Dish TV recharge problem: poor customer service

Guest Blogger: DR. V GUPTA (vjg22@yahoo.com). He shared his experience with Dish TV recharge options and problems with customer care.

How to become a fool with Dish TV recharge?

Wish Karo Dish Karo. Do you like that slogan?

Sample this: How to recharge?

Step 1: When buying new ‘Recharge Free’ card for recharging Dish TV of No. 1 DTH company, you will not get it in the market. The shopkeepers don’t have any cards. You buy usual ITZ Cash card for recharge.

Step 2: You scratch it. The card mentions the format of sending the ‘recharge request’ as follows:

DISHTV RENEW <11 DIGIT VC NO > < 16 DIGIT PIN NO.>

The page 13 of ‘User Guide-2007′ of Dish TV mentions the format as:
ITZ DISHTV

The page 14 of ‘User Guide’ of Dish TV mentions the format as:
ITZDISHTV

The website mentions:

DISHTV RENEW<11 digit VC NO><16 Digit PIN NO>

One can see there are so many formats for a single thing. The card no. can be easily read from the card, and then what is the need of ‘scratch’ option? Even the user manual mentions different formats. Possibly the company itself is not unified on what it should say. The company is confused. Everybody knows sometime space and capitals/smalls matter.

Step 3: You will not find anything called ‘PIN NO.’ anywhere on the card. You should apply your brains that ‘Account No. + Password’ stands for Pin No.

Step 4: Send SMS to 57575

Step 5: You get a message: “For recharging with ‘Oxigen’ send SMS in the following format: …..”

Step 6: You had first scratched the ITZ card, now you scratch your head: Is this Oxigen or ITZ card.

Step 7: You contact the call centre: Mr. A-H-A attends you vide Ref no. 20787529 dtd. 9-Feb-9.

Conversation with call centre employee:

He says: So you don’t know which type of card you have, ITZ or Oxigen. SMS from DISHTV can’t be wrong. Check it again.

You say that it is ITZ card.

He says: Then you haven’t used the correct sequence to send the SMS. The sequence should be as follows:

ITZ DISHTV RENEW <11 DIGIT VC NO.> <12 DIGIT PIN NO.>

Step 8: You send the SMS again in the above format.

Step 9: Your message is rejected. You are advised to send the SMS in the following format

ITZ DISHTV <11 DIGIT VC NO.> <12 DIGIT ACCOUNT NO.>

Step 10: You send the SMS again, it works.

Step 11: You get an SMS but you don’t know what it is:

Order No. 249682922 PMGW00041018210 S00039071153

Step 12: Now you again don’t get the network because the BPO hasn’t told you and for that matter no body has told you that you have to keep the set top box ‘ON’ on channel no. ‘xxx’ till you get the network. This advice comes with a rider: that it may take 15 minutes to 3 hours. The BPO has told this channel to be ’855′ but it did not work.

The remote of my set top box became faulty within a few days. I made a complaint to the distributor, he said the remote is China made, it does not have a warranty. He said there is no option for a extra remote he will give it from a faulty set. I had to buy a second hand remote that too after paying Rs. 250/-. The user manual, even the website does not mentions that if remote becomes faulty where from one can get it. I stay far from the main city, if distributor is selling at excessive price, wherefrom one will get it?

Interpretation of findings:

Why are you santusht with them? They will sell cards in the market with lot of instructions in small words which are not easily readable. Even if you are lucky to read that you will not be able to get the work done. Their user manual mentions different formats on different pages for the same thing. At least the card should contain the latest instructions/formats.

There is no warranty/guarantee, you manage the things yourself. You should abide by the T&Cs so that there is no financial loss to the company. Company can’t take care of you because you have already paid to the company.

You have to be sharp in understanding ‘English’. You should be intelligent enough to arrive at conclusion that “16 digit pin no.” as mentioned in the instructions for sending SMS is actually: ‘Account No. + Password’.

One more thing the card does not mention is that there should be a gap between account no. and password in the SMS. There are no marks for this correct guess.

By the time you know the correct method; you have also wasted 15-30 minutes in the process of listening to the steps at call centre, waiting with music and finally in listening to the ‘expert advice’ of the BPO advisor. Thus, you waste not only precious time but also another 50-100 rupees on calls and SMSes. The telephone network becomes busy on account of avoidable inconvenience.

Moral of the story:

No body from DISHTV will tell you the correct thing instantly, you go on calling call centre then only you will know it. This is because they are themselves not having consensus which is the correct method even for sending a simple SMS.

You complain to customer care you don’t get a proper reply. The things go like this only because you are santusht with them. Where is that SRK now?? He has got his money for advertising for them; he will not be seen now.

I recharged my DISHTV but it is not working even after 14 hours, should I go on wasting my money calling customer care? Who will listen to this?

We know that DTH is new to India and company is not experienced, it experiments but at whose cost? The customer, The Nation.

There is National wastage of money, electricity, resources and no body cares.