Okay so I know that I shouldn't have tried out BigFlix anyway. For the simple reason that Reliance cannot run a basic online business because their customer care is really the worst in the whole wide world. But anyway, I thought I'd give it a shot. You know, try the one month rental and take it from there.
Day 1
I decide that I want to register for BigFlix. I go online, choose the appropriate plan. Register. I choose the pay-by-cash option in which a BigFlix associate visits you to collect the money within 24 hrs of registration. You're given an Order number.
What happens
Nobody comes to collect the money for 2 days. No phone call nothing.
A call to their customer care leaves me shocked because apparently they can't do anything till the time become a member. But I can’t become a member till the man comes to pick up the money.
Day 3-4 (don’t know which anymore)
I almost think of chucking BigFlix, but something makes me give them a second chance.
I decide to go to a reliance webworld and pay the money there so that they can activate my membership. It was obvious that nobody would come and collect it.
What happens
I walk around, find the damned store but they tell me they have some network issues and I'll have to come back tomorrow.
Thankfully, quite unlike a typical Reliance response, an employee agrees to help me out if I pay in cash and fill out a second form for membership so that they can do it all offline. I agree.
I'm asked to wait till afternoon the next day to receive my login ID and password to be able to order movies online.
God bless that man's soul.
Day 4-5
its afternoon and I haven't yet received the loginID.
I decide to call customer care and after explaining my problem thrice I give up and just ask for the reliance webworld's number so that I can deal with this myself.
guess what? They don't have the telephone numbers of their stores.
And like always, the customer care cannot help till I become a member.
Which I will become once reliance webworld inputs my request.
Which reliance webworld will do once I remind and threaten them.
Which I will do when I find their number!
*tearing my hair out*
PS: the nice guy at reliance webworld offered his personal number to me when I went there but I refused thinking I can always customer care. Naive!
Faith restored
Okay so I knew they'd come around! :) so my faith in bigflix was justified... to some extent.
they delivered my movies to me today.
but i still maintain that their customer service sucks.
I received no mail or call about my account activation and the call centre was hopeless.
Update: A bigflix delivery guy asked my friend for Dussehra bakshish :D that's really weird. God forbid Dominos Delivery guys start that too!
I used to use seventymm.com and they had pretty good service. I paid online and could start ordering movies in 20 minutes. I never had to call customer care for anything and the movies were always delivered on time. Of course, getting my deposit back from them took some time, but I'll forgive them for that.
ReplyDeleteI really really, wanna say I told you so... But I won't :D... cuz u love giving reliance, and the likes 2nd n 3rd chances... If ppl just stopped doing that, either Reliance wud shut shop, or they'd freak out and actually step up to the challenge of caring about their "customers".... I cannot think of a single good experience I've had with Reliance, and I want nothing to do with them :P
ReplyDeleteI guess it's important to let them know how they suck, instead of just stop using their service. It's our duty as consumers to at least let them know... they can later choose to ignore it, or not, doesnt matter since the consumer is already gone.
ReplyDeleteNot just bigflix, but why are most online services so terrible with regards to customer service/user experience? Have you seen PVR Cinemas? Horrible. Bookmyshow.com was a breath of fresh air, but they took out support for PVR cinemas.
The list is endless... still I try to at least let them know a few things. Maybe somewhere deep inside is listening...
Is bad customer service the one thing that links all Reliance ADA companies? Seems like it!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Quirky Indian
http://quirkyindian.wordpress.com
@ sharninder: i know seventymm was good. but recently when I visited their site the look and feel was so flaky! i just didnt want to trust them.
ReplyDelete@ namit: hey i want to give them a chance(s) :)
@ saad: yea i know. and it does suck that they removed PVR from their listing. And the PVR site sucks anyway.
@ quirky: you bet that's the one thing in common! Someday things will improve. I'm hopeful :)
I know someone who was a subscriber and passed through the same ordeal. After all the sad-service he went through, he decided to quit his membership. He paid cash like you did. The online guys would not cancel his membership saying we can only return a cheque in the name of the member and if you want cash back, you need to visit the nearest store. He had to go there, deliver the dvd, wait for a week to process and did not get the money. It's 10 days now.
ReplyDeleteIt's really sad how these guys operate. Are you getting your movie queue delivered in time?
@ raghuvir: yes once my membership was activated I received all my movies on the dot. I never had to wait for pick up or delivery. it was very prompt. I'm yet to cancel my membership.When I do, I hope they return my deposit :)
ReplyDeleteIts not just the customer service but their entire employee base suck especially the HR.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how mostly idiot people make it to Reliance, enjoy very good salaries and think they own the company as well as the land. You will be shocked to find complete buffoons earning lakhs of salary per month. Seems like references play a great role in getting reliance jobs since any sane person would never work there.
My advice is never to use any Reliance (retail, fresh, digital, mobile) or Big (bigflix, bigadda, zapak, bigmaps, big cinemas, bigtv) service.