My adventure with Reliance and the Resolving Host

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Location
Mumbai
ISP
Reliance (Not Reliant)
Hi everyone.

For the past 7 days now, I've been left with no internet. I registered a complaint last Wednesday, and since then I've been getting the following excuses. At this point they're just being entertaining because not having the internet has made me more productive, among other things.

But still, Sabre rattling must be done, and Reliance has proven thus far to be entirely not like it's name sake. Seriously, why hasn't anyone made #reliancenotreliant a trending topic on Twitter?

On Wednesday, Uddhav tells me that it's a small problem, others too are experiencing it and it will be back by 2:00 P.M. on Thursday (Nope)

On Thursday, Rahul tells me that BMC cut the fiber line (gee, where have i heard that excuse before? - Reliance Customer Care breaking out their greatest hit excuses, just for me) and that "everyone is experiencing the problem.

On Friday, Vivek tells me that it's a "nation wide issue" (I'm relying on you guys, are your reliance connections working? please reply and let me know so that I know it's not a figment of my imagination or yours too). No promise issued, won't let me file another complaint because my first complaint - on Wednesday - still in progress.

On Saturday, Rakhi then tells me that she's noted the problem and has "escalated it" (hopefully to heaven, which is where my connection went, apparently) and that she will solve the problem by that day end.

On Monday, I talked to a person who would give Yo Yo Honey Singh a run for his money when it comes to rapping speed. I don''t recall much of this conversation, mostly because I wasn't even aware that "Reliancemeinaapkaswagathhaimeranamhaimukul" was even a word. Needless to say, some bullshit excuse was offered, but I don't even care anymore. Calling Reliance Customer Care is now a planned activity for the evening, in place of doing anything else with the internet. I suspect this is what it felt like for children before electronic toys, when they just gave them a wooden doll and told them to go nuts.

On Tuesday, I spoke to a very polite man named Mohan who proved to be absolutely useless as well - he actually made me go through the whole "Did you try turning it off and on again?" thing.

So yeah, at this point I will just patiently wait till Friday and if the net isn't back, I'll just cancel straight up and tell them to keep their cut fiber line and braid it for all I care.

On that note, does anyone know of an ISP that would supply to Yari Road, Versova in Mumbai?

Update (August 6th 2014): Spoke to a woman named Jayashree today - seemed nice enough. Same rubbish excuses. She too, has made the "guarantee" (word cannot describe how important air quotes are, here) that the problem would be rectified today. (Reserving this space for expected "Nope" when I get back from the office to bask in the glory of "Resolving Host")Hahahahaha, Nooooope. No connection either.

Update (August 7th 2014): Shocker of shockers, I managed to speak to the same Jayashree today. When asked about the guarantee she made yesterday, she too, has again made the same "guarantee" (word cannot describe how important air quotes are, here) that the problem would be rectified today. I have decided to initiate cancelling the connection and am on the lookout for other internet service providers in the area, failing which I'll just get a dongle and play with the bots for a while in TF2.

Update (August 8th 2014): Get a phone call from a Shilpa from Reliance Customer Care (my first call from Reliance about the issue, I feel so honored!). She asks me about my connection and tells me that my complaint has been "escalated to a high priority" basis (essentially, this means that instead of it being used as toilet paper internally, it has now been raised to category of dishrag). The tone of condescension in that woman's voice would indicate that unlike most of Reliance Customer Care (who must be feeling miserable at because they get shouted at all the time), she enjoyed her customers suffering.

Anyway, turns out she cancelled my request to terminate the connection and has told me that she will call back in 15 days to find out my "final decision". (Because saying "No" is the equivalent of the sideways head waggle us Indians are so well known for).

Also Airtel and You Telecom called back, told me they couldn't provide a service in my area, but the Airtel guy chewed my brain for half an hour about why it was in my interest to get a dongle from them anyway.

Let's see how long that takes - they say 48 hours, I say eternity.
 
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Reliance is a shitty ISP, i am also facing problems from june 2014. Frequent disconnection , land line not in order. Reliance customer care people are dam idiots, made me frustrated too.
 
Not surprised. Will keep updating the post as days go by. I've got a bet open with friends (winner gets free pizza) that It'll be two weeks before my connection is restored.

In the meantime, I'm not sure if I should scout around for another service provider, because so far I don't seem to be able to find one for my area.
 
Update (August 13th 2014): Was bored, so I called up Reliance to find out how they're doing - rishteydaron se kabhi kabhi baat karna padta hain - Spoke to Rakesh bhaiyya, who told me the same things that other said, except more vague - "Sir, some technical issue going (sic) in area sir. Please sir, wait sir, I will ask technical team to do callback sir, when they call back sir, they will explain reason for why it is taking so long sir."

Sir.

So yeah, no technical call was forthcoming and I'm fairly certain that the guy wasn't even noting the number down or anything because he didn't even bother to repeat the number on his end to ensure he got it right. Also, it vaguely sounded like someone's birthday party was going on in the background, so I guess customer care people's lives aren't entirely joyless, miserable existences. Either that or the laughter was them mocking all their bakra customers, which is also expected.

So now, the total tally is 16 days without internet, without a status update on why it went down the begin with, or any ETA on when it'll be back up again.
 
Hi. It's my first post here & as the thread suggests it's to do with Reliance Broadband. I'm on the 2 mbps unlimited thunder plan. The connection was great as long as it was working.

Like the OP my net too is down since the 21st of July. I stay in Lokhandwala, Andheri West, so probably it's the same 'optic fiber cut' which affects Siddharth. Call up Reliance once in 3 days hoping against all hope. Connecting to someone in the customer care is another task & I've never been able to connect to an english speaking agent. Call up the sales manager Pandey once in a few days who says it will take 2-3 days every time I speak to him. Switch on my PC everyday thinking that the connection would have come to life again.

So as per my last call yesterday it's an issue with BMC permission - how did they add the lines in the first place? I placed a termination request yesterday, no call from Reliance yet. Don't know if they will even refund the advance I paid for 3 months. Now I'm in the same boat as Siddharth, which ISP? I've got used to 2 mbps unlimited without FUP. Hard to find a provider without FUP.
 
Hi. It's my first post here & as the thread suggests it's to do with Reliance Broadband. I'm on the 2 mbps unlimited thunder plan. The connection was great as long as it was working.

Like the OP my net too is down since the 21st of July. I stay in Lokhandwala, Andheri West, so probably it's the same 'optic fiber cut' which affects Siddharth. Call up Reliance once in 3 days hoping against all hope. Connecting to someone in the customer care is another task & I've never been able to connect to an english speaking agent. Call up the sales manager Pandey once in a few days who says it will take 2-3 days every time I speak to him. Switch on my PC everyday thinking that the connection would have come to life again.

So as per my last call yesterday it's an issue with BMC permission - how did they add the lines in the first place? I placed a termination request yesterday, no call from Reliance yet. Don't know if they will even refund the advance I paid for 3 months. Now I'm in the same boat as Siddharth, which ISP? I've got used to 2 mbps unlimited without FUP. Hard to find a provider without FUP.

Ah, good to find a fellow sufferer at allas. Same problem and connection here - 2mbps Thunder Plan - that's the Thunder 1299 one, isn't it?

Yeah - I mean, this connection was working fine and without issues (except for the random 24 hour disconnection every occasional month but nothing really that big).

What bothers me most is that when Reliance knows that it is something as big as a BMC Permission issue (assuming that this isn't a cock-and-bull story they pull out of their ass like the times I've linked above), then they have a responsibility to inform their customers of the same. The fact that they can only keep telling customers vague, unbelievable nonsense like "Sir, This is an area wide issue" or "Sir, we are still working on it" When they should be informing everyone via e-mail, atleast with some sort of ETA or status update on the fix is just unacceptable in this day and age.

I earlier had issue with ACT Broadband, and while they made a less that favorable first impression, their representative on these forums "act.broadband" or some such permutation was quick to act and talk to my dad (the person who took the connection) and resolve the issue.

If anything, people need to start approaching the media - Mumbai Mirror, anyone interested in covering this issue because I see no news about one of India's biggest telecom companies in a permissions wrangle with the BMC (even a single article would atleast render a grain of truth to what otherwise seems to be a bullshit go-to excuse for when nobody knows what the hell is going on).

Regarding the trouble regarding laying down of the lines, I remember having a discussion about something similar with someone who worked in a senior position in Airtel's Internet down in Hyderabad. Apparently, "Last Mile" connectivity in this country has the worst infrastructure ever, especially considering no provisions are directly made for things like junction boxes, etc, usually it ends up in a sort of "deal" being made with one of the buildings to hold the junction box in return for a share of the electric bill or a similar arrangement. It's also the biggest problem for repair and maintainance and security, especially in light of the fact that nasty competing linemen tend to cut or sabotage other companies lines out of spite and to force customers to switch services because it takes advantage of what is generally a poorly run network of field technicians.

Also, for everyone's entertainment, I will post below the mail I sent to the Appellate Officer (on account of the fact that despite having a service that would make a rubber crutch sound like a good idea, I still recieved a bill.

Mr. Pankaj Sootha,


My internet has been out of operation from Wednesday evening 30th July 2014 (Webpages are stuck at “Resolving Host”, attempts to ping any site result in “Destination Not Reachable”.)


This is the second time in three months that this has happened. Attempts to call the Customer Care lines have been pointless – I have waited over 1 hour at one point to speak to a customer care representative to try and get the matter resolved but have been unable to do so and have received either outright lies from the Complaint Cell ranging from:


  1. “Sir, the internet will be re-activated at <insert imaginary time frame here>.” – Not only do I know this is an outright lie, but the blatancy with which it is said is truly shocking.
  2. “Sir, there is some technical issue – our staff will issue a call back from the technical team in charge” – Not only do these “callbacks” never happen, but I have the suspicion (judging by the fact that none of these representatives from your company bother to even repeat the number for verification before proceeding) that they do nothing at all.
  3. “Sir, there is BMC Fiber line cut in my area” – A quick Google search would show that this is an outright fabrication. Links to the other time these excuses have been used are here. The BMC has not performed any work in my area in the past three weeks (because nobody in their right minds would do any construction or road work during the monsoon).
  4. “Sir your complaint is listed as being in “solving” state (Which going on almost 13 days now).” They also refuse to lodge a new complaint to find out what is going on.
  5. “Sir your complaint is being escalated” (Has no effect, it would seem).
  6. “Sir your complaint is being made on a “top priority” basis.” (Has no effect, it would seem).

This problem is not isolated to my personal line as well – asking around my Cooperative Housing Society, those with Reliance Connections have also reported that their connections have been non-operation from the same date as mine. They, too have been trying the absolutely appalling IVRS system your customer care line has, been kept on hold for greater than an hour at points, only to have the line disconnected or the same trite answers given to them by an uncaring, disinterested staff.


Not only that, but not a single technician has even made a visit to my residence to even determine the nature of the problem as well.


Despite this failure to resolve m issue for the past two weeks, I have promptly received a bill for broadband “services” (note the heavy sarcasm here) utilized . (Bill Number: <removed>)


I have been maintaining a record (albeit an occasionally humorous laden one) of my experiences with your Customer Care staff at the following link - My adventure with Reliance and the Resolving Host | Reliance Broadband | India Broadband Forum


If the matter continues to remain unresolved (disregarding your claimed 24 hour SLA entirely, I might add), then I intend to utilize legal resources in order to escalate this issue as well as social media (Reddit, Twitter, etc.) regarding the absolutely appalling Customer “Care” I haven’t received from your company (which, in my personal opinion, shouldn’t be called “Reliance” at all, in light of recent events).


I await response and action regarding my issue. I can be reached using the phone number listed below <removed for privacy except the NSA, they can call whenever they want.>.


Complaint Numbers are listed below:

CNM10001415324

Siddharthbala

Btw, Yogesh - the appellate officer is supposed to a Pankaj Sooth. This is his phone number: 18602002011

I got it from here - :: Reliance IndiaMobile - Postpaid ::

You are at least fortunate that you have alternatives - I work in the Lokhandwala Area and know that lines like Tata and Airtel are also present, but unfortunately, my attempts to find a single internet service provider other than Reliance have come up with nothing - Airtel won't do it (because who knows, even though they technically service a building across the road), Tata won't do it, Hathway won't do it, Airtel won't do it and 7 Star......actually, let's not talk about 7 Star. I think smoke signals would be more effective as a communication going by the laughably bad line we have here in the office and the fact that they send technicians who look like they were picked up from a bad side of a shanty town and talk about the same as well.

So yeah, stuck between a rock and a hard place - I placed a termination notice which got cancelled, but I made sure that the representative calls within 15 days to find out a final decision. Looks like Reliance is running out of time - either way, I'm not paying this bill until I get an acknowledgement of the problem from them, and if they try anything I atleast have my posts here documenting the entire thing so they cannot pull a fast one.
 
Update from yesterday - got a (possibly) automated response to the mail I sent to the Appellate Authority.

Dear Customer,
This is with reference to your e-mail for your Reliance number <removed>.
We have forwarded your e-mail to our Wireline Appellate team. They will respond you shortly.
For further assistance, you may contact to Wireline Appellate Authority on 18602002011 (Select language option and then option number 2 for Broadband/Wireline Assistance) from Monday to Saturday excluding 1st & 3rd Saturday and National Holidays between 9.30 am to 6.00 PM or write to him at RCOMWireline.AppellateWest@relianceada.com.
Regards,
Appellate Authority
Mumbai
 
I am just curious to know, when you ping a web site do you ping with the URL or the IP address?
 
Thanks Siddharth for the number. I am on the Thunder 699 plan. These guys were supposed to call me in 2 days for the termination request, but as expected, they haven't.

Forgot to mention, Pandey the ASM told me a few days back Saturday is the deadline to fix the issue. one more day to go, but I'm not really hoping for things to change.

@x720 , I was using MTNL for 6-7 years before I switched to Reliance. MTNL used to break very often & the relatively slower speed (1 mbps) didn't really help me much when I used to work from home. MTNL's 2 mbps plan with no FUP is ridiculously priced at Rs.4,999 for a month as compared to Rs.699 with Reliance. But I just may go back to MTNL now, at least there'll be internet.
 
@yogeshtulsiani

Chances are if you apply for a new line, you'll get a good quality line and won't face issues. Even if you do, getting line issues resolved with mtnl seems to indeed be easier given your experience with rcom. If the mtnl line does turn out to be good, you could even switch to the 8mbps plans. If you switch to mtnl, get a completely new telephone line though.
 
I am just curious to know, when you ping a web site do you ping with the URL or the IP address?
I use both - hell, I even did a tracert to see what was up, but it didn't even go beyond my router. Both tests (ping and URL) failed to produce a result - I simply get that adorable little dinosaur in Chrome with a message saying 'Unable to connect to Internet'

@yogeshtulsiani , I highly doubt they've done anything with the issue, it seems they are just interested in stalling for more time. It would seem the Appellate Authority isn't doing anything either. I got this mail from them on Thursday:

On 8/14/2014 7:22 PM, RCOMAppellateAuthority Mumbai wrote:

Dear Team,
Kindly address the issue from your end and reply to the Customer accordingly.

Regards,
Appellate Authority
Mumbai

The best part? This was what the "team" had to say:

Dear Customer,

Warm Greetings from Reliance Communications Ltd.

We regret the inconvenience.
We have escalated your complaint for Phone Number <redacted> to our concerned team, they will look into this matter and do the needful at the earliest.
For more details and assistance, write to us on broadband@relianceada.com

Assuring you of our best services always.

Thanks & Regards,

Rcom Wireline Appellate Authority Esc.
Reliance Communications Limited.
Contact number: 18602002011.

You can contact us on 18602002011 from Monday to Saturday excluding 1st & 3rd Saturday and National Holidays between 9.30 am to 6 pm.

I had written earlier to broadband@relianceada.com on the 2nd August 2014 and received absolutely no response from them, and now the Appellate Authority, the person who is supposed to be on a higher level than the Customer Care Service, is now diverting me to the Customer Care.

This was the mail I sent to them :

Hello,


My internet has been down for the past three days, starting from Wednesday evening 30th July 2014 (Webpages are stuck at “Resolving Host”, attempts to ping any site result in “Destination Not Reachable”.)


This is the second time in three months that this has happened. Attempts to call the Customer Care lines have been pointless – I have waited over 1 hour at one point to speak to a customer care representative to try and get the matter resolved but have been stuck listening to your annoying jingle and two looped messages, over and over. Not once during any point I have called - which has been 8 times over the past three days – did anyone pick up the phone.

I await response and action regarding my issue.

Complaint Numbers are listed below:

CNM10001415324

Siddharth

So much for "escalation" indeed. This entire thing is turning out to be quite a big farce.
 
I called up the Appellate number yesterday & got a call today. I asked them to terminate since I have no hope the connection will start again. The guy said they were facing permission issues - God knows how long will that take? I already have a phone line & ADSL router so I called up MTNL on 1500 & applied for the Rs.550 plan (1 mbps 7 am to 7 pm, 1.5 mbps 7 pm to 7 am). MTNL said they will take 2-4 days & will send a line man to activate.

Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed to get a refund from Reliance.
 
So I sent them another response today, because why not:

Appellate Authority, Mr. Pankaj Sootha and The Reliance Broadband Staff,


It is now the 21st of August, 2014 – almost 22 days since the connection has been down from your side, and yet I still receive a bill (attached with this e-mail). I would like an explanation as to how you are unable to provide the paid service of a broadband connection to a customer yet your billing services seemingly work flawlessly. Perhaps if your billing department was given charge of running the technical side of the broadband service, we might not even be having this conversation.


Not only has your “escalation” of my complaint not worked, I have since not heard anything from the Reliance team on an ETA or even a definitive reason for why a paying customer’s internet connection has been down for what will be almost a month now without so much as a general notice. The irony is that the message that was sent to me asked me to contact ‘broadband@relianceada.com’ which I have already done, on the 2nd of August, 2014.


I refuse to pay this bill due to non-receipt of service for the past 22 odd days due to problems on your end and if the connection is not back by the 31st of August, will be proceeding to terminate the connection and seek a connection from a competitor. I shall expect your full co-operation on this issue until this issue is resolved or until such time as I choose disconnect this service, whichever comes sooner.


Regards,

Siddharth B.

Subscriber ID: <redacted>

Customer Account Number: <redacted>

Contact Number: <redacted>

Let's see what they have to say for themselves. I bet it's another "escalation". >🙂
 
I got a mail from Reliance after I called up the Appellate number that the connection has been terminated w.e.f. 19th Aug 14. Now I need to call them up again for the waiver for the period the connection was not working.
 
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