Wataniya:- What is easier now?
First off this is not about what is technically better or what will be... this is ONLY about my experience...as a customer of wataniya...
EARLY AUGUST: - Made the switch in early August... waited in line like all guys do when they are getting a new gadget to play with...... heck i even got one for my sister while i was at it......always had the gut feeling that i should have waited for a while before making the switch.. but hey.. like i said..wanted to give them the chance to prove themselves... the very first day i started to use the number problems seems to popup... one being.. there was no proper coverage in villigili... i mean c'mon... i can live with the fact that it would be hard to setup wataniya antennas in remote parts of the country but not being able to properly cover villigili?? thats supposed to be a part of male'!!!
my call to 929... "they are terribly sorry abt whats happening" we'll get people to call u back... call me back they did... 3 times... but noooo no coverage in villigili....but seriously no one could tell me why this was happening... okey i forgave them... being their 1st week an all...
MID TO LATE AUGUST:- "Get thru the first time?".... not likely... okey to wataniya's credit most of my calls were to dhiraagu... but even for the ones to wataniya... it wasnt exactly impressive... i didn't notice such an impoved call quality... maybe my phone sucked? or phone of the person i was calling to sucked? well lets leave it at that...
The worst thing about my experinces with wataniya was their TXT system.... i thought they would have their txt system in place so that i could as usual txt whoever i wanted to txt.. internationally and locally... Not so it seems... my friends and releatives and business contacts abroad were not gettin my txts.... UK, Malaysia, New Zealand... nop.. none of those places...
so off i went to call 929... you would be surprised at the variety of responses i got...
Them: "We're in the process of setting up the international txt system. your txt might not be recived by the recipient!"
Me: " So do i get charged for that text coz, my phone said the txt was sent?"
Them: "Maybe.. if it reaches (wataniya) network"
WTF!!! why should i get charged for something they couldnt deliver? its their freaking problem not mine... and if they are testing it out they should announce it publicly.. that they are not ready with it.. an they should not charge for something they are testing... like dhiraagu did with MMS... at least with dhiraagu... they didn't owe us anythin when they were testing it out coz we got it for free...
okey so i call 929 later..
Me: "is it possible for me to get the bill information to date coz i wanna see if i was billed for those txts"
Them: " sorry we don't have bill details to tell you now...bill information can only be viewed when bill is run."
SO now what? i wait till THEY are well an ready? to see if i've been wrongly billed?or if it was a mistake on my side?
and days goes by with few more calls to 929... same type of responses.. some say i might be billed. others say i might not.. others don't really have a freaking clue what they are doing there at wataniya customer services prolly....
Thing is.. my work and my personal commitments require that i have to txt overseas... now everytime i wanna send a text.. i have to go thru the process of removing my wataniya sim.. inserting the dhiraagu one and sending it... and later re-insertin the dhiraagu sim to see if i can recieve the txts?... bloody hell... who's life is good now?.. who do i wanna share it with?
SEPTEMBER
last blow... my bill came... so naturally i wanted to check out those txts.. to see if i've been billed... for the non recipt ones... the bill is a summation so... i call 929....
ME: "i would like a detailed itemised bill for the last month"
THEM: " We charge MRF 15/-"
ME: " fine.. charge it i wanna see it"
THEM:"we can give u one for next month"
ME: (Thinking): how can they give me a detailed bill for next month when next month hasnt even run yet?"
ME: " i want an itemised bill for the bill u sent me.. thats all i want"
THEM: " well then, u come to our shop..talk to them.. they'll do something for you"
This is absurd.... i know wataniya is a startup an i know dhiraagu has the first mover advantage... an dhiraagu is the evil bloodsucking corporation.... but as a CUSTOMER i don't CARE how hard or easy it is for them to tweak their network...or agree on international texting arrangements... or provide real time billing information... as a CUSTOMER all i know is dhiraagu does this and wataniya dosent do that... an thats what counts... and as a customer the availablity and convinence is what matters.... an of coz.. wataniya is running me TWICE wat dhiraagu costs me... so another reason to go back...
Maybe wataniya launced too early for their own good.. maybe the date was forced on them.. whatever their resaons.....the customer is not going to CARE!!!
Tomorrow i'm off to wataniya... close down my account.... maybe i'll be lucky enuf if they give me an itemised bill.. lets see what happens.
Sure.. Wataniya will improve their services and products... they have to... but as a customer i'm not gonna hang around till they do with crippled services and products and support jus coz they are new...... gimme a holler when they are good an ready.!!!
There is some truth in the saying " first impressions last! "
posted by Daadi @ 11:45 AM
6 Comments:
well said fatty,
as i said before, i never switched to wataniyya, but i have had so many friends just like you, who have run into a lot of trouble with wataniya, here is ONE incident which happened yesterday
i did go to Wataniya shop with a friend of mine who wanted to take a wataniyya post paid number, one of the senior guys talked well and everything went well during registration.
After like an hr when he tried to send an sms to australia, there was a problem. seems like the texts were not going! we call 929 and the response we get is
"yes! our international texting is not fully functional. you can send texts to some countries, and we are trying to make it work for all countries as soon as possible"
what the fuck!!! is this supposed to be part of a scavenger hunt? do we have to figure these things out for ourselves? arent they supposed to inform us of these things when we take the lines? yes! we never asked "sms kureveyyne tha miveni gaumehge miveni city akah" ??? but im sure everyone will be buying them with the knowledge that we can sms without any problems.
pretty misleading eh?
damn straight!!!
Wataniya should be making people aware of these things....
some people's businesses and lifestyle heavily depends on the ability to recive and send messages overseas as well..
forgive me if i go..
Grrr Grrr Grrr
haveeru news states that wataniya to be sued by telecom authority
for not acting according to their agreement
i like your blog...
Man I would say bravo to you!
At least you are one of the few who come up sayn wht u want....thats a good sign which proves that this paradise is getting more mature :)
Well first of all i am a contractor of wataniya as well as a customer of them, let me share with you a few things which i should'nt share...hehe
The reason why you were not able to get coverage in Viligili was because the site in viligili was not up and you recived coverage there from the coverage antennas in Male'. Well i dunno why 929 didnt tell you about it.
The other thing about international sms. Wataniya have to rely on Dhiraagu for international calls and sms as per the telecom agreement. Wataniya can use there own gateway only after one year of service. There were two major problems as per wataniya seniors. One was gateway problem from dhiraagu and the other problem was setting up the system. The system was from huawei and there were a few bugs in it since they started there operation without any testing. well that was due to the pressure from TAM.But it is suprising that 929 did not detail you on these issues.
As for billing, i fully agree with you. IT SUCX.
hey mx thanks for that insight...
true its understandable that there would be problems and obstacles specially when starting up such an operation on such a scale...
my problem is with or without the pressure.. wataniya should inform its customers that the problems exist...even if it is temporary
take that txt example... mx pointed out the problems.. but 929 decided that the details are insignificant? 929 should really.. or rather wataniya should make such issue public so the customers know wat to expect really...
otherwise theres gonna be ppl jus like me who go in with high expectations and high levels of service only to be let down... an that can only be bad for business in the long run... true.. admitting that you have a problem may be kicking your own butt... but its better than cutting off your feet...
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