Hathway at Hyderabad: misleading, cheating, or just plain dumb?

[Sharan]

..Hathway managed to cleverly rip my friends off on download limits. Here's the story: I have a couple of Chinese friends studying in Hyderabad. I arranged Hathway broadband internet connections for them, after seeing Hathway banners all over their neighbourhood and foolishly assuming that they must be all right. When their agent visited us (I was there too), he explained that according to their "512 Blast Xtra" plan, which was a prepaid plan for 6 months at Rs 500 per month, we could get 7GB download limit per month (meaning 42 GB for 6 months). We even compared with BSNL as follows: With BSNL monthly 500 rupee plan, we could get only 2 GB free limit per month, which takes into account both upload and download. But for the same 500 rupees, Hathway gives 7GB free per month. Also, only download is taken into account, not upload. So, the agent explained, Hathway was much, much better. (Both Hathway and BSNL allow for free unlimited downloads and uploads during certain periods in the night, which are not relevant to the discussion here.) But, a month after taking the connection and paying for it, my friends found out that the 7GB download limit was for 6 months total, not for each month! Can you imagine what a shock that was! The agent promised 42 GB, but they actually got 7GB. In the receipt the agent had written "7GB/6." What does this mean? The students did not really notice this at the time of registration. They had just trusted the agent. Even if they noticed, what should they think? 7GB/6 means 7GB per month, or 7GB for the total period of 6 months? In China, broadband internet is very cheap even in small towns. There is no such thing as "limited download". There are only unlimited connections, available for about 500 rupees per month. The cables get installed in one or two days. I have lived in China, and taken internet connection at my residence, so I know this for a fact. So, the students accepted that Hathway was providing 7 GB per month (which by Chinese standards was very low). They are now really shocked that the download limit is just a little more than 1 GB per month. Now, whose fault is this? In the Hathway website they don't mention clearly that the 7GB limit is for the whole period of 6 months. Is it so expensive for them to add "per month" or "total" on a web page? So, why don't they add these simple words? Why don't they make things absolutely clear? So that their agents can be free to mislead customers and get more and more business for them? And later they can always show that they have specified nothing? We DEFINITELY did not misunderstand them. The comparison we made with BSNL should clearly show that. This incident was really embarrassing for me too, because I advised those students to cancel their application for BSNL broadband (which they had made earlier), and go for Hathway. Why do such cheating companies succeed? Because they cleverly keep all their written documents unclear and to the bare minimum, and try to communicate everything orally. They depend on smooth talk and winning the customer's trust, as well as confusing the customer using all kinds of meaningless terms like "Blast Xtra" or "Dhamaka special" and so on. Then later they can say whatever they like. Companies like Hathway destroy all trust in society, as well as our national reputation. My Chinese friends are terribly disappointed because a lot of their experience in India has been like this: smooth-talking Indians who promise one thing but deliver something quite different. These days many Chinese students come to India to study, and many of them experience nothing but cheating in India, at the hands of Indians who look educated and well-dressed. Does Hathway bother to read the comments on these forums? Do they feel any shame at all? Or are they too busy perfecting their next cunning sales plan to get more business? What should we conclude about Hathway? 1. That they are cheap cheats, OR 2. That they are too stupid to communicate properly? Can we forward these threads to them, and let them inform us which of the above two categories they belong to?..

 

[essbebe]

@Sharan
Welcome to broadbandforum.co
Hathway Datacom Pvt. Ltd.

512 Blast Xtra 512 kbps 3000/- 7 GB 6 months

See the bottom of the page validity for 6 months limit 7 GB.
If you had checked up the packages offered on line, there is No question of cheating by Hathway. I agree, we are too lazy to check/recheck anything and later claim I did not know. I believed xyz. and rush to print wild accusations against person/s companies.

Do you mean to say you got the connection and paid Rs 3000/= without any written document from Hathway ? or their/agent ?
Have you any documentary proof at least to show you paid Rs 3000/=

Para two : I would have forwarded your post to Hathway , but had to desist.

I have AIRTEL/DataONE BB connections. Not related to Hathway, and no relations in Hathway.

 

[Sharan]

ESSBEBE: You claim in your post, "I have AIRTEL/DataONE BB connections. Not related to Hathway, and no relations in Hathway." And yet you speak on Hathway's behalf. Why is that? Why not just state that you are a Hathway agent? Yes, we do have a receipt for Rs 3000. In fact, we have two receipts. The two Chinese students staying together each took a separate connection. The receipts are available for display any time you want. And anyway, the point was not about the money. Your understanding appears to be very limited. We had no problems with paying the money. Got that? This is not about the money. Your agent has written 7GB/6 on the receipts. Now you tell me, what is the meaning of 7GB/6? You can interpret that any way you like, right? Whatever is convenient for you? Okay, so now that I can provide these receipts, can you provide any useful help? You came threatening to "forward my post to Hathway" (something that I myself have suggested in my post). But now that I can show my receipts, can you do anything useful for us? Would you like to call up the Hyderabad agent and ask him why a customer is making such allegations about him? Or is your role limited to only making threats against anyone who complains about your shoddy service? Did you read my posts clearly? I have presented my case in great detail, and very clearly. I have also explained that your agent compared the package with the BSNL equivalent for five hundred rupees per month. It was not a simple misunderstanding. It was a deliberate misrepresentation. Doesn't it occur to you that when someone takes so much effort to write clearly, maybe they could have a genuine reason for complaint? Your thinking ability seems to be quite limited. You have written, "If you had checked up the packages offered on line, there is No question of cheating by Hathway". Well, we DID NOT have an internet connection at home to check online when your agent was sitting there discussing the packages. That was why we wanted to take an internet connection. Because we didn't have an internet connection. Duh. Yes, we agree, we should not have listened to your agent's lies. We should have gone to an internet cafe, checked your website, taken a printout, got written clarifications from your agent, taken his signature in front of witnesses, maybe on stamp paper. We should have thought about all the possible ways in which we could get cheated. We were stupid. We did not do all these things. We made the mistake of accepting in good faith what your agent told us. I agree, we were stupid to have trusted your agent. The fault is indeed ours. You are right. Your customer is always wrong.

 

[essbebe]

@Sharon. Quote We were stupid. We did not do all these things. We made the mistake of accepting in good faith what your agent told us. I agree, we were stupid to have trusted your agent. The fault is indeed ours. You are right. Your customer is always wrong. UNQUOTEQuoteYour agent has written 7GB/6 on the receipts. UNQUOTESo he promised you in writing 7GB each month ?Nobody from Hathway is here to answer you in IBF.and Hathway does not /has not engaged me to answer your questions.At least you have agreed you were STUPID. Thanks. Now that you have Internet connection, forward your complaint to HATHWAY.

 

[infernalproteus]

Sharan,

Take it easy, essbebe is not a Hathway agent and your ire against him is misplaced.

Whenever something sounds ridiculously cheap (as your comparison with BSNL indicates), do check it up. Right now you seem to have been hoodwinked by an agent - not sure what you can do except for following up with Hathway and making life miserable for him if he is still around. I doubt you will get any compensation from Hathway, but no harm trying.

Thanks for highlighting the mixup. Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Brian.

 

[Sharan]

Hey Brian, Thanks, mate. It certainly looked surprisingly cheaper than BSNL. And that's why we immediately accepted. But then we already felt that BSNL was a little too expensive. As I mentioned, I had lived in China too, and all of us had grown used to completely unlimited downloads for about 500 rupees a month in China (with over 1MBps speeds), so even this 7GB per month in fact looked quite small, though certainly better than other Indian options. You might feel that we should have explored their website first. Maybe.But think about it: Most Indian websites are poorly prepared and poorly updated. In my experience with many other products, when you approach a dealer with information that you obtained from their website, the dealer usually tells you, "no, that is no longer available", or "no, that has changed now", or "no, that is not applicable here", or "no, this plan has now changed", or "no, that was Dhamaka Dishum, now it is Dishum Dhamaka", and so on. In other words, it is very rare that a website carries up-to-date information that a dealer agrees with. Whether this is deliberately done or plain incompetence, I don't know. This happens even with the printed brochures in the shop. You point at something in the brochure that the salesman shows you, and he says, "no, that has changed now", "it is no longer available", "the rates have increased recently", etc. So, most of the time we are in the position that we just have to accept the salesperson's word in India, for any product or service, not just this one. Internet, brochures, etc are not the last word. So we have got used to relying on the salesman for correct information. I am sure many others have experienced this kind of situation when shopping. So, should I tell the sellers to get a new brochure printed or update their website and then get back to me? This is highly impractical, so we choose to take their word for it and go ahead in good faith. And there are agents who take advantage of this situation. Well, I intend to pursue this matter further, anyway. Just warming up here. --- Well, after my last post, I managed to locate the particular agent and talk to him on the phone. He assures me that he had no intention of cheating us. It is apparently a misunderstanding, according to him. Anyway he is going to talk to his manager and see what can be done. Let me see how that goes. But there is no doubt that Hathway can avoid such "misunderstanding" by making their information clear. And it is not very hard to do that. How hard, or how expensive, is it to add words like "per month" or "total" on a web page? Think about what a difference it would make to a customer if the web page said "7GB per month" or "7GB total" instead of just "7GB". --- I don't know who or what Essbebe is. He claims to have not just ONE, but TWO other current internet connections (for what???) And he claims he has never ever used Hathway. So what is he doing lurking around in the Hathaway discussion forum? And with nothing whatsoever useful to contribute either, one way or the other (notice that he didn't take up my suggestion that he ask the agent about this). As if there's nothing else to do on the internet. Get a life...

 

---

[essbebe]

@brian Thanks. Sharon did not call me an I.S.I.Agent ! I am grateful for that.
@Sharon
Quote
don't know who or what Essbebe is.
He claims to have not just ONE, but TWO other current internet connections (for what???)
And he claims he has never ever used Hathway.
So what is he doing lurking around in the Hathaway discussion forum?
And with nothing whatsoever useful to contribute either, one way or the other
(notice that he didn't take up my suggestion that he ask the agent about this).
As if there's nothing else to do on the internet. Get a life.
UNQUOTE
.
You cannot believe I have two ISP connections.
You will not believe I am not a Hathway agent.
You feel I should not lurk in "Hathway Forum.
Any entrance qualifications set by you ?.
So nice of you to say I have nothing to contribute ,
after about 1000 postings in these forums.
You can send the whole thread to HATHWAY yourself.
If you don't know how to do it look at this web link

Hathway Datacom Pvt. Ltd.

I would appreciate, if you advise me how to utilise the Internet.
"Get a life ". Not possible.

I am very sorry , you have forced the Moderator Brian
to intervene in this forum, and to my knowledge for the first time
since last eight months.

Brian : I am very sorry, about my posting/s here, and please accept my apologies.