[rohan_iitr]

Originally Posted by benbsb29

After i had Airtel DTH activated at my new apartment, i had issues where the thing was signalless ever so often, without any reason.

I was patient, despite having paid up the entire first year subsription amount in full. I informed them once, someone came and fixed it. That evening, it was gone again!

I have noticed that the service providers who insist on paying in advance for one year are generally the type who are not sure about the quality of their service. Hence they use this bulk payment as a means to keep the customer trapped for at least one year.

I always try to avoid such service providers, no matter how lucrative their offer may appear.

Originally Posted by Samurai

Do you have kids? If not, have couple of them first, send them to different activities apart from school, then refresh your views about what people say about not having time. But wait, you may not have time for that then!

This is something I totally overlooked. I do agree that things change when one has kids. Thanks for the warning, I will not have more than one.

Rohan

[idea]

Here is my recent experience with Tata Sky. I am already having one connection since 2007.

Paid them for Annual Mega Pack (AMP)using their website and as my settop box was old/outdated , paid for new box also. 6300/-. Nowhere i had given my consent for multiroom.

Intension was scrap old one and go ahead with new one. (new one in different room)

However, installation guy -on his own- made old settop box as primary and new one as secondary. For this he need not have to install dish as same dish can be used. Worst thing - AMP was activated on old settop box so i cant even enjoy new set top box.

However, i had to pay 150/- extra every month for additional connection over and above AMP which i will never use.

I called up customer care, they said nothing is possible now as SYSTEM doesnt allow it. After heated conversation, i asked for escalation and they routed my call to "Specialized Desk"

As result, problem solved within 24 hours.

Key is route your problem to "Specialized Desk" instead of breaking your head with front line associates.

[YaeJay]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Today I got a SMS asking me to recharge my account since I was only left with 1 rupee. I was shocked, and checked my Tatasky account. And they had done it. They had cleaned me out by upgrading me to annual plan without my consent.

Join the club! I guess you loved the TATA ride! I am getting tired of TATA, all TATA products. Ofcourse we cant really blame those over worked, underpaid morons at any TATA enterprise! RA TATATATATATAAAAAAA~!

[Rodie09]

I am a Tata Sky customer for over 3 years and have 2 add on ST boxes as well. I always subscribe to the Annual Super Saver Pack + Annual Life Style pack, and all this is available on add on STs as well. In general I have been happy with my viewing experience, but I feel there is a great need of portability in DTH market as well.In current scenario, providers are fleecing the customers by increasing rates at their will and changing T&C whenever they feel like..

Examples are - Min subscription period moved to 3 mths, add on ST charges increased, making too many packages out of a handful of sports channels.

The worst thing that I have experienced specific to Tata Sky however is that, you can add a package / channel via sms or internet, but if you want to drop a channel, it can only be done thru a person to person call - not even an IVR. Can someone tell me what is the big technological challenge here to allow the same thru sms / internet? Is it not obvious that they want people to forget after subscribing a channel, so that they can continue to generate extra revenue?

I have had at least 2 instances where I had request registerd with them to drop channel once min period is over but they failed to do that and kept the package on. After spending good amount of time over phone, the guy simply tells me - sorry sir, the guy you talked to must have forgotten to record the rquest. We dont have any request regisered in your account.

If DTH portability ever comes (I heard dish tv has plans for such facility in near future), I'll right away change to another provider.

[anand_saraf]

Originally Posted by rohan_iitr

Even I am not comfortable with auto-debit facilities, except for home loan and car loan. I also prefer to make payments as per my wish.



Its not that difficult or time consuming, if done in a systematic and planned manner.

I have made a list of all payments I need to make on a monthly basis - 3 credit cards, 2 mobile phones, broadband and DTH. In this list, I have also mentioned the billing date and last date for each of them. On the first weekend of the month, I see what bills are pending and pay them off through online payments. On the next weekend, the other leftover bills are paid off.

I have also made a list of all payments I need to make on an yearly basis - car insurance, bike insurance, life insurance, health insurance etc, again along with the respective due dates.

I just have to refer to these checklists, no need to break my head every month, trying to remember what all things are pending.

I started working in an era where the concept of ATM and internet banking was relatively unknown. Credit card payments were made by dropping a cheque in the bank's drop box, mobile payments were made by visiting the customer care centre, train tickets were booked by visiting the railway station and standing in queue.

Compared to that stone age, today we enjoy so much technology at our disposal - bills through email, reminders through SMS, online bill payments, online flight/rail ticket booking etc.

Since I have seen the older times, today it really amuses me when people say that they can't find 2-3 minutes of their time to pay a bill online, even though they have 24 hour internet connectivity at home as well as workplace. Technology has made people lazy.

I may sound like an uncle, but I am actually 2 years younger than GTO.

Rohan

Rohan

I am kind of like you in that perspective. You should try this online list service called rememberthemilk.com - I use it and find it very useful, maybe you will like it too.

[kkr2k2]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

.....
SInce thay are all about the same, which bunch of rascals do I go for. I have the annual Mega Pack with one room add-on.....

The good old way, cable connection!!! We pay 100/- per month in Hyderabad(Himayathnagar!!). We get all the channels I ever heard off including the Discovery Turbo. Initially the discovery turbo was not being aired. I have asked the collection guy about it and they promptly started transmitting the channel from the next month!! IIRC, our service provider is Hathway.

[Neilguy]

^ +1 to @kkr2k2, if you do not have the need to watch any HD.

Do we have any cable provider giving HD channels anywhere, or is HD only available through Satellite?

[kkr2k2]

Originally Posted by Neilguy

^ +1 to @kkr2k2, if you do not have the need to watch any HD.

Do we have any cable provider giving HD channels anywhere, or is HD only available through Satellite?

I think there is an option but I am not sure, our cable guy was explaining something of a box type. You pay 1000/- and you get better quality or something like that. He said it makes sense if you have a LCD TV or something in that lines!!!

Also I feel, the DTH makes more sense if the area in which you live is not accessible to reach by a cable!!

[Neilguy]

@kkr2k2 oh great, which cable operator do you subscribe to. Hope he was not just saying about upgrading to a digital stb over the regular (boxless) cable.

In our area Digicomp (now Reliance) Cable is the dominant operator.

[kkr2k2]

Originally Posted by Neilguy

@kkr2k2 oh great, which cable operator do you subscribe to. Hope he was not just saying about upgrading to a digital stb over the regular (boxless) cable.....

It is quite possible he was talking about digital STB. Though he did not make any claim on HD but he was talking that it would give good clarity for the LCD TVs. I am not sure about the cable operator, I think its either Hathway or DBS communications.

[rajeshsundaram]

I am a victim of over-the-phone-package-offers. One fine day a guy from TS called me and told that I am using an old package (South Jumbo) with Sports add-ons. And, they have recently launched a new Grand Sports pack which includes all the channels I am viewing now, plus two language pack add-ons free, which will save me Rs.75 from then on, if I subscribe to the new one. Stupid me! I agreed for the pack, with Tamil and Hindi language packs. The guy said he will change immediately, and changed it.

Late that evening, I found that I was stupid that I did not notice "two language packs free" thing. Now I cannot watch Malayalam telugu and kannada channels. Oops.. I realized my mistake and called their customer support. As expected, the guy said the plan cannot be changed. After heated conversation, I was connected to some "manager" who said that I cannot change back to South Jumbo, as that plan is not offered to anyone now. He insisted that, should I need to view additional channels, I have to subscribe additionally bla bla blaah..

Finally I gave up. Had I not been an ignorant during the conversation, I wouldnt have ended up like this. THis is the first time, I am experiencing bad with TS.

So guys, whenever they call up saying "you are going to save Rs.XX" remember that they are going to take off channels from your existing pack.

Oh I never fell for their annual mega pack / semi-annual pack stuff. That's actually locking you in.

PS : I decided to search for alternatives, but sadly no other DTH providers airs the tamil SUN TV packs. So I decided to stay with TS.