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The Next Thirty Days...Day 16 (Missed Again and Customers who pay for not using the service)

Well at least this time round I had no option to miss for the only reason my connection was dead slow. Imagine it took almost 15 minutes to load the half the webpage and another 10 to open the link. I was lucky to reach that far during late night. Earlier in the day it blatantly refused to load the webpage at all. So I missed ...second time but however I am happy that unlike the last time there was conscious effort to ensure that I don't miss another day. 

That brings to me interesting premise regarding those companies that sell broadband services or mobile services. Irrespective of whether you use the services or not you have to pay because you have subscribed for the services. If you don't use its your problem and the company has every right to charge you for the services which you have not used for some reasons. Fair enough. I can understand the operational and infrastructure costs that are involved. 

However what happens about days like yesterday....where it was fault of the service provider (MTS in this case). As a customer you don't get compensated for failure on part of the service provider to provide you uninterrupted and smooth service but instead you end up being charged for the failure to serve you. That's interesting. 

What has been interesting that ever since I subscribed to MTS broadband services...I have at least 5-7 days on an average every month when it is barely running or not running at all. My service charges come to Rs. 30/day. A rough calculation and you will see I loosing around Rs.200/- per month for not being able to use the service at all (just multiply the number by maybe 1000 subscribers who face a problem and boy you are raking a moolah month after month for no service at all). And moreover the Customer Care Centre is apologetic that within five minutes they would have repeated at least ten times that they are sorry for the trouble you are facing and go on asking you the same set of questions and end up saying our technical team will contact you, again apologize give you the complaint number and end up asking you is there any help you need? As usual I end up saying you have not been able to help me with the service failure problem I am facing so why bother about anything else.

And not it's not just with MTS I have issues regarding a uninterrupted and smooth services. My mobile services provider Airtel is equally good. Any service failure or network availability related complaint I register they are somehow unable to reach me and then they unilaterally decide that the problem has been resolved. Call drop frequency is also very high. Number portability is an option but friends on other networks tell me...mobile service is a good it gets or what I get on Airtel. Every provider is the same. They are not bothered about your complaints. So here too I end up paying for service where almost get use it at the most critical times. And there is icing on the cake though.....whenever my bill payment gets delayed Airtel can reach me with an amazing frequency of almost three times in day. They always get through very unlike when I register a complaint about call drop / network unavailability.

Or even for that matter your DTH connection which fails due to manufacturing defect in the set top box. Some service providers are courteous to respond immediately while others bother only after a couple of days. Who pays for those lost subscription? Obviously you..but you won't in any way get a couple of days extra because your set top box was out of service for few days due to the company's mistake.

I could go on and on but till the time the consumer awakens to these malpractices carried out by these companies without even being questioned...we will keep on loosing our hard earned money for partial disruption of services every now and then for no fault whatsoever of ours but of the service provider. So till such time I will keep registering a complaint....with little hope in my heart that some day...I will get uninterrupted and smooth service.

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