The customer care call center of Dialog GSM has always been excellent. The staff is well trained, polite and efficient. However, it turned out that their self service, activated by dialing 687, sucks.
Recently, I wanted to change a number in my frequently dialed numbers list (the "family and friends" call list). Everything went well, but I felt very uncomfortable as the system did not give me a chance to verify the new number. I was "told" that it was changed immediately after I entered it.
I felt the need to verify that the new number is correct, so I went to the main menu again and tried to list the new set of numbers. It looked like the last digit of the new number was missing. Oops... I had done a mistake by starting the numeber with a "0777", instead of a "077".
Every other system I have come across either allowes the user to verify before changing an important piece of information (e.g.: password dialog boxes) OR allows reverting a mistake either through the system itself or some other means. Unfortunately, it wasn't the case here.
I called the customer care call center immediately, and explained that I made a mistake, and asked if anything can be done to correct it. I also mentioned that this happened few minutes ago and that I made no other calls, to show that this is not an attempt to exploit the "friends and family" feature. The executive was very polite as usual, but apparently this was a call beyond her authority. I asked her if I could speak to her lead - hoping to reach someone who is authoritative to make a decision - but while she was trying to transfer the call, the line got disconnected.
I called them again, and told the customer care executive (a different person) that I need to talk to her lead. She said that her lead may not be in a position to make the decision, but gave me the names of two people in another department. I managed to reach one of them, but he said nothing can be done, but also told me to try and contact the Billing Manager.
I made another call to try and contact the Billing Manager, but the phone was never pick up.
I gave up. Not only was I charged Rs 100 for the "change", but I couldn't "correct" it until the next billing cycle.
On a positive note, this is the ONLY bad experience I have ever had with Dialog GSM. Unfortunately, as all my attempts to give them constructive critisism failed, I was forced to blog the incident.
Update: Dialog GSM is investigating into the insident, and hopefully will improve the system in question. Very nice of them to take customer feedback seriously.
