[Samurai]

My TV in Manipal is rarely used these days, still I have kept my Tatasky account active, just in case I feel like watching someday.

Earlier I used to have the annual south jumbo package. But they don't let us change it until it runs out. Few months back, once I got out of the annual package, I opted for south saver monthly package since I didn't want to get locked in again.

Check my account balance early this month:



Couple days back I got a SMS saying I saved 72 bucks on the annual south saver package. I was like huh! But I was outside, couldn't check my account right away, and then forgot about it.

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.

I was furious and called Tatasky to switch me out of annual south saver to cheaper monthly plan like Economy. Now they have much better plans than before. The phone menu played out in Kannada, the customer rep greeted me in Hindi, and I decided to speak to him in English. Fortunately, he could speak in English.

As expected he pleaded his helplessness. An annual plan once charged can't be cancelled. Therefore, I can't switch from annual plan to monthly plan for another year. But he couldn't explain how a monthly plan turned into annual plan without my consent. I had enough of it, so I asked him to cancel the account instead. If you can't cancel the unauthorised package, cancel the account. Since my balance is down to 1 rupee, I don't mind losing that amount.

Then things moved very fast. He excused himself to confer with his superior. Couple minutes later, he came back and switched me from annual south saver to monthly economy package.

After hanging up, I logged on again to my Tatasky account. The package had indeed changed as I had requested and the account balance was back to Rs. 1,538.04 from the solitary 1 buck.

All in all, it ended quickly and well. If you are a Tatasky customer, do keep a keen eye on your account balance.

[mobike008]

Interesting. I have been a TS customer from 3 years now and always pay the fees one-shot. Some Rs.3500/annum odd in a go and never faced any problems.

Infact, i dealt with them (customer service) only 3 times in last 3 years and always came out with a pleasant feeling and no technical or financial glitches.

There is not other DTH in our country which can match Tata Sky. Period

[Samurai]

Try changing from one annual plan to a lesser plan and then watch the fun.

Now they have much better plans, you don't have to buy all kind of junk like before.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Try changing from one annual plan to a lesser plan and then watch the fun.

Now they have much better plans, you don't have to buy all kind of junk like before.

Been seeing couple of hilarious ads by Aamir Khan where you can customize your package.

I dont get into this addition/deletion hassle. One time pay for all and go. whether, use or dont use. To save a few bucks, its too much of hassle waiting on phone line explaining to customer service what exactly i want etc.

Anyways, will check it out sometime if there is really some savings by adding or dropping channels. Need to pay close attention to what Aamir is saying next time i see that ad

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by mobike008

To save a few bucks, its too much of hassle waiting on phone line explaining to customer service what exactly i want etc.

Instead of paying 12 x Rs.300 in advance, I'll be paying Rs.150 every month. That is more than a few bucks of savings for me.

[anonymous]

All DTH Providers are making us fools by offering such ridiculous plans. This is why I have switched to Airtel IP TV from Dish TV.

[NFS]

Thanks for the thread. Checked my TATA Sky account and found the following.

Plat Sports pack renewed for 3 months (earlier minimum lock in period for 1 month) now changed to 3 months. No intimation received till date. On phone the executive played the same prank, "I cannot cancel it, but can take a request, if they can cancel it they will do it if not the cancellation will come into force in the month of Dec, 2010". Used your method, asked for transfer to the manager, he started another prank. The balance is in negative so you need to "recharge now" only then they can take a cancellation request.

Explained very patiently to the manager, that the renewal has been done till Dec, 2010. If you cancel the credit will take me back to positive balance and by doing that you can take the cancellation request. He was very nice to follow my suggestion, it took just 30 seconds for cancellation.

The phone call was for 22 mins, and when you call from mobile phones, you cannot use the toll free number, you have to call the local number. The fun there was, I called a Chennai Customer Care number, the automatic voice choose to explain the options in Malayalam (luckily I can understand Malayalam) and finally when I opted to speak to the operator, the operator started in Hindi. Ha ha... So how is that?

Once again thanks for the thread...

[sreedotk]

Samurai , Reading your thread i too decided to see if i could save some money on my tata Sky. Needless to say all i got in return was a headache trying to make sense of the logics provided by ill trained people manning the call centre.

I decided that i will not fix what is not broken and prefer my peace than the 50 Rs i would save. But i am not letting them off easily and have sent a polite mail to the mail ids of their top management my experiences with Tata Sky customer suppport.

[GTO]

The Tata Sky accounts dept is filled up with rascals. I went through a similar experience in June 2010. Account balance at the start of the month was 3,000 odd....without my authorisation or go ahead, they switched my plan to some semi-annual pack and deducted 2,500 (or similar amount, don't remember the exact no). I was livid and dropped a stinker via their ticket system (accessible after you log in). Someone called me, apologised and credited the amount back.

See, Samurai, guys like you & me who keep an eye on the account balances form a small % of the masses. A majority wouldn't even bother and the end result is, Tata Sky laughing all the way to the bank.

P.S. : I know a lot of people who don't even tally their monthly bank or credit card statements!

[sgiitk]

OT but still ....
I am a happy an satisfied Tata customer. However, I may be forced to move out sincew they are still to launch HD Services here. When I mailed they called back within three hours, and said sorry, wre not yet offering HD in Kanpur.

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.

@samurai: My son (in Manipal) has a Big TV and after some initial teething problems (he bought at the launch) is very happy with it.

[meerkat]

Originally Posted by sgiitk

OT but still ....
My son (in Manipal) has a Big TV and after some initial teething problems (he bought at the launch) is very happy with it.

In spite of their disgusting logo?! That was reason enough for me to not even consider BigTV.

[mobike008]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Instead of paying 12 x Rs.300 in advance, I'll be paying Rs.150 every month. That is more than a few bucks of savings for me.

Just 150/month?

So that means you arent subscribed to a lot of channels. I pay close to Rs.11 per day which works out to Rs.330 a month odd and except for a couple of sport channels and south indian channels i get everything.

Anyways, as GTO said, i am one of the contributors to their enjoyable walk to the bank.

But, my math works like this for these additional expenses maybe i spend Rs.12K/Annum ( Tata Sky, Bigflix, Magazines door delivery at home and a few more not so required expense items) which works out to Rs.1K/month which is way less than a meal spent at a fine dining restuarant

And, going OT, i spend around 10K a month on eating out. What i need to cut out is this ridiculous expense

[Sn1p3r]

@anonymous: Bro, Airtel IPTV you say? I was the 3rd installation in NCR for that. The system is so slow that even my granny is now on my back to change it. If I have some heavy internet activity on desktop using Wifi the TV starts showing waiting signal. The sound of HBO and Turbo goes for a toss at least twice a week. I am the one whom Airtel IP tv customers should thank for the changed user interface which is still pathetic, I threatened the nodal officer to sue them if they either did not change the user interface.

For other TV I went in for TataSky HD and its still ok, the placement of channels groups is not logical as Airtel. But still Airtel IP tv is far more economical than the Tatasky. IMHO Tatasky HD reception is better than Airtel HD that too tested on the same TV.

@meerkat: Logo, whats with these dumb providers and their logos. I know I have Airtel or Tatasky, why do I always see you apart from the channel logo. Is there a way to hide it in TataSky?

[Samurai]

Originally Posted by mobike008

Just 150/month?

So that means you arent subscribed to a lot of channels.

Still 74 channels on a TV that is rarely switched on, say one or two times in a month.

[rohan_iitr]

It is surprising and disappointing to know that a reputed brand like Tata is treating customers this way.

I am a satisfied Tata-Sky customer for over a year and have found their billing and customer care to be quite professional. I am the kind of customer who checks all bills every month (3 credit cards, 2 mobiles, broadband, DTH). Hence, no service provider can cheat me.

I have not taken the annual pack, I don't like that kind of restrictions on me. I don't mind paying a few bucks extra, but I should have the flexibility to be able to change my plan at free will without having to wait for the year to end.

One thing I don't understand is why do some subscribers (like Samurai and GTO mentioned above) maintain balance like 2K or 3K in their account, even when they don't intend to subscribe to the annual pack and have monthly packs of 200-300 odd bucks. Not that there's anything wrong in having excess account balance, I am just curious to know.

One thing I have realised while interacting with any service provider is that call centres are basically useless in India. Whenever we notice some wrong billing in the statement, our blood starts boiling and our first reaction is to vent our anger on someone by calling the customer care number and shouting at the customer care executive. After shouting at the customer care executive, you feel triumphant. But the fact of the matter is that you don't have any record or reference number of the conversation, and hence there is no accountability on the customer care executive to look into your complaint and solve the issue.

So, instead of shouting at customer care executive or threatening them to cancel the service, the easier approach is to write a simple email to the customer care explaining the problem faced by you. When complaint is given in a written format, there is accountability on the executive reading the email to solve the issue and reply to the email. This approach is fool proof, the only downside is that you don't get the sadistic pleasure of shouting at someone over the phone.

This approach is also beneficial because it avoids increasing your blood pressure and phone bills. You can also use the office time for composing such emails, while pretending to work.

Rohan