TATA Docomo was one of the first private operators in India to start 3G service and have very attractive 3G offer like the SmartLife plans which gives talktime + 3G data.
Issue: Recently they have changed their low end SmartLife plan to 2G data without updating their website..
My Experience #1: On August 20th, I recharged for Rs 81 SmartLife which as per their website gives 250MB 3G + Rs 71 talktime. I got Rs 71 talktime and 250MB data, but it was 2G data. The speed was 128kbps when connected to 3G network (throttled for using 2G pack on 3G network).
I called up customer care at 198 and came to know Rs 81 SmartLife plan now gives only 2G data. He also mention that, Docomo online recharge page has this updated. This plan now not list under 3G recharges, it is now under special recharges and it says just 250MB data without mentioning 2G or 3G. When asked about wrong info on website under 3G packs, he asked me to call after sometime (Docomo limits calls to 198 to just 1 per day).
The next step for me was to send an email to listen@tatadocomo.com. Someone called me said it Rs 81 is 3G recharge and I got 3G data. I said customer care confirmed it was 2G recharge and I got only 2G speed. But he said low speed may be due temporary network congestion. He argued with me for about 10 minutes while I was at office and had to hangup.
Finally I had to email appellate.kerala@tatadocomo.com, who called me confirmed it was a website error and refunded the amount. They also promised to get this updated on website. But still it has not being done.
My Experience #2: The story should have ended, but I did another SmartLife plan Rs 131 and it starts all again. If you think why was I stupid enough to do it again? Because I had done the same plan two months ago and got 3G data. But I didn't know about they also changed this plan too, nor they update website.
Same process as above, called up customer care and confirmed this was also indeed a 2G plan. Started sending emails out, but this time included email to elango at tatadocomo dot com President Assurance Desk.
If last time some customer care executive argued to me, this time I got someone from "President Assurance Desk" arguing with may it is 3G plan. I explained everything from changes to online recharge page, 198 customer care confirmed this as 2G plan. Let me quote what he said "I am from President Assurance Desk, we know about the plan". When I asked "why I got 2G speed?", he told me to delete history and cookies.
The two facts I can't digest are
- They don't know to check if my data balance is 2G or 3G
- They are not aware of plan changes even when circle level customer care well aware
I am waiting for reply from appellate dot kerala at tatadocomo.com, who would probably accept their error on the website. Still don't know when they will correct the mistake on their website.
Conclusion: I won't be a surprise if normal customer care like listen@tatadocomo.com provide wrong information. But President Assurance Desk providing false information is totally unacceptable. What should a consumer do when a president of the company provides false information?
Note: Plans and offers mentioned above are for TATA Docomo Kerala circle.
