Sunday 23 November 2008

OFF WITH THE OLD. . . . .

I am being wooed.

Sms-s, emails, phone calls, the whole works. Day in and day out. But my reaction is silence, an impassive silence, while I rub my hands together in glee.

When I needed your help, you never paid me the slightest attention, ignored my phone calls, and sent me vacuous emails full of no information.

Now you beg and persuade, plead and beseech me to renew my association with you.
Thanks, but no thanks.

I have found someone new, who is just perfect for me.

BSNL - my new service provider.

No more waits of up to seven days while cable problems (which were as frequent as once a month) were sorted out. No more of having to talk to courteous, yet indifferent, call centre employees, who insisted on being civil, full of empty politeness, but were of no help at all. No more calling them up and not getting any feedback.

I only have to open the Internet, and there I am connected immediately and am ready to surf.

Or so I thought . . . . When suddenly two days ago I found that I could not connect to the net. I called their Call Centre. The line was busy for very long, and I could not get through at once. But once I did, the person there, without being obsequious, very clearly told me (without any ornamental flourish - no ‘have a great day’, no ‘thanks for calling us’)that my problem would be addressed as soon as possible.

When I called the person who had come home to connect us to the service, he said he would come to check the lines. But before the appointed time he called to say exactly what the problem was. It was a major one, with the server being down, and so he would not be visiting since it was not a problem related to our line. I appreciated that service. The connection was restored without much delay the same day. A nice change. The next day the newspapers reported a major snag in the BSNL service, which had disrupted connections state wide.

I am happy now, though I realise that if our telephone lines go, so would the broadband connection. But I am prepared to take that chance.

17 comments:

Webradio said...

Hello Raji !

We have the same problems in France...

See You later !

Devika Jyothi said...

Last week telecommunication transmissions were a problem, globally some one said...

of all BSNL was the best they say :)

nice to read this one, Raji :)

wishes!
devika

Joseph Pulikotil said...

Hi Raji :)

I liked the suspense and intrigue at the begining of your post.

I have been using Bsnl connection from the begining. The advaantage is that you can use your phone even if the internet fails. Since the cable is underground the phone connection gernerally never fails.

Many thanks for the nice comment on my post.

Have a wonderful day :)

kallu said...

Well written Raji. You began with a twist -in the beginning. Nice.
Im a big fan of BSNL which only seems to get better all the time - their service.
Service without frills suits me. All these 'have a nice day' stuff without follow up is so hollow.

Indrani said...

BSNL will last. :)

Devika Jyothi said...

Hi Raji..

i am tresspassing with a prior sorry..

had to ask Indrani a 'small' question...do frienship last?

Now, Raji -- if she says yes..ask her to publish my comments :)

wishes,
devika

Raaga said...

We're going the BSNL way too... very soon.

Unknown said...

I fully agree with you. BSNL has come a long way from those days of monopoly. They have excellent infrastructure, the best and widest coverage of any service provider in the country and yes their service levels are getting better by leaps and bounds

namaki said...

Oh yesss ! this is what seems to happen worldwide ! Who has never had a connection/provider problem ??? ;-))

Anonymous said...

Reading the first few lines, got panicky about Professor. you have great writing skills. anandhi

Swarna said...

I will give full marks to BSNL, out of experience at Bangalore and Coimbatore, - and for being a successful suitor :)

Kat said...

great to know you resisted all and voted to BSNL.

As a BSNL fan, I too welcome you aboard.

Swarna has matched her last line, to your opening lines..!!

Devika Jyothi said...

Hi Raji!

came to see if you had new ones...

heard it was raining bad in Chennai..my mother is there with my brother...

hope all fine by now..

wishes,
devika

Ayyappan said...

@Raji
In the beginning, I was wondering where would it lead. Nice suspense.

I use MTNL and am pretty happy .. but also jealous of the people who can use BSNL. I won't give high marks to MTNL for customer service.. but I prefer their curt responses to the obsequious .. useless customer service representatives elsewhere..

Ashvin said...

Hmm aunty, like anandhi I also thought for a moment that uncle better watch out, then understood....

RAJI MUTHUKRISHNAN said...

Thanks everyone for the reassuring words about BSNL.

Webradio and Namaki - sorry that you too face internet these problems.

Joseph, welcome here.

Anandhi, Ashvin- well!!!

Ayyo - Nice to see you again. Glad you liked the suspense.

Anonymous said...

BSNLmay not enjoy a high brand value among the elite, but it's very good efficiency wise. I too have a BSNL connection for my broadband and cellphone. Not all govt-sevices are bad.