Rafi Ali Khan

Well i just want to pile up on all the other reviews (http://www.mouthshut.com/product-reviews/Hathway_Cable-925000334.html) on the pathetic service that Hathway provides. I thought it was an area problem but it seems people subscribing to Hathway from all over bangalore and other places face the same service, which is very disheartening especially coming from one of India’s early players to setup broadband internet services.

I had problems from the start. Hathway did not offer thier service in my sector (HSR Layout Sector-3) but promised they were starting their services from the 1st of Jan 2006. So i signed up in the begining of December after falling for the flyers placed in my mailbox. January came and nothing seemed to be moving, and after frantic calls to customer services, i was informed that i would now have to wait till February for the service to kick off. By March i was out of options but to wait it out for whenever it comes. I later learned that my friend who lives in the neighbourhood had got his connection; he had subscribed to it much later. Now, that told me atleast that the service had started in the area. So frantic calls to the manager, customer service, on an every day basis finally saw rewards and i got my connection towards the end of March. Was i relieved? Not for too long. The connection kept breaking and would not come back for several days to weeks and calls didnt make sense as i got the same standard replies. Why was i living up with such pathetic service? Just one answer, lack of other providers in the area. The day another vendor (even with a Pan wala sized shop opens up and says i will provide you internet, i am gonna go with them) and ditch Hathway for life.

The connection goes down every other week only to resurface for another couple of days before dying on me again. It was down again most part of June and the entire length of July. I called up and demanded very politely a refund on my account and cancel the service. She went "Please sir, please give us one more chance", i felt miserable having put her in such a state for her to feel harrassed and requesting for a chance (as if it were her fault). I assured her, i was not upset with her but only with the service and that Airtel broadband was arriving soon in the area and I only inteneded to switch players. "No sir, please, please give me one more chance", she went on. I said, sure take your chance. I shouldnt have melted then, i guess she is just trained to do so, or it may have been her first day on the job. Whichever, never melt is the moral of that story.

Finally August 2006 and repeated calls to the customer care (standard call center answers later) which i was not going to buy anymore, i told the customer care that unless he puts me on to his manager, i was not going to let him off the hook. I subscribe for a 6 month package and i have only used less than 30% of my account which shows how much ontime i have had in the past 4 months and 2 months to go before i have to pay for another 6 months package. If in 8 months (from january when they started offering service) they cannot stabilize a connection, then what good are they serving. Their department and primary bread and butter product (Broadband - internet) was taking a beating and they (customer services) kept giving out false promises that i would be contacted by their technical team in 30 mins. 30 days later and their 30 minutes didnt arrive, i demanded that i speak to a manager or supervisor. I dont pay Hathway to stick a cable through my window and place a modem on my desk. I pay for the green led against the "Online" to be lit up. He tells me to mail at "bangalorehelpdesk@..." I asked him if he was kidding me, i am not able to connect to the internet and he wants me to mail? From where? Knocking on my neighbours door wouldnt help, coz his connection was down as well. "If my phone is not working, how can you tell me, please call up someone, instead of helping me out yourself i asked?"

I asked him if customer service, ever followed up with the technical team to find out if they have responded to a particular complaint id which they have booked before closing the status of that complaint? He said they dont? I asked him on what basis do you then close a customer complaint and he had no replies. After 15 minutes of grilling, a supervisor, or manager stepped in and promised me that the technicians would come down to my place to investigate the problem. The techinical team came down an hour later and rectified the problem in 10 mins. A loose connection in the connection area box near my place. Now the internet is back on full swing but i dont think its really safe to get my hopes up just again. But i just knew that i had to put my review here before the net goes down again.


Pros: HalfWAY (it only works half the time)
Cons: HathDEY (it doesnt work at all)