Vodafone Black-Out in Bangalore

Vodafone Network Goes Down For One Full Day. Thats right. No Coverage for whole day!

A letter from one of the loyal customers, to the customer care:
I'm Ratheesh P K
Mobile number **********
I had been a hutch/vodafone customer for almost 5 years.

There has been umpteen number of talks about the coverage, peak-time access problem and the likes. But I chose to stay on.

But today, in office, I could not see a single bar, against the antenna on my mobile.
I did not get a single incoming call and could not make a single outgoing call, from the time I reached here.

Its not a one-off case. I confirmed this with many others here.

I made 3 back-to-back calls to customer care (98860 98860) .
The first one was picked by a lady. After a round of qn-answer, she said Pls be online. And the call got dropped. (or did she disconnect?)
The 2nd call was exactly similar.

3rd call - Ajay. He confirmed that there is a "severe" network problem all over Bangalore City including Koramangala (which is where I'm located). I wanted to register this as a complaint and after quite a lot of discussion, he agreed to register the complaint. And then again declined.

I need a reply for two questions:
1. How are you going to compensate for my lost air-time ?
2. Is there any kind of training that you give to your call centre executives ?


A snippet of my conversation with Ajay. (I was in a mood to fight. But felt sorry for this helpless chap)
Me: Hello, what is your name? I need this coz my earlier calls were disconnected in the middle of conversation. I dont want that to happen again
He: Hi Sir, Its okay. My name is Ajay
(followed by what is your name, mobile number blah blah)
Me: I am facing a n/w problem here in Koramangala from today morning. i want to register it as a complaint.
He: We apologize for that sir. But we had been facing this problem in many places in Bangalore. Your place is also one of the affected areas.
Me: What is the problem?
He: We are working to rectify it sir.
Me: I want to register this as a complaint. Please note down...
He: Pls be patient for an hour more sir. The network is expected to be back online.
Me: i cant wait any more. I had been waiting since today morning. I want it to be registered as a complaint.
He: Sir, we cannot register this as a complaint, coz we accept that there is a problem.
Me: Good, then write it down as a complaint.
He: No sir, since we have already accepted it to be a problem at our end, we cant register a complaint.
Me: Alright, I know there is a problem. You know there is a problem. But tomorrow, if I want to take it up with a 3rd party, I need a proof.
(after a lot of talks, and he talking to his 'seniors' and putting me 'on hold' he gets back)
He: Sir, I talked to seniors, we cant register it as a complaint. Could you please be patient till tomorrow morning?
(I knew this is going nowhere. So I tried gathering info for my purpose)
Me: Okay. Since when is the n/w down ?
He: About 8 o'clock or 9 o'clock today morning, sir.
Me: Shall i note it down as 8 o'clock in the morning ?
He: Yes sir.
Me: When will it be back ?
He: Max by tomorrow morning 8 o'clock sir.
Me: Okay. If it doesnt come back online?
He: Pls call up the customer care again sir.
Me: Alright, and then what will you ppl do ?
He: We will look into it sir.
Me: Okay. And what are you going to do with my lost air-time of 24 hours ?
He: We cant do anything about it sir ( Now, isnt that rude? )
Me: What do you mean you cant do anything ?
He: Sir you will have to go to the vodafone store , or write to the customer care.
Me: What is the customer care id ?
He: corprelations.kar@vodafone.com
Me: Okay. What really is the problem ? Is it a hardware problem or something else ? Are other providers facing a problem too?
He: Sir, its confidential. We have only been told that there is a problem.
Me: Okay, thanks Ajay.
He: Is there anything else that I can assist you with ?
Me: No.
He: Good evening sir, have a nice day.
Me: Bye.


The n/w went down on Monday July21 at 8 o'clock. As per the customer care conversation, it should be back by Tuesday July22, 8 o'clock. Lets see !

And they say they are "Happy to Help". Who are they helping ? Themselves ?
Jai bolo vodafone dog kii !!

Update (July22, 08.30AM) - N/w seems to be up. But this email reply is interesting.

"

We would be glad if you could provide us with the following details so that=
we can look into the matter on priority:

?=09Your vodafone mobile number(s)
?=09Handset Model
?=09Alternate Contact number
?=09Exact location/address
?=09Indoor/outdoor problem
?=09Cell info display of the location where problem is being faced
?=09Number of signal bars in the handset
?=09Quality of voice/calls
?=09Error message if any
?=09Are you facing the problem continuously or at any particular time of th=
e day

"

You need to be Masters in Cryptography to find out what '?=09' means.
And for a problem, which the on-call customer care executive said "We accept this as a known problem in many parts of Bangalore", why would this email-fella want my mobile number, my handset model, the firmware revision and the name of my neighbor's dog ?!! If I give these details, 'he would be glad' ! Aargh.. And I guess, he cannot read letters in bold. Coz theer is no mention whatsoever to my "Two Questions". Absolute rubbish.

Update (July22, 09.45AM) - N/w is NOT up. I repeat.. n/w is NOT up. Over Over
(At home it is back to normal. But not here in office. Yummy.. calls for another high-adrenaline conversation with customer-dont-care [phrase courtesy Soo] )
Update (July22, 05.25PM) - N/w is NOT up. Not over.. Called up the customer-dont-care again. As per him, there was a n/w "congestion" in Koramangala area. This was rectified at 12PM on July 21. And he was "really sorry" that I have a n/w problem. Lodged a complaint with the customer-dont-care. Phew.. How happy I am now! &()$&*) $()*()$
Update (July23, 11.00AM) - Breaking News! Vodafone network is up!!