I finally ported out from Airtel to BSNL after days (14 to be precise) of pain and suffering. Airtel stopped my 6 year old ser-vice on 15th February 2011 (a day after the expiry of my first UPC) at 22:05 hours. But.... BSNL not activated !!
16th February 2011 - Visited a BSNL CSC (at Adyar, Chennai) just to know that today was a holiday for them and the office which deals with MNP will not be working today !!! But I do appreciate the fact that BSNL has deployed a few employees at their CSC to service customers on a holiday as well....
17th February 2011 - Called up the SDE of the CSC. She asked me if I the porting process is complete. I said no. She (though was on personal leave for the day) promised me that it will be done today. And as promised, here I am at about 21:00 hours today, with my number is activated under the 'Cell One' brand name !! I'm able to make and receive calls as usual PLUS a high speed data transfer 🙂
Here is what I could do at BSNL and could never imagine about doing at Airtel:
1. I could walk into any cabin of any officer and make myself heard
2. I could call up any officer directly
3. They will help you even if they are on leave (just as the SDE did)
4. They do not look for reasons to say 'no' to you !!!
5. The staff is so down-to-earth and helpful (no airs - like AIRtel !!)
6. They even recognise you (and your current problem) by your face !!
Here is one of my many sweet experiences with the BSNL CSC (at Adyar, Chennai):
When Airtel first asked me to re-submit my MNP request with BSNL (though that was a foolish suggestion by an Airtel Nodal Officer and was proved as not required later), I filled in all the forms and submitted at the BSNL CSC. But, they couldn't book a new request since an old SIM was already allotted to my UPC when I first made the MNP request.
So, they couldn't accept my payment (till the issue was cleared). I only had Rs. 100/- notes with me and did not have sufficient change to pay the cost of SIM and Plan (some Rs. 62/-). What an officer at the CSC did was, to collect my Rs. 100/-, pay me back the Rs. 32/- from her personal wallet and asked me to leave (as I was in a hurry to reach office) promising me that she will take care of this as soon as my old SIM was released by their back-end MNP team... Luckily (unlike what the Airtel Nodal Officer suggested), a new SIM or porting request was not required. Airtel had to only roll back their first rejection and approve the same.... I am now connected with BSNL using the first SIM given to me.....
The experience at the BSNL Adyar CSC was just like being at home.... A bunch of family members and friends ready to help you out in any possible manner.... most importantly, not looking for any reason to say 'No' to a customer....
If I were at an Airtel office, I would have waited there till they cleared the issue (if at all that happens !!) and I would have been on leave from office for the day.... I once had to spent almost a day at the Airtel Service Centre just to close my Airtel Broadband connection and return the modem/telephone (though I have with me a signed, written proof that they received the modem/telephone, I used to get atleast 3 calls every month asking me to return the said instruments !!)
To be frank, more than being a BSNL customer (though I'm happy about it) now, what fills my heart with sheer joy and peace is the fact that I have finally snapped my last existing relationship with Airtel !!!
Thanks a heap to the Government of India (as a gesture of gratitude, I have chosen an operator owned by you !!), TRAI and DoT for implementing MNP.......
Finally divorced after a 6 year old marriage of (Airtel's) convinience
:dance:
16th February 2011 - Visited a BSNL CSC (at Adyar, Chennai) just to know that today was a holiday for them and the office which deals with MNP will not be working today !!! But I do appreciate the fact that BSNL has deployed a few employees at their CSC to service customers on a holiday as well....
17th February 2011 - Called up the SDE of the CSC. She asked me if I the porting process is complete. I said no. She (though was on personal leave for the day) promised me that it will be done today. And as promised, here I am at about 21:00 hours today, with my number is activated under the 'Cell One' brand name !! I'm able to make and receive calls as usual PLUS a high speed data transfer 🙂
Here is what I could do at BSNL and could never imagine about doing at Airtel:
1. I could walk into any cabin of any officer and make myself heard
2. I could call up any officer directly
3. They will help you even if they are on leave (just as the SDE did)
4. They do not look for reasons to say 'no' to you !!!
5. The staff is so down-to-earth and helpful (no airs - like AIRtel !!)
6. They even recognise you (and your current problem) by your face !!
Here is one of my many sweet experiences with the BSNL CSC (at Adyar, Chennai):
When Airtel first asked me to re-submit my MNP request with BSNL (though that was a foolish suggestion by an Airtel Nodal Officer and was proved as not required later), I filled in all the forms and submitted at the BSNL CSC. But, they couldn't book a new request since an old SIM was already allotted to my UPC when I first made the MNP request.
So, they couldn't accept my payment (till the issue was cleared). I only had Rs. 100/- notes with me and did not have sufficient change to pay the cost of SIM and Plan (some Rs. 62/-). What an officer at the CSC did was, to collect my Rs. 100/-, pay me back the Rs. 32/- from her personal wallet and asked me to leave (as I was in a hurry to reach office) promising me that she will take care of this as soon as my old SIM was released by their back-end MNP team... Luckily (unlike what the Airtel Nodal Officer suggested), a new SIM or porting request was not required. Airtel had to only roll back their first rejection and approve the same.... I am now connected with BSNL using the first SIM given to me.....
The experience at the BSNL Adyar CSC was just like being at home.... A bunch of family members and friends ready to help you out in any possible manner.... most importantly, not looking for any reason to say 'No' to a customer....
If I were at an Airtel office, I would have waited there till they cleared the issue (if at all that happens !!) and I would have been on leave from office for the day.... I once had to spent almost a day at the Airtel Service Centre just to close my Airtel Broadband connection and return the modem/telephone (though I have with me a signed, written proof that they received the modem/telephone, I used to get atleast 3 calls every month asking me to return the said instruments !!)
To be frank, more than being a BSNL customer (though I'm happy about it) now, what fills my heart with sheer joy and peace is the fact that I have finally snapped my last existing relationship with Airtel !!!
Thanks a heap to the Government of India (as a gesture of gratitude, I have chosen an operator owned by you !!), TRAI and DoT for implementing MNP.......
Finally divorced after a 6 year old marriage of (Airtel's) convinience
:dance:
