"Please.. One last chance... If it doesnt work out, I will personally call you up... " says an honest sounding female on the Vodafone customer service. It is pretty difficult to get me worked up, this was one of those difficult times :). I say "OK.. But this would be the last... The next time I call.. I would not be listening to anything but the way.. and I will make sure that this is fixed and a few people screwed even if it translates to taking a week long off from work".. and I hang up.
It was some two weeks back that I had called the Vodafone customer care to find out about something and after talking to the customer care representative, I SMSd a feedback to the Vodafone when instead of the regular reply I get back a message stating that I have been subscribed and that it will take 24 hrs for "it" to be activated. I called the customer care again to find out what "it" was and how to de-activate whatever it was, to know that it was some cricket info!!!!!!!!!
Now, I have never been a great fan of cricket (or for that matter any sport). I ask the guy to take my request to de-activate the service. Turns out that it would not be possible, the service has to be un-subscribed by the user, he tells me the process which was.. "SMS DCT CKT to 56789". I thank him and promptly send the SMS, reply "Invalid response code".... I am like... WHAT?? Even an embedded device would throw up a more meaningful message. Calling the customer care again tells me that I cannot de-activate it till it is activated. So I will have to wait till the evening. I am like OK..
Evening... "Invalid response code".... Customer Care... "Oo sorry... please SMS DCT CKT99 to 56789" OK.... "Invalid response code"... Customer Care... "Oo sorry... please SMS DCT CKT to 567889"... This was a great difference over the previous attempts.... I got back a message which went like... "Thanks... To activate Caller tunes ACT CT... For Shaer-o-Shaeri ACT SS.. For Jokes ACT JK.... blah blah blah blah... " I was like... Ok... done... By the way... What the hell makes Vodafone think that I have a lot of time to get Jokes and stuff on my phone... Anyways.... So I am having my dinner... ting-tong-ting.... SMS... I read it... Ganguly hits a six... blah blah blah... uuooo its not fixed yet.... Customer Care... by this time I am pissed... I tell the person that I am not able to de-activate it.... sir it has to be de-activated at your end... we cannot do that... please SMS CKT99 to 1111.... Obviously with no help... I had started keeping my phone mute.. everyone in the office found it funny.... I get SMS not only of the international cricket... there are SMSs of local cricket some chunnu team playing munnu team sorts... there are jokes running around the office about my phone... somebody would say... "So whats up with basketball these days..." then someone woud say... "Ask Fasih... He might be getting a few updates here and there about those" somebody else would chip in... "No... Vodafone is busy teaching him cricket... One sport at a time"
Finally I get a call from the Vodafone guys on what my problem was.... he talks to me and tells me that it would be addressed soon. I get an SMS a while later, "Issue addressed. Sorry for the inconvenience caused" I heave a breathe of relief, unmute my phone, get to my seat... ting-tong-ting... I take the phone.... Bombay rapids meet bengal tigers (or some such animals) today... This time I am totally pissed.... My ex-boss pitied me and narrated a similar torture to which all he did was to call them up and ask them how to escalate the issue. I decided to do that...
This lady takes the call... "Sir, why do you want to de-activate the serivice" I never liked cricket... Now I hate it because of Vodafone... Is that a reason enough? Or did she want something in writing too? Thinking back I might have been a bit rude... But the escalating stint really fixed it. She said I had to send.... "I am not going to do a SINGLE thing... do you get it? Just tell me how to escalate this..." That was it... She asked for a last chance... Which I grudgingly granted (Guess because I had already shouted so much...) And I have not got an SMS from them till now... except for the "Your bill dated 15-Dec-07 has been dispatched...." a while back which triggered me to write this account... :)
It was some two weeks back that I had called the Vodafone customer care to find out about something and after talking to the customer care representative, I SMSd a feedback to the Vodafone when instead of the regular reply I get back a message stating that I have been subscribed and that it will take 24 hrs for "it" to be activated. I called the customer care again to find out what "it" was and how to de-activate whatever it was, to know that it was some cricket info!!!!!!!!!
Now, I have never been a great fan of cricket (or for that matter any sport). I ask the guy to take my request to de-activate the service. Turns out that it would not be possible, the service has to be un-subscribed by the user, he tells me the process which was.. "SMS DCT CKT to 56789". I thank him and promptly send the SMS, reply "Invalid response code".... I am like... WHAT?? Even an embedded device would throw up a more meaningful message. Calling the customer care again tells me that I cannot de-activate it till it is activated. So I will have to wait till the evening. I am like OK..
Evening... "Invalid response code".... Customer Care... "Oo sorry... please SMS DCT CKT99 to 56789" OK.... "Invalid response code"... Customer Care... "Oo sorry... please SMS DCT CKT to 567889"... This was a great difference over the previous attempts.... I got back a message which went like... "Thanks... To activate Caller tunes ACT CT... For Shaer-o-Shaeri ACT SS.. For Jokes ACT JK.... blah blah blah blah... " I was like... Ok... done... By the way... What the hell makes Vodafone think that I have a lot of time to get Jokes and stuff on my phone... Anyways.... So I am having my dinner... ting-tong-ting.... SMS... I read it... Ganguly hits a six... blah blah blah... uuooo its not fixed yet.... Customer Care... by this time I am pissed... I tell the person that I am not able to de-activate it.... sir it has to be de-activated at your end... we cannot do that... please SMS CKT99 to 1111.... Obviously with no help... I had started keeping my phone mute.. everyone in the office found it funny.... I get SMS not only of the international cricket... there are SMSs of local cricket some chunnu team playing munnu team sorts... there are jokes running around the office about my phone... somebody would say... "So whats up with basketball these days..." then someone woud say... "Ask Fasih... He might be getting a few updates here and there about those" somebody else would chip in... "No... Vodafone is busy teaching him cricket... One sport at a time"
Finally I get a call from the Vodafone guys on what my problem was.... he talks to me and tells me that it would be addressed soon. I get an SMS a while later, "Issue addressed. Sorry for the inconvenience caused" I heave a breathe of relief, unmute my phone, get to my seat... ting-tong-ting... I take the phone.... Bombay rapids meet bengal tigers (or some such animals) today... This time I am totally pissed.... My ex-boss pitied me and narrated a similar torture to which all he did was to call them up and ask them how to escalate the issue. I decided to do that...
This lady takes the call... "Sir, why do you want to de-activate the serivice" I never liked cricket... Now I hate it because of Vodafone... Is that a reason enough? Or did she want something in writing too? Thinking back I might have been a bit rude... But the escalating stint really fixed it. She said I had to send.... "I am not going to do a SINGLE thing... do you get it? Just tell me how to escalate this..." That was it... She asked for a last chance... Which I grudgingly granted (Guess because I had already shouted so much...) And I have not got an SMS from them till now... except for the "Your bill dated 15-Dec-07 has been dispatched...." a while back which triggered me to write this account... :)
3 comments:
have you succeeded in deactivating, i have a same problem
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
@anonymous
Thanks :)
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