive emails. If none of that is happening, then I’m sorry, your card does not work.

The manager asked me to SMS my address so that he can send R over to check the card. I sent the SMS and also called him up to confirm that he had got it. It’s been more than 6 hours now and no sign of R or any other Airtel guy.

They are just going out of their way to show that Airtel does not care about their customers. I’m going to go for one more phone call tomorrow to see if they have an excuse for why didn’t come today. No more assurances necessary now - because it just shows that R has absolutely no confidence in himself or in the Airtel Data Card. If this was something they could fix, wouldn’t they be here by now?

Well, I’ve already contacted my friends in the leading dailys and they are ready to publish this blog. I’m also sending this blog out to my subscribers who will then forward it to their own subscribers. I hope this will help warn prospective Data Card buyers and hopefully I am the last customer that Airtel scams.

Rangoo

http://www.askrangoo.com

So I went to the Airtel Office in Begumpet to try to get some kind of response from them. I told them that the Airtel Data Card has not worked for even a day and I want my money back. Naturally, they asked me to go to some other desk. They said that they only sell the card and they cannot help us. Finally, when I refused to budge, a helpful guy (I guess the only helpful employee in the whole Airtel office) came and called up the guy who was supposed to come and check our Data Card.

That guy (will call him R) was extremely rude on the phone even to his own colleague. He maintained that problems with the data card was not his problem and we should go elsewhere to get it corrected. But, we persisted that he has to check the card and since the card hasn’t worked from Day ONE, it’s their responsibility to ensure that either the data card gets replaced or they give us a refund.

Of course R never came to check the data card, even though we waited at the Airtel Office for almost 2 hours. Instead he sent someone who looked like an intern. This guy was able to make the card work on a HP laptop, but even he accepted that the data card did not work on our IBM laptop.

After that the helpful guy and the intern called up R a number of times to ask him to come and check the data card. Of course R never came and he even refused to pick up his phone at times.

Finally, we were assured that R will come to our place on Tuesday to get the data card checked. They were able to see that even though the card gets connected, the speed still shows as 0 and the webpages take ages and ages to connect.

I am able to use my Tata Data Card on the same laptop so that proves that the problem is with the Airtel Data Card and it’s Airtel that has to fix it.

Anyways, I’ve taken R’s phone no and also his manager’s no. and will keep you guys posted on if and when he comes to check my data card.

Rangoo
http://www.askrangoo.com

P.S. After my first post, I’ve heard from FIVE frustrated Airtel Data Card customers - the story is the same - the data card does not work, the customer support does not care. Don’t worry guys, I’ll keep you posted. If they don’t respond, this blog goes to the newspapers!

This is a review of not just the Airtel Data Card but also of the Airtel Customer Support.

I purchased an Airtel Data Card on February 24, 2007. It cost me Rs. 4,999 plus Rs. 999 for the first month of unlimited internet access. First, I was asked to wait for a day for my sim card to get activated. I waited for three days and still no luck. I kept calling the customer service again and again and they finally activated it.

Next, I realised that the data card was still not connecting to the Internet. It is supposed to provide 244 kbps of speed while connecting to the internet, but all it provides on my laptop is 0 kbps! Even when it does get connected, it takes nearly 30 minutes to open a simple webpage and that too after I refresh it again and again.

When Airtel offered unlimited internet access what they did not tell me was that it was going to be an unlimited waste of my time because none of the webpages load.

I’ve contacted the Airtel customer support repeatedly and they have no clue why this is happening. The technicians here must be the dumbest ones Airtel has ever hired, because they spent a whole day just staring at my laptop and didn’t know what to do. I’ve tried everything - call the customer support, email them, submit a complaint, go to the service center - BUT NOTHING TILL NOW!

It’s been exactly a month since I purchased the Airtel Data Card and the Airtel Customer Support has not been able to resolve this issue yet.

If I had known about the faulty data card and the non-existent customer support that Airtel provides, I would have never gone for this data card. Incidentally, after I started getting this problem with the data card, I did a Google Search to see if anyone else was going through the same experience. And guess what, there are a lot of people who are frustrated with Airtel’s Data Card and Airtel’s Customer Support for the data card. Just check Venu’s Blog if you want to read their horror stories. (BTW, Venu also has a very good review of the Airtel Data Card on his blog - do check it out).

Reading all those stories (and some of them have been going back and forth with the customer support for nearly an year now), I don’t think Airtel plans to do anything about their faulty data cards. All they are interested in is our money. Once we pay them, they don’t care if the product they have sold works or not. And their strategy is to keep on postponing the issue till the customer gets tired of contacting them and gets so frustrated that they don’t even want their money back.

Hopefully, this review will help prospective data card buyers be aware of Airtel’s practices and not buy them. But for those like me who have been scammed by Airtel, please feel free to post your Airtel Customer Support horror stories here.

And I will keep you posted if Airtel does anything to resolve this issue (ha ha, high hopes - but I am trying to be optimistic).

Rangoo
http://www.askrangoo.com

P.S. A special thanks to Venu for his blog and his informative reviews.