Reliance: Great Customer Service

I have always had great regards for Reliance, the 2nd largest phone company in India. Couple of recent experiences have left me shaken.

The first incident:

Few months back I went to their Web World (showroom) outlet to cancel a connection. They took my request and asked me to wait, they had to get an approval from their back end team. I was impressed. You mean, if I wanted to cancel the connection, do I need an approval? Not from my family mind you. But from their (corporate) family. 

I got a call, while still in the showroom, asking me why I wanted to close the connection. I explained. They tried to dissuade me. I politely said no. They took my request. 

A week later I got a bill. I paid it. I used to get calls from Reliance asking me to try out this option or that option. I kept saying I don't want any option and certainly not a bill at the end of it. If there is going to be any money payout from me without me explicitly asking for a reactivation, I do NOT want it. They assured me there will be NO bill.

I had not used my connection anyway subsequently. The next month I got a bill from Reliance. And then one more bill for the month after that for a different amount. This was painful.

I can understand that it is imperative to retain customers. Sticky revenues and all that. But sending bills after a customer has given a request for cancellation and paid the outstanding amount? Kudos to Reliance. They have taken a totally new refreshing approach to customer retention.

The next incident:

I got a bill for internet usage on the phone. I had used it the previous month and paid the bill in fill. Subsequently, I didn't use internet (mail etc). I called the customer support. I asked the lady who answered my call to explain to me the basis of the internet usage amount. She said I had used so many MB's and and each KB costs 10Paise. I was aghast. "Rs10 per MB?", I asked her. She replied patiently 10p/KB. I said i understand that - "Rs10 per MB?" It took her some time to switch from KB to MB.

I asked her to send me the details of usage. She replied she will have it sent in 48 hours. 

I asked her what details she would send to me. She replied that I would get my usage details. I again asked her "WHAT" details. Would the communication say I used the net at what time, how much I downloaded, which site I used etc or would it give me a summary of usage (total MB's used)? If it's the latter it won't help me. I already am contesting that. She replied then that it would have usage time, usage amount etc but not the name of the site.

Whew. I thanked her and said I will wait for the details and hung up.

I got an SMS immediately stating that as per my request I would henceforth get hardcopy bills and not e-bills.

If I die of Blood Pressure today, you know who caused it.