I had a blog block for a while but this had to be blogged, and I am back.I have a Sify Broadband Internet account through Cable, and have been using it for three years although I have never been 100% satisfied with their QoS – literally. Their customer support is rather, very mediocre – I wouldn’t blame their people but only their response times for problems that require someone to be dispatched to take a look at their hardware/cable line that keeps snapping every time Bangalore receives a heavy downpour.
I have always had this intent to move to an Airtel DSL Broadband if only they had coverage in my part of the city – which they don’t at this time for some reason.
I have been working in the nights throughout August and spent the days sleeping, and have not been using my Internet account at home. When I had to use it one day for paying my bills, I realized that my account expired a few days back and had to be renewed.
Sify has been thoughtful enough to put in a ‘renew’ button on the client application which they have been promoting lately through emails and promotional popups. The client application provides options to renew either through a credit card, or through cash (when a collection agent visits you to collect the renewal fee in cash).
The ‘renew through card’ option would let me choose the package that I wanted, my credit card number, card expiry date and the ‘CVV’ number. However, when I hit the ‘process payment’ button, I would get a frustrating generic error ‘page cannot be displayed’ on the applet. I later realized when my neighbor who uses Sify, told me that he had the same problem and he thought it was because the application was unable to reach the Credit Card payment gateway since my account had already expired and since I could not access the Internet. Why on earth can’t they put in a message that tells me I can’t renew through Card when my account has expired?
I refrain from using the ‘renew by cash’ option is because they ask me to put in the specific time when I think they should send the collection agent and the guy NEVER comes for collection during the time I mention!
Sify, you better understand these basics that will make your customers’ experience better? Or am I asking for too much?
