AirTel Digital TV experience

[god2007]

Although we claim that India is an advanced country because of the computer / mobile / DTH etc revolutions, the fact is that we are still in the bullock cart age. I do make use of online bookings, internet banking, online shopping and other technology assisted services, I prefer to use people contacts, wherever possible. This people contacts ensure that you have a real person to force or even harass in case some thing went wrong or a promise not fulfilled. In this era of outsourced customer care, the better you avoid any contact with those faceless peoples in the CC. 99% of them do not really know what they are doing.

Had the OP booked the connection with a dealer, the dealer would have taken care to ensure that the connection is installed within the promised time, other wise he know that it will affect his own business and reputation. But the guys and gals in the customer care have noting to lost even if your connection is not done even after a week. The OP himself stated that he is staying 1 1/2 hour out side Guwahatti. Even those inside the metros are not getting proper attention from the faceless CC. Then how could they attend some one so far away from the city?

So my advice is whenever some service is required, let it done through people contacts even if it costs a little more more. When you are dealing with anonymous / faceless people, they act only at their own convenience and pleasure.

 

[nowwhat?]

only thing i see how this was possible that the area dealer(for our area this is a private agency representing Airtel) will receive the case/ticket/WO almost immediately and after that it solely depends on the efficiency of the agency. The rep. who visited your place must be close by to your place at that moment and dealer must have asked him to take care of yours too to save another trip to your area. Otherwise they will most probably only address issues on first-come-first-served basis unless until their backs are on fire probabaly.

I second what yuvaraki is saying. Airtel seems to have outsourced the dish installation to small operators who are not reliable with their timings and are hard to get. If you try calling them back, they disconnect your call. However I found that as unreliable as they are, the installation is generally topnotch.

 

[god2007]

I second what yuvaraki is saying. Airtel seems to have outsourced the dish installation to small operators who are not reliable with their timings and are hard to get. If you try calling them back, they disconnect your call. However I found that as unreliable as they are, the installation is generally topnotch.

All DTH installations are out sourced. When I bought my airtel con, I have get it activated at the shop itself and get it installed by a local guy. All done in a few hours.

 

[akd]

Let me tell you a couple of realities

It sounds nice to contact local dealers, a physical person, but my experience says he is an individual and can be equally notorious. He can also make promises and don't turn up, what a customer can do at that time, contact CC, is there any other way?

then comes language, you will have to speak in local language, and most of the time their hindi (forget about english) is horrible, you won't make out he is speaking in past or present or future. Still I agree a person in your city is far better than a few unaware, unconcerned CC call takers.

Every possible service in India is marred by such blockades. You name it SONY ,PHILIPS,SAMSUNG,LG.......I give you examples

1. SAMSUNG's biggest showroom in Guwahati - the demonstrator doesn't know what is aspect ratio and 1920X1080p
2. SONY service engineer while checking a CD player capable of recording in a external HDD- doesn't know what is NTFS/FAT 32
3. LG showroom - the guy who demonstrates BDPs doesn't know what is a region, his standard answer is "sab CD run hoga"
4. APC service engineer when asked how much back up I can expect from a 600 VA line interactive UPS for a 40" LCD - "is UPS se TV nahi chalega"
5. HARMAN KARDON/JBL dealer when asked difference between red-while rca and single coaxial input to a stereo amp - "ek mein do cable lagta hai aur doosre mein ek cable lagta hai"

these are my personal experiences and I have all these equipments with me. I detest even talking to a dealer physically because of their shameful ignorance. But thats not the reason for getting it done through online payment. I have done the same thing with TSKY and I got confirmation and other communications, and the installation was done in next 48 hours. The point is not about dealer or someone in the company - its about accountability and doing your job in a transparent way. This is missing in our country. It can happen with TSKY for a different individual, only I was lucky for TSKY and someone was lucky for Airtel

 

[sam9s]

I have seen, read and experienced as well, that in general TataSky CC and representatives baring few exceptions ofcourse are still way better than any other DTH provider. This is the same reason I went for a multi room connection with TATASKY instead of opting for another DTH connection for my other room. I am one of the early adopters of TataSky, bought when it was just launched and have never faced any major issue while adding, subtracting a package, recharging, or any other general complain........ pretty satisfied I'd say.

The only thing I am a disappointed is the number of HD channels, which are too less in comparison and addition of new is way too slow as well .....

 

[pkr]

I will echo akd. After hearing TataSky's great customercare, I went with TS. Customercare was nice, package was great, booked it and they said that the installation will happen in 48 hours. Even after 3 weeks, nothing happened. Each time I called them, they said that they have passed the request to the local guy and he/she will come soon.

After a month long wait, I cancelled and went with Airtel HD. They installed within 24 hours. Even now, I had a problem and the service person came within 4 hours of raising the ticket with Customer Care.

I have seen simialr problems with Samsung and great work by Siemens. In fact, in the case of Samsung, I had very good and very bad experience.

So a lot depends on the local guy.

 

[akd]

Finally the installation is done. As I said the promise was made for 10:30 a.m, the fellow turned up at 1 p.m, installed with as little care as possible, they don't mind if the cables are hanging here and there, I totally kept quiet because I know how they are, while leaving asked money for extra cables which I paid 50/-, they didn't give any receipt. I am more than sure it will never reach Airtel, I am fed up with all these, just want to quit and sleep, I have other things to do, I want to put a full stop.

So my experience for Airtel Digital TV has been a nightmare, that doesn't mean it will be same with all, all I can say is it may/may not happen to you, brighter side of it is more these happens more one becomes immune to public service. Neither I will recommend TSKY nor Airtel as all are equally good or equally bad.

 

[AtheK]

Yup i agree, as mentioned before Airtel has been absolutely phenomenoal for me for any issues, be it a remote change to channel addition, all done in defined SLA, maybe i live in Bangalore and this helps. maybe in small cities it is still a problem. I would not buy TS just for the lack of HD channels, in the end of the day i am buying DTH to watch Tv and not sing praises or diss the CC. It can be a pain sometimes, but not getting your favorite channels for months together can be even bigger Pain.

My friends do not get Ten HD and they miss out on so much because of that, they do not get movies now, they crib so much. how does a better CC solve this issues, which sometimes leads to them being butt of the jokes in a group. TS can be as good they want in CC, but please give me my HD channels, i am paying majorily for them your CC is an addon. TS guys use there better CC as an excuse to not getting more HD channels(No offence to everyone who owns it, but personally i have called CC just twice in last 3 years, but i got almost all HD channels i wanted, i still miss Mtunes though)

 

[sauravg]

Of all the service providers I have to deal with, the one guaranteed to be the most clueless is certainly Airtel.

I recently upgraded my Airtel Digital TV from SD to HD Recorder. It took them a week to install the new equipment (by comparison, Tata Sky took just a few hours for the same upgrade for other TV). But when it came to activation, they claimed they have not received the upgrade cost, which I had paid via CC through their IVR a week before. Then they promptly disconnected my existing SD service as well, and I was left with no service at all as a result of upgrading to the HD recorder!

A series of calls to their ever-clueless customer support followed, who at one point told me that unless they had sent me an email or SMS confirming the payment, I had essentially no proof that I had made the payment. Just because something showed up on my CC bill or that I got an SMS for the CC transaction meant nothing to them. It was my responsibility to have gotten them to send me the confirmation email, a duty I had failed to carry out!

Finally, they figured it out and restored the service, but I never knew what happened. It works now.

I have had consistently disappointing experience dealing with Airtel, be it their mobile service, their DSL, or whatever. For example, the DSL service packages they advertise on their web site for Hyderabad have nothing to do with what's actually available. They also claim that I can manage all my accounts with one login, but it ain't so. Their customer support clearly and repeatedly told me that its not possible to access my DSL and Digital TV accounts under one login, so I have separate logins for them (that Airtel support guy, for once, seemed to know what he was talking about). Minor inconvenience, but amply brings out the point that their publicly visible information like website etc. have nothing to do with reality.

And I won't even bring up the quality of their 3G service, the infrastructure cost of which they keep bemoaning, and as a solution keep making it less and less usable to earn even less revenue out of it.

 

[AtheK]

I have my DSL and Digital TV under same account, Another stupid customer service guy.

I currently use there Android App, and all my Mobile/Broadband/Digital Tv is at the same place(ofcourse if you have registered all of them with same number), try that App it is really really good.

 

[sauravg]

I just jumped through all the hoops once again at Airtel's website, to add my details under one of my two accounts. Here's what happened:

1. Adding DSL details to digital TV account

It requires me to specify my my Account Number and Airtel Number. But it won't let me enter the full 11-digit Airtel DSL landline number (STD code + 8 digits). Will accept only 10. I tried removing the initial '0', didn't work. Tried specifying my 10-digit mobile, didn't work. It keeps saying "This Airtel number is not registered". In fact, I can't copy/paste the landline number example mentioned just beside the textbox on that form!

2. Adding digital TV details to DSL account

Once I enter the customer ID and registered telephone number, it says "We are unable to process your request. Please try later. Sorry for the inconvenience". May be because the digital TV connection is already associated with another account?

So I guess I can't do it on my own. That was the reason I called Airtel support, who created another account for me.

Do you remember how you got both DSL and Digital TV under one login?

And I installed that My Airtel Android app almost as soon as it was released. Can't associate both accounts with it either. It wants me to use the website. Without DSL details, I don't have much use for it, since I make yearly payments for digital TV. And its just too bad it won't even let me schedule recordings, like Tata Sky's app does.

And just for the records, the ways to get to the form on Airtel's website for adding services to your login are

1. If you already have a Digital TV account, log in and click on the "my account" link at left top. Hopefully, you'd get a "selfcare - my account" page and will see a link on the left that says "add airtel service"

2. If you already have a DSL account, log in. Under the "my airtel" tab, under your account details, there should be a dropdown that says "do more". Use the "add number" option, and then change the service type to whatever you are trying to add.

And while on Airtel's site, be sure to have the tenacity of a bulldog.

 

[AtheK]

I don't exactly remember, but when i login to my main account, i have this link "Switch to DTH or something like this" and when i do it, it takes me in.

I have my cellphone number as common for DTH, Broadband and ofcourse the Mobile , so in APP it directly lists everything.

 

[ankit.cd]

Few months ago i used airtel dth service... after having a bad service experience i will not prefer anyone to go with airtel. Such a top company and such a pathetic service.

 

[sauravg]

As regards their service, I have mixed feelings. My experience has been that the actual on-field guys are good (everywhere, not just with Airtel). Its those paper-pusher types in offices who suck.

Yesterday, I complained to them about my DSL dropping off frequently. Somebody came and repaired it at 7:30 PM yesterday itself! And he really knew his stuff.

But at other times, I've had very irritating experiences with Airtel's service, be it DSL or mobile. But I guess that's a common with all "service" providers.

 

[yuvaraki]

i got a new Blackberry and subscribed to their 2g BIS plan and compared to Docomo Network Airtel has superb speed and coverage!

Coming to customer care, they still provided me a decent and praise-worthy support when i called them thrice in the past 2-3 days. Only negative was that one of their reps is not aware of my particular model's incompatibility with their network. When i raised the point, next agent was apologetic and he sounded like he meant it. Same guy called me back once service was activated to make sure everything was set-up and was offering to help with nitty-gritties of new BB setup. I cant say the same about the regular customer care and the Digital TV crew.

 

[audio_passionate]

Dear akd
I can understand your feeling and emotions very well cos I too have gone through such things. I installed my first DTH in 2005 and at that time only Dish Tv was the sole service provider so I had no option other than Dish TV. After some time when Airtel launched their DTH service I shifted to Airtel as they were making aggressive marketing and were claiming best quality specially better than Dish Tv. So I shifted to Airtel and I didn't find any noticeable difference in picture and sound quality. But one reason was there that they were offereing 10 worldspace radio channels at that time. But after some time this worldspace channels were taken off form the service. And at that time there service and customer care was also no so impressive. In 2011 I was looking to shift to HD set top box with DVR option. And I was also curious about Tata Sky service cos I had very good response from my friends about their service and customer care. So I installed Tata Sky HD + set top box. I just put a querry for HD + service on the website of TS. Surprisingly after some hours they called me and talked to me and I get answer for all my question. And by the evening they send me the technician alongwith set top box and dish. I was very much Impressed and could diffferenciate it with other service provider. Till that i never thought of any other DTH company simply because of their service standard although Vodeocon and Airtel claim to offer more Hd channels but at last overall its nothing better than TS. This is my personal observation only.
Cheers
Ashutosh

 

[technobhatt]

can anyone plz tell me how to recharge airtel digital tv & purchase the packages online bcoz My account page is not working for me..

and in advance rental packages i like to purchase south super value plus 12 HD.. can anyone tell what are the 12 HD channels available for that package bcoz i want all HD channels except colour HD, Star plus HD, sony HD, Zeetv HD

For online ADTV recharge without logging you can use this link:
https://pay.airtel.com/online-payments/dth-digital-tv-recharge.jsp

South Super Plus 12 HD has following channels:
Star Plus HD
Colors HD
Zee Tv HD
Zee Cinema HD
Movies Now HD
Star Cricket HD
Discovery World HD
Star World HD
Star Movies HD
TEN HD
NGC HD
History TV HD

Full details of South Super Value Plus 12 HD pack...
https://ebpp.airtelworld.com/wps/PA...p.jsp?code=DTHPKG5280&price=3774&type=Package

 

[AtheK]

Just call them and they will change the package, your validity will change accordingly.