…… Pixel – Digit ……

I was using my package for my post paid connection on my Iphone 4s since last 5 months and every things were smooth. But unfortunately events happened for last two days, have destroyed my faith in Batelco and now thinking about moving to another provider..

I will list down the events, so that it may help someone who may fall in similar situation

20th June 2012 10:00 AM
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I logged in to e-service portal to my monthly bill and noticed the new package, since I was having my package for 80 min voice and 1 GB data, I thought upgrading to 10 BD My Package+ will be better option as some months i use less data and more calls vice versa.
So I tried upgrading through the e-service channel

20th June 2012 11:00 AM
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I noticed that data is not working for my mobile
On logging back to e-portal I noticed that I have subscribed to both my package + and my package, and an unpaid bill amount of BD 12/- added to my account as just before 1 hour unpaid balance was only 600 fils.

20th June 2012 11:30 AM
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I called 196, to my surprise, the lady even didn’t understand what the My Package + is, she was telling me, “sir, this package is for prepaid not for post paid.. and you don’t have data added to your number.. if you need, I can add data now and you will need to change package to smart package”. So i understood there is no much point in talking to her and told ok, no problem i will go to customer care and sort it out.

20th June 2012 4:00 PM
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I went to ISA town Mall Batelco service centre and there the lady at least managed to understand the issue, so I requested to put me back to my old package as I need data back and cannot risk any more trial on upgrade.
She was helpful and told me she has now put me back to my old package and when checked I noticed that my data connection is back and working fine.
When I asked about the 12 BD charged to me , she mentioned that, it will be adjusted in the bill and they may charge only for 1 day for the package.
But when i tried sending an SMS I found that SMS is not working, I went back to her and she mentioned me that she has upgraded me to my plus package and can try after few minutes so that SMS will work.

20th June 2012 9:00 PM
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I came back to home and even after few hours SMS didn’t work. When tried to call 196 to enquire, I was shocked to see that even call was not working, it was failing, and when I tried to call my Batelco number from VIVA, it was just disconnecting.

I called 196 from my land line number (Mena telecom) and first on transferring to helpdesk after all the story of press 2, 3, 9 etc.. there was no response.

I tried again and this time one gentle man answered the call, but when I mentioned about the package , upgrade and all, I understood that he don’t have any idea about what he is speaking about. He said my line is ok and problem is with your phone or SIM card.
I told him “ok can you please upgrade me to my package +” he said, sorry sir, i cannot upgrade package from here, you need to go to Batelco customer centre.

So I thought ok there is no pointing in talking to him and go to customer care centre tomorrow.

21st June 2012 2:00 PM
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I went to Batelco centre at GOSI complex. There the gentle man told me that you line is ok on the system, the problem is with my SIM card.. even though I mentioned that I am having data connection and can send and receive SMS and no one has even removed the SIM from phone, he insisted that issue is with SIM card and will be ok if I replace it.

I explained the whole story to him and requested him to at least try upgrading my package to my package +, he tried and told me that “sorry , sir there is no option on the system to upgrade package to my package +, you can do it only through e-services portal. take new SIM card and later upgrade online, but SIM will cost 2 BD” Since I was in hurry, I thought maybe this guy is right and agreed to go ahead. But even after putting new SIM, same issue, i couldn’t call any number or receive calls from any number.
I got little nervous now and told him,” I am behind this issue since yesterday.. and I told you issue is not with SIM card something with package”..

then he told, this is issue with line, please call 196, I asked “again i need to call 196, why can’t you call from here? and they what is the need for customer care center”, he said they don’t have option to call …

Ii lost my limit and time so called 196,
The person was nice soft speaking and he wanted to help me, explaining the whole story to him, he told me to give phone to the person at customer centre, but I couldn’t find the person i dealt with as he went for break, so i tried with another person sitting in the counter, that guy told “sorry i cannot talk from here and I am busy”..( WHAT KIND OF SERVICE)

I told the person on phone ” I am really reaching my limit and will close this connection and go with some other provider”,
But 196 person was nice and he told me “sir, please try to remove the SIM card and put again” let me see, as per his suggestion, I tried it (keeping him on hold), but no result, so he told me that, I will ask our technician to check the issue as why you cannot make or receive voice calls …”

by the time other person who went for brake came back and he was also helping mentality and told me that, I will make a complain and took my alternate number so that someone from technical department will contact me..

21st June 2012 11:30 PM
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Still no response from Batelco and I am without voice calls (cannot call or receive calls from any numbers) since last ~ 24 hrs
Since I am also a software engineer, I thought about just trying again on e-services centre as It may be an issue with the software and about updating the package details in the system. I tried removing voice from my package saved it, after few minutes, I resaved the package by selecting the package.

Voila the issue is fixed..

I am surprised that why Batelco could not find this simple issue ……………..
what I lost
~ 24 hours without voice calls
~ 2 BD VIVA credit calling customer care
~ 3 hours of time wasting in Isa town and GOSI customer care centers..
17 BD is now added to my unpaid balance..( for nothing)

I feel Batelco must train staff to solve this kind of minor issues .