Miffed Customer, callous customer service by Sun Direct

I was fuming after one of the worst customer service experiences one can ever begin to imagine possible with a private DTH operator and was wondering about the best medium to share my experience with, when I remembered a friend’s pearl of wisdom – “if you want to heard, write on Rodinhood”. I have never posted on Rodinhood before but I hope I am not out of place to be posting this here.

When I relocated to Bombay in 2011, I brought with me my existing Sun Direct connection from Coimbatore, to serve as a secondary DTH connection so that there’s no clash in the household over TV viewing. Also, Sun Direct made more sense since it offered the most South Indian channels in it’s basic plan and thus was tailor made for my South Indian household. What just started as a minor inconvenience over the weekend turned into an ordeal of unimaginable proportions.

On 5^th May, my mom said that the dish is not working and I saw “No Signal” being displayed. I called up the customer care to lodge a complaint and after walking me thru some procedures over the phone, the customer care representative told me that this issue required a technician to visit my place to fix the issue and I can expect the issue to be solved in 24 hours. No one came on Sunday and being a weekend my expectations were low so I didn’t bother to call and follow up, assuming someone will visit on Monday to fix the problem. On Monday (7^th May), I got a text from Sun Direct stating the issue was closed. I was at office and assumed that someone visited my place and it’s done. To my surprise I found that no one had visited and the problem still persisted. Feeling miffed at being mislead, I called the customer care again to state that the problem still persisted and enquired as to how I got a message from them saying the problem was resolved when no one even visited my house. I got a reply that someone had reported in their system that the issue was resolved over a call to my. I was surprised and reaffirmed that no one called nor visited and I the issue still persists. I was again promised that someone will visit me in 24 hours, which now I have come to believe is a standard statement without any intention to honor the commitment. To my angst again I got a text on 8^th stating the problem has been resolved without anyone visiting my place. I thought a case of false reporting will be taken seriously by a company as big as Sun, when reported by a customer and retributions will follow and the problem will be escalated considering the issue was open for 4 days then. But little did I know, that I had only sat thru the trailer of the horror tale that was to follow.

Pushed to the edge of my patience I called again on 9^th May at 4 pm to remind them that they have a very unhappy customer whose simple problem they are yet to solve. This time I was promised a turnaround time of 3 hours. Marginally surprised by the shorter turnaround promise, I thought finally salvation was nearby but again no one turned up. Extremely annoyed now, I called the customer care again at 8 pm to inform that no one turned up and I want the issue sorted right away and I don’t care what time the technician comes. The gentleman on the other end feigned surprise, apologized and to my agony again told me to wait for 24 hours. Exasperated, hungry and weary, I said OK and hung up. I woke up on 10^th May with the sole intention of spending my hard earned money and precious time on calling sun direct customer care and get the issue sorted some way or the other. Trying to be a bit proactive, I called the customer care at 10 am and reminded them that I was promised 24 hours on the previous night and asked if the call was allotted to someone. I was told that it will be resolved in 9 hours. Having little hope but not the one to give up, I called them every 2 hours to remind them that they have an unresolved issue for last 5 days and I would like to talk to someone higher up since it has been unfruitful talking to the customer care representatives. Here’s the beautiful part – I was put on hold for a lengthy time till the call got cut automatically. I called another 4 times to be put thru to a supervisor or manager to escalate my issue and every time they would put me on hold till the phone got cut. The most frustrating part was that everytime I had to state my smart card number, name, telephone number before I could start venting. When I asked to be put thru to the executive I talked 5 minutes earlier, so that I don’t have to go thru the process of stating my details just to ask to be put thru to the manager, I was met with a denial. When I asked for the direct number of their manager or supervisor so that I can escalate the issue myself I was denied. When I asked for the number of the technician to whom my call was allocated I was met with denial again. Now comes the best part of my experience – extremely infuriated I asked one of the executives (shatrugan was this gentleman’s unforgettable name) how I am going to be compensated since I have not been able to use the service and I pay in advance for the usage. Not that I expected any compensation but I was looking for sincerity and ethical practices from a reputed corporate house. The answer was that I should not expect any sort of compensation since the company is not responsible for anyway after installation. Riled now, I reminded that the company’s T&C clearly states that the company owns the equipment not the customer , infact I found out much later that if I don’t have the service active for more than 6 months the company has the right to take away the equipment, which I found a bit weird. But most importantly I enlightened the gentleman that I was promised that my issue will be resolved in 24 hours and by saying so you give a commitment which is supposed to be honored. The appalling reply was that it’s technically not their problem and it’s SOP to promise 24 hours and then they try to resolve the issue within 24 hours. Then I asked what should I do if the problem is not solved within the 24 hours, now that we are on the 6^th day since I first complained. The executive calmly replied that I should call again and tell them that it’s unsolved. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

The problem is still unsolved and I don’t have any hopes of it being solved. I am not expecting it to be solved by posting on Rodinhood for this is a platform for better things. No doubt, I have decided to discontinue the service and move on to another service provider but I did want this agony of an experience to be read and shared so that anyone considering to get a Sun Direct connection knows what they are getting into. True, that my world didn’t end because of it, probably I was a bit miffed at being unable to watch the IPL due to my parents wanting to watch their favorite soaps on the working DTH but I was totally shocked at the callous attitude and approach by the Sun Direct Customer service executives. I wonder where the service really is. I don’t blame the customer care executives, for I am sure they are just mere projections and extensions of the culture, training and attitude of the brand they represent. I have been a customer care executive during the early days of telecom, client manager and account manager for many tech firms and always done my job with the single principle of “Customer is God” as taught to me by my bosses and mentors. Having practiced as well as preached the motto, I was shocked to the core by this level of irresponsibility, taking for granted attitude and unethical practices. Now that Sun Group has bought Spicejet, I am paranoid to set my foot on those flights fearing the same callous attitude and service. 

At one end of the spectrum of the India story are companies and brands who are fueling the success as well as the GDP by innovation, quality consciousness, ethical business practices, transparency and second to none customer service. On the other end are companies like Sun direct with appalling service and  callous customer care attitude which are pulling it down. True, this is not as grave as female foeticide but nonetheless requires attention and cure for the want of better Brand India.