Last month, i was totally blown away by the awesome ad campaign vodafone pulled off.... the new jingle, the same hutch puppy(me got
nostalgic links to it)... and the sweet little girl. The ad was perfect.
And not for the first time in my life, I made a consumer decision, based on an ad campaign alone...
I wasn't so sure of how happily they wud be handing out their service...
But i felt, having entertained me so much with the "
Everyday I want to fly, stay by my side..." tune, they had done their part.
So there I was at the Vodafone store, buying a new sim. Took me under 10 mins to get the formalities done, and within 3 hrs, i was browsing through the vodafone GPRS. To say the least, I was impressed...
The good times went on for almost a week. No complaints...
And then, it was time I needed help!! On one fine Saturday morning, my phone services were killed. Without a warning, or a call,
My cell is rendered into a record player, which plays the same smg for every action : "Services to this number have been barred. Please contact Vodafone Care"...
Before this, the only calls from Vodafone I had received, were about offers for me to subscribe to the latest Punjabi IndiPop caller tunes....
Though this wasn't as bad as the offers for the overly spicy Kandu tunes, back in college. (
This is in no way, an insult to any ethnic group, or their tastes. These are entirely my own views, though I dont take much responsibility of them...)
Well, before I drift away any further, from the narrative... here goes my fate full call :
she : Hello sir, I am
happy to help you. I'm Navneet(*Name changed. I
don't want women suing me already. Actually I NEVER want that), what can i do for you?
Me : (The voice almost took away half the pain...) Uhhm... My number is foo. And for some reason you have blocked my sim.
she : oh.. sir, I am
happy to help you, are you sure your sim is tightly fit in the right place?
Me : ofcourse i'm sure... how do u think I am calling you. My outgoing/incoming calls n sms are barred.
she : I m
happy to help you sir. Let me check with my database (*read : my boyfrnd is on the other line, wud have asked him to wait, but you are too boring!!)
##### after some 5 mins of gibberish music#####she : sir, I am happy to tell you that your vodafone connection is working perfectly. would you like know about our special plan for cheap calls to the Gulf??
me(irritated now) : what will do with your special plan, when my sim doesnt work. I am telling you, I cant do anything with it.
She(not so happy now) : you can atleast listen to the plan sir. You should go check with the vodafone centre you bought the sim at. Is there any thing else you would want help with. I would be
happy to help you.
Me : Nothing else, just get my connection working again....
She : Thanking you for calling Vodafone Care. We are
always happy to help.
Alas,
the mirror had cracked... Behind that multi million dollar campaign, was this inefficient support system indeed...
This wasn't the lone call. in the next 10 days, I made many calls, narrated my cell number, address and all personal info a dozen times, talked to a superior, and his superior, visited the vodafone store twice, was given a request number ,then a complaint number...
but my cell never rang...
When I was finally about to give up, I got THE CALLL. "Sir we are happy to inform you that ur connection has been restored. It was a fault with our system regarding your documents. would you like to know about our other plans to rob you off your money??"
I'm still wondering, who is the bigger criminal. Is it them, who spend more money shooting ads at exotic locals, than invest in an efficient support service, or is it we, who actually buy into the spineless show of glamour and gloss.
I still don't have an answer, though I am currently wondering, if after all those convos, I should ask Navneet for a coffee...
Speaking of coffee, thats yet another story... The hope of "a lot that can happen over coffee", keeps pulling us to it... this one's for another day.. BYE!!
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