I have in the past written about Vodafone and my experiences here, here & here

It has been nearly a year after that, in the meantime I changed my handset twice over, finally settling for a BlackBerry Bold 9700, which entailed my going to the store, paying a year in advance, following up for nearly 48 hours and getting it activated.

During this time, Vodafone also made its presence on Twitter, where for nearly a month it got hammered for the EDGE services, since they had not intimated its customers about some hardware & systems upgrade.

In the past 4 months, I have had the experience of prompt service from them on the following aspects:

1) EDGE not being activated, had tweeted about it & in turn substantial people also joined in. Received a call from a young lady, who explained the problem and assured that it would be done by a time line which surprisingly they adhered to.

2) Once EDGE was activated, within a couple of days it stopped working, again tweeted about it, promptly someone from BlackBerry services replied with the problem & got Vodafone to call me. The same young lady provided an explanation and also assured me that I would not be charged for that month so effectively for my package now would be allowed 13 months. (I am yet to verify this, however, I have no complaints about such issues in the past & have found that they keep their word)

3) One month later, received a whopping bill, which charged me double, so back I tweeted about it, promptly the call came with reassurances that it would not happen and I could pay the correct amount; however a week later my ECS withdrew the entire amount & on tweeting the problem, the young lady called back with reassurances of my account being credited in the coming month’s bill etc.

Traveling, busy with work, I have decided to wait for the next month and verify this.

A lot of people have asked me why do I continue with Vodafone? Also told me that soon number portability shall come & then I can teach them a lesson.

My take is very simple:

a) At the end it’s a % game, losing customers is built in the business.
b) Who amongst all others is ready to guarantee that they shall provide better service?
c) I have been hearing Number Portability for the past 3 years & do not see it happening for maybe another year or so.

Yes, I have had problems & suppose would continue having them, but over the past couple of months their reaction albeit via twitter has been impressive & as far as I’m concerned as long as that continues I am happy with a known devil:)

I received a call from vodafone a while back. The young lady spoke to my wife, who after the first couple of questions dumped the phone in my hands & walked off to do whatever wives do during lunch hours!!

The young lady started with a bang —–

• Sir, May I have your name (If you have called me, then you would have it)
• Sir, Company only gives us series of numbers (Huh! By just connecting to the computer & MTNL directory this problem should be solved)
• If you have 3 vodafone post paid numbers, we shall give you 1 more free & change all to a new plan where for Rs 160 each all 4 of you can speak unlimited to each other. AND we shall change your billing plan to .60p for within circle & Re. 1 for national for phone & text yada yada yada (Duh!!! Hold on madam, why would I want to do that? I am currently on a plan where it is .50 p circle & national for both voice & text.)
• OK no problem sir, then how about the offer of Rs. 160 (We do not speak worth Rs. 640 in either case)
• OK no problem sir, we have another offer for senior citizen yada yada yada (Sorry not interested, can you offer me something better than my current plan for data & voice?)
• Sir, we are not authorized to offer anything other than this.

Phew!! I have not understood what kind of marketing does Vodafone expect to achieve with this. Because I think this is the old tried & tested funnel theory. Call as many as you can, speed talk them, pick up documents, issue activated card, bill them. Repeat next day, week, month AND the DSA (direct sales agents get Rs. 100 - 150 per subscriber)

Requested by my daughter to pay off her invoice - because she was too busy with the 12th board exams, reached the place around 12 noon.

Quite full as is normally the case. There was a long line outside where the automated counter was - with the security & staff helping everyone to understand how to use the machine. As usual, only one was working. So went in & stood in the line at the counter. After 20 minutes finally reached & recited the number 9920……….; the staff confirmed the name, recited the amount 655/-. Took out the money & was promptly informed that NO CASH could be accepted, for that I would have to use the automated service. So I asked him, why was it not written on the glass where it stated “Payment here” - reply company policy sir!

Quietly paid & went off.

So guess there is company policy which does not have consumer policy!!

Went to hypercity after a long time with the wife. Whilst she was adding to their profits, I decided to pay off the cell bill & check if I could get some lovely deal on my sms usage.

The bill was paid immediately & then the pain began. Told to take a token, for which there was a person who would allot. The printer was not working, so verbally was given the number. Whilst waiting for it to be called, glanced at the counters - 4 of them - only 2 were working with 3 people clustered around them. The manager was moving up & down talking on his phone.

My phone which was on the blink, so trying to fix it (more likely damage it more) raised it high trying to peer into it…phew…was surrounded by the manager & 2 more trainees, who informed me that photography was prohibited, on my blank look, they gestured to the phone & repeated it. Having waited for 15 minutes with no luck, asked them, what is the problem in taking a photograph - company policy was the answer - so I said OK if I step back, I am in hypercity, so then I can photograph; promptly the answer was, that depends on hypercity.

So then I politely asked him, why does it take so much time to attend to a customer & why 2/3 staff are clustered on each counter, whereas the other 2 are empty. Some vague reply, with the question - sir are you in hypercity? why don’t we give you a call & you can come over?

Impressive, I said so to myself, gave my number & went shopping.

This happened around the first week of february, today 25th midnight, still wait for the promised call.

I received an email yesterday

“Dear All,

My friend Ranjan Kamath has posted a petition at the following link. Its a protest against the Captains of Industry falling at Narendra Modi’s feet. I don’t know if any of you would like to sign it or forward it to more people. I have signed it and so I am sending it to you all. Do what your conscience tell you. http://www.PetitionOnline.com/30JAN09/”

Whilst this may make sense, I was curious & hence posed the following Questions:

Do all who have signed the petition, believe & have adhered to:

1) Not making profits thru investments with Tata; Mittal; Ambani?
2) Switching off their phones is good, but why not Vodafone, IDEA &
others OR is it because this is driven to gujarat & narendra modi
3) I can understand the petition & mail, which signifies…..I am
no one, you are no one but together we can be someone. Great! But why
cell phones? What happens after the 30th Jan….Do we switch it on
again?
4) And when compared to maybe 2000 petitioners switching it off &
causing an approx Rs 200 each loss i.e. 4 Lacs how does this drop in
the ocean help?
5) Will these same petitioners agree not to recommend; work with all the 3 big shots in any way?
6) Conscience is Fine, but there needs to be some logic behind the passion also.

I welcome opinions, views, thoughts on this