I had used this facility earlier and they had shipped wrong movies (the ones at low priority), eventually they had apologized to me for the mistake earlier. But today, the same thing happened.

I got their email at around 9 in the morning, I called them to confirm at around 9.30 AM. The person on other hand told me the shipping guy has already left, I was kind of shocked to know that they don’t even confirm before sending the movies.

Ok, it doesn’t matter if they don’t have  confirmation system but they should atleast send the movies which are on top priorities right? I asked the person about the same, she said but the movies have been sent and those were already in your list.

Now, this made me kind of pissed off, I simply told her that it doesn’t matter if the movies are in the list or not, you should sent the ones which are on top priority, what’s the point of the priority list then?

After some discussion she finally agreed to send the top priority movies tomorrow but yet she didn’t bother to apologies for the mistake they had done. I really felt as if I am talking to someone in government department. Her voice was more like a killer voice.. haha no I meant, actually killer voice.. like the one we get to hear in government offices. You feel like, you are gonna be killed very next moment.. for what? for calling them for help… haha

I know this is nothing something major but this is surely something stupid on their part. On one side, they keep priority list and on the other side, their system simply ignores it. It really doesn’t make any sense to me.

I am not sure whether entry of BigFlix has affected them or not? I would personally not recommend SeventyMM, try BigFlix and see. But if there is no other option, SeventyMM should be fine.

Note: For those who do not know, SeventyMM and BigFlix are movie rental websites / companies.

I currently hold 2 reseller accounts with them (1 for Linux and 1 for Windows) and the servers and support have been quite impressive.

I know there have been some downtimes and some mail related issues lately but that’s part of the package as it’s not possible to provide 100% uptime.

What I liked most about RZ, is their support.. very quick and very friendly.. (Trust me.. very friendly).. There have been many instances where their friendly support has helped me to tackle the issues quickly. Be it with overusage of the resources or with the migration of any site.

Yesterday, I was moving a site on RZ server, I had to move gunzip file of around 1GB from other server to RZ server.. my download  (wget) process was getting killed automatically due to server restrictions, I mailed support to have a check and download the file for me, if possible.. got reply promptly from them and within couple of hours, my file was moved to RZ server…

Today, the same site was causing issues on the server, so they had to disable the site. Now, I wanted to move the site to high-end server (some other hosting company). Again, I faced the same problem of my process getting killed automatically, Dylan from support came to the rescue again. (Like always, Andrew from Abuse department helped me to figure out the issues.) Currently he is compressing the 1 GIG data, so that I can put it on the new server.

The purpose of mentioning these  2 issues is to mention that, no matter what the situation is, if you are migrating the site to their server or moving to other server provider, they will try their best to help you out and that is what I call SUPPORT. I am pretty impressed with them and I am sure they will never let me down.

If you are looking for a reseller account, I would strongly recommend Resellerzoom.

To my surprise the lady on the phone was kind of ok. (Earlier they used to be worse than the government department). After some discussions, I asked the lady to get net connection for my office. Within a day the guys installed the net at my office. But the bad phase starts now.

I connected their cable to my router so that I can distribute the net to all the machines. Woha!! It did not work. Cross checked the settings twice, thrice.. nothing worked. I called their (so called) customer support. The lady over the phone said, “hum router mein set karne mein help nahi karte” (We don’t help in setting up the net on router), I asked them to give the phone to their technical guy so that I can explain the issue and we can set the things up. But instead of helping me, she simply said, call your computer engineer. I was like computer engineer? the hardware guy? what for? she replied, to set the net on router, he must be knowing it coz we don’t know it.

I kept the phone and gave one more try but nothing worked. This made me sure that they must have done thing which does not allow the net to connect directly through the router. I called them up again and spoke to some gujju bhai named Ashok Somaiya.

The guy rudely replied saying we do not allow connection direct to the router. I asked him, so how do I run the net in my office? He said, I don’t know that we don’t entertain people who wish to run it on the router. I was like “*$*#$ you dude” take my connection off. (Obviously I did not use the F word on the phone)

The connection was taken off within few hours.

So now, I tried to look for other options. TATA Indicom Broadband, great schemes, great prices. Let’s apply!! So that’s what I did. The guy came to collect the cheque within a week and promised me about the installation within 2 days.

After 3-4 days, their installation guys land up at my office saying, the Globcast guy is demanding Rs. 300 to allow the installation work. I was like, what the hell I have to do with the Globcast now? I have paid installation charges and security deposit to you guys not to Globcast.

I talked to Ashok Somaiya of Globcast again, he started his bullshit in his typical bhai log accent saying, whatever ISP you take, you will have to come to us first. I asked him, ok what is Rs.300 for, he said, not Rs. 300, it is Rs. 499. I was like eh? He said, you took connection from us, so we created ID for you so it was our expense of Rs. 499 to create the ID for you. I said, I hardly used it for 2 hours, he was like – so what, we created it so we already money spent on it.

I was like, WTF this guy is saying.. I did not say much and called up Tata’s customer support directly and lodged the complaint. Within 2 days (after reminding them couple of times) the guy from Tata called me up and said at any cost your connection will be done in a day.

I was relived at that time and was like, finally the bad guy lost. But this was not all. No one came for my installation, I lodged the complaint again, I got the call today again saying they won’t be able to install the net unless I pay them Rs. 500.

So in short, they have decided to refund the money to me. I really wish we had proper laws to screw these kind of guys. And 2ndly I never expected companies like Tata to rely on cheats like this one.

Here is my story:

I had applied for lifetime free SBI card though Lifestyle departmental stores. I used the card on few occasions and cleared my payment from time to time. At that time I was using SBI’s online facility to check my invoices because I was not getting invoices by post. But After sometime, the online site stopped accepting my username and password and new registration also did not work. After 4-5 months a person from SBI visited my place and asked for the payment. On inquiring, I was told that I have to pay some Rs. 590 as installment and my alleged pending payment was around Rs. 3,000.

After talking to the manager, I got to know that invoices were being sent to wrong address and this way the interest got added with the actual amount. The person apologized for the same and assured me that he will send fresh copy of invoice with correct amount within 2-3 days. But till date I have not received that! After 3-4 months, I started getting invoices with the same incorrect amount.

I called up customer care regarding this issue. I was told to get in touch with GE via email. (feedback.gesbi@ge.com). But instead of getting a proper reply, I received a reply after 20 days stating that they were not able to find my account information in their database.

During this period, I started getting harassing calls from Payment Department (Delhi) daily at around 9.30 AM. The calls did not stop despite explaining them the reason every time. After few days, I spoke to a person named Sumit and he assured me that I will have to pay just the actual pending amount i.e. Rs. 1468 and rest of the charges will be waived off as they were incorrect.

However, to my utter dismay this too did not help. The invoices with incorrect amount did not stop. I tried to explain my ordeal to customer support person again but the representative (Ashish Gupta) was not able to understand the issue and kept on saying that I will have to pay the whole amount.

To make the things worse, I got call from their payment department again, this time the lady was kind of rude. I explained the issue to her but she was just blaming everything on me saying it was my responsibility to pay the amount. But she did not say anything when I asked about their responsibility to send the invoice on time and to the correct address. She again asked me to pay the principal amount (Which I had paid last time), I asked told her to speak to Sumit (the guy who had asked me to principal amount of Rs. 1468 and they will waive off rest of the incorrect charges) but she said, she does not know him as they have 1000s of employees working there. I do not understand, if they have 1000 employees then why can’t they make a simple log of calls made to customers?

I have asked the lady to send me the statements again and I will pay off whatever is the principal amount is. But after that I am not going entertain these guys at all. Let them do whatever they want.

So moral of the story? NEVER EVER GO FOR SBI CARD, ONE OF THE WORST CREDIT CARD COMPANIES. TOTALLY UNPROFESSIONAL COMPANY WITH WORST CUSTOMER SUPPORT.

Update: If Bank fails to solve your queries then you can also send your complaints to Banking Ombudsman on RBI Website

Update: SBI had sent me legal notice to pay the dues, I also sent them legal reply (My friend, who is also Lawyer sent it on my behalf). The calls stopped suddenly and today I got the statement with all the charges reversed, the total amount payable was 0 (Zero). So finally, I managed to get rid of SBI card

Here is the scene, A client sent me DD through registered post, office was closed to it remained undelivered and postman gave us a receipt which said collect it from post office between 9.30 – 10.30 AM.

I visit the post office, show them the receipt, they ask me if I have brought my company stamp and my ID card as proof. I show them both and the very next minute the person says “Nahi mil sakta hai abhi” (You can’t get it now) I ask them the reason, I get reply saying post office department does not know if my company exists or not. I was like, what the hell? It is just a registered post not any property paper where you have to check the stuff.

They ask me to send them some letter stating that my company exists  and details about company with the address. I will also have to mention in the letter, the name of the person who will come to collect the registered post on behalf of the company. Once I send them the letter, they will send their person to our office to check if my company really exists or not. And this process may take 15 days. It depends upon the person who is going to visit my office. They do not give any timeline.

So after all these things I may get the registered post.

It just pisses me off when they come up with these illogical solutions. I mean why the hell I cannot collect the post if I show them the proof? My company stamp, my ID card? Why in the world I have to send the letter and wait for their person to check if my company exists or not.

It is just so silly and stupid on their part to do things like this.

God only knows when they will improve and have some logical rules.

And now today. I faced a really bad problem with them. I got advanced GPRS activated on my phone so that I can use it whenever I am out. And to configure that only, it took me ages and in the end I only fixed the problem.

I bought Bluetooth USB device today so that I can connect directly to the net without a connecting cable. (The cable with they had given was not working properly for some reason)

Okay, everything well, the machine detected the phone, phone detected the machine, everything went on smoothly so I was kind of happy. So then I tried to connect the net using GPRS, got error for the first time, Okay, that’s okay…tried for the 2nd time, error again, 3rd time, error again, 4th time error, Okay!! Time to call Hutch customer support.

Okay, called them, asked for my number, name and then asked my date of birth, address and alternative phone number. Okay sounds good, we are ready to go. I am transferred to the GPRS department.

They suggested few things to me, made changes, modified the settings, but still no luck. I was asked to try again because of network connectivity problem.

Called them up after 1 hour, again phone number, full name, address, date of birth, alternative phone number and phone details, okay enough, I am transferred to the GPRS department, again we tried few things but didn’t help. I disconnected the line to try out few other things.

Okay, nothing worked, called up again from the train. Got them…they asked me again phone number, full name, address, date of birth, alternative phone number and phone details, I told them, the line gets disconnected because of their weak network. (I am still in Mumbai)

Tried them again, I was asked for the phone number and name, to avoid the same shit again, I asked them, please transfer me to GPRS department, I was talking to them and line got disconnected but NO, the guy said sorry sir for security reasons you will have to tell us your address, date of birth and alternative phone number again, I got bit pissed off but since I wanted to fix this immediately, I told them all details and I am ready to go….

And as expected, the line got disconnected again.

Okay, one more shot, at this stage I was totally pissed off with them, called them up, person asked me for the details, then he started for security reasons we will have to know your address, date of birth and alternative phone number, Before he finishes his line, I almost shouted at him, what the hell you guys are doing, I am calling for 6th time and you guys are asking me same details again and again. Do you want me to give all the details I entered while I filled up the form, please transfer me to GPRS department, It’s urgent.

I got reply, I am really sorry sir but I wont be able to do that without knowing these details. Gave them the details. I told them I am getting disconnected again and again, please call me if I get disconnected this time, the answer was, they do not have outgoing call facility from their office. Okay, it is possible if it is call center. No problems, I am transferred to the person, I was discussing with him and in between the line got disconnected.

Just imagine the state of mind I had at that time, totally frustrated and pissed off with them.

So finally I tried to kick my Bluetooth device and try to connect using the cable given by them, it worked!!! I was very happy, my net got connected BUT I was not able to surf now.

Called them up again and I was also trying few things on my side to get it working. The guy asked for address, date of birth and alternative phone number but before I tell them, the net started and I disconnected the line. (God saved me this time from telling them my details again)

So the point for this post is, actually 2 points, 1, to get you irritated by reading “address, date of birth and alternative phone number� again and again, and feel the level of frustration I was facing.

2nd Hutch should really give some kind of pin code to customers to avoid this stupid kind of thing. Bloody we have to tell them the details each and every time we call.

Please do not mind few grammatical mistakes or spelling mistakes in this post, I am posting it from the train, the battery is low so I will have to shut down the machine now.

P.S Hutch GPRS sucks too, I had clicked on my site 15 minutes back and it is still opening. Okay my bad, I am on roaming now, and I do not see Hutch in the mobile networks, I will post it once I reach Kutch.

I checked my usage on MTNL website and the figures shown there gave me one more shock. The site was counting my downloads thrice for the same time / session. Check the following image, which show the recent usage. Check the Start and End date with Billed Quantity.

.

My February invoice was full of these triple usage charges and it hasn’t stopped till now. I called up MTNL call center, the lady there told me that someone from their side will get in touch with me, but no one did for 2-3 days; so I visited the local exchange. I was asked to meet AODR (Account department) in main exchange building, somehow I managed to find his place, (After 4-5 people pointing me to different offices), I met that person….he tried to understand problem and finally he gave up and asked me to meet some technical person. I met that person, he finally understood the problem and noted down my details and also asked me to get in touch with someone at Prabhadevi office. (Mr. Kanchan)

I called up Mr. Kanchan, he asked me to send letter to local exchange (AODR)…now the loop starts….I submitted the letter to local exchange…few minutes after that someone from MTNL contacted me (it was not effect of this recent letter but it was because of my earlier complaint) and he told me that, there is no mistake in the calculation. It is showing the same time thrice because it calculates like this first period shows downloads before 12 AM, 2nd one shows downloads between 12-8 AM, 3rd one shows downloads after 8 AM…now, this does not digest properly…I argued saying, If it was that case then why uploads are same all the time? (Click on image to view larger image) It should also vary like downloads, but the guy was not able to understand that and kept on saying, whatever we have told you is correct. 

OK! that part is done. I emailed MTNL helpdesk about it with details and also asked for my download logs if they are correct, I got email from them approximately within 2 days with reply “Please call on xxx number” I called that number, no one was picking up, so I mailed them back saying no one picks up, next day I got one more mail saying “Please call on xxxx number”, I called on that number…a lady finally picked up and told me, this is not the correct department to call. We have no idea about this, I am just supervisor of the call center. She tried to help me by giving few more numbers to call but as expected those numbers also didn’t help.

So now the solution, nothing….you will die calling different people but no one will help you and everyone will keep on giving responsibility to some or other person…

I am fedup with these f**kers and I am getting this Triband disconnected tomorrow and get connection from my local ISP back.

Moral of the story, MTNL Triband is good when it works properly but when you face any problem, specially Billing issues, do not expect it to resolve soon, these bunch of idiots will never solve your query quickly.

I have called them few times with the queries and surprisingly they solved my queries in less than 1 day. (Mostly instantly)

Where in case of my earlier bank ICICI, I had to call them, explain the stuff and in the end I hear a sweet voice saying we have noted down your query and someone will get back to you within 24 hours. Then some of them emails asking for details, whole process takes more 2-3 days and the end result? Most of the time queries remain unsolved…

Where here with UTI, I give details to the person in call center, she checks the stuff and tells me what exactly went wrong and they will try to fix it at that time itself.

The good example would be yesterday’s example, when one of my client’s cheque had not cleared for more than 5-6 days, I called them up, gave the details about the cheque, I waited for couple of minutes and got the reason why the cheque was not cleared, they assured me that they will fix the issue from there on my behalf and cheque will be cleared in 2-3 days.

So in the same case if it was ICICI then they would have definitely asked me to email them the details or fax them some stupid letter requesting to clear the cheque..

Apart from the customer service I really liked the banking service also. Unlike ICICI you do not have to give permission letters to activate funds transfer and all. (In ICICI current account, you need to send them letter to activate funds transfer for ICICI to ICICI, ICICI to other banks, ICICI current to ICICI savings account etc…)

And you do not see any surprise charges in your account too. In my ICICI they used to charge Rs. 50 monthly for funds transfer and some other extra charges per month. But here there is nothing like that, they charge Rs. 17 (Rs. 15 + Rs. 2 tax) for every UTI to non-UTI funds transfer and that’s fair enough.

I have got much more facility then my ICICI account, I can pay my card bills, telephone bills, mobile phone bills etc.. from my UTI account but with ICICI there was only option to pay credit card bills nothing else. (I guess they would have asked me to send few more letters to activate bill pay services)

I am running my account flawlessly without any issues where in ICICI I had to call their customer support for many issues and was fed up with them.

So moral of the story, if you are planning to open a current account then I would strongly suggest UTI Bank.

The server was showing very high load for quite sometime, I had to reboot it more than thrice in 3 days and today it crossed all the limits….5+ load for more than 6 hours and that was making me worry…the worst part was, the server was not allowing me to login through SSH also…

I waited for sometime, nothing happened, I rebooted the server from WHM…and it never came up…I opened ticket in ThePlanet admin panel, they rebooted the server from their side…things were working fine for them…but still I was not able to login through SSH…the machine used to hung when I try to login…I contacted them again…they shut down the machine, checked it personally and got the machine up within 1 hour…

This is not the first time they have been so quick…

When I bought the server their support response time used be bit slow but always with proper solution but now they have improved a lot and have become very quick…

So if you are planning to buy a dedicated server then I would strongly suggest ThePlanet.com

I went to the counter, asked for the form…filled it and then I had some doubts so just went to the counter again and asked the lady…this time I was dead sure that she will say something like “Dikhta nahi kya..likha hai na yahan par” (Can’t you see, it’s clearly written over there) but nothing like that happened, she was very helpful and was talking very politely and answered whatever questions I had very calmly…

I was really impressed by this…so in 15 minutes I got my telephone line and broadband connection registered and since I needed a specific number so she asked me to contact Mr. Deshmukh in their main office…

So I reached the 2nd floor and asked “Deshmukh saheb kahan par milenge“, the guy said politely that go to the room on the other side…I reached there, the guy asked me which area, I told him the area…he asked me to visit Bodge saheb from there I was redirected to Patil Saheb and after waiting for say 10 minutes for Mr. Patil, he asked me to meet someone in Work order department…So then I went to Work order department, I asked the lady sitting there, she said the person who handles new orders has gone for lunch…but she asked her colleague to call her from lunch and attend me (I was thinking, is this MTNL?), she came and asked me about the problem, I told her about the number I wanted and finally my visit to MTNL came to an end, she noted down my Work Order number and the specific number I wanted and confirmed that she will try her best to the number

So it was not at all a bad day for me…they have become very helpful and polite….