LOOP Mobile - How to lose a client in six weeks?

LOOP Mobile - How to lose a client in six weeks?

Have you ever wondered how you can lose a loyal customer to another company? Look no further – it is called bad customer service.
Week 1
Have been a loyal BPL / Loop mobile customer for almost seven years. The phone lines don’t drop as much as Airtel and reception is good most of the time. The number has been my lifeline for ever now. But is for ever, really forever?
Week 2
Two years after Praneet quit Piramal, someone in Loop or Piramal finally woke up. Mine is no longer a company phone, so it must be put on the personal account. Get a call from Loop to change the account into personal. Must send proof of address and Praneet’s photo since the phone is in his name.
Week 3
Phone service stalled. And like an ass, I kept looking at my phone thinking that there was a problem at the service provider’s end. Much later at night ‘bati jali mere dimag mein’ and I called Loop mobile. ‘Sorry Madam, but we needed your photo so we disconnected the phone’. Huh? How about informing me first? ‘Government policy’ madam.Ok, so where do I give the photo in Bandra?’ Uh, you have to come to Mahim Madam.’ First round of shouting and someone activates the phone and comes home to collect the photo.
Week 4
Go out of town and my phone does not work again. What now? Am phoneless for three days. In the meantime Mom from Nigeria panics coz I am unreachable. She calls sister in Thailand who calls daughter’s Vodafone number and checks on me. When I come back to Mumbai and call Loop Mobile, I am told that I don’t have roaming on my phone. Pray tell why? ‘This is a new account Madam. If you want to apply for it, you have to pay 2,500’. I rationalize – this is an old number and I have been a customer forever and ever. ‘Yes, but now this has been transferred on your name so we will treat it as a new account. Government rules’
Much shouting, to no avail. Atleast in Mumbai the phone is working. And on my weekly visits to Karjat, I don’t have to be accessible to anyone!
Week 5
Dial Mom’s number in Nigeria. Cant get thru. Call Loop again. ‘Sorry Madam. You don’t have ISD either’. OK! How do I get it? ‘You have to pay Rs.6000 to activate this. Cant you add it to my bill. No Madam we can’t. Government rules. ‘Ok, say I . where do I pay? ‘At the Mahim Branch.’
Good thing I think. Will call from Praneet’s phone and avoid clocking up a huge bill of my own.
Week 6
Get a message at 12 in the afternoon saying that my ‘credit limit of Rs.1500 has been exhausted. Please pay to avoid disconnection’. At 6 in the evening on my way home, the phone is not working again. Call the customer service people to be told that I have to pay asap for the account to start. But, I protest, you need to give me atleast a 12 hour notice..I cant handle this while I handle other things in office. Also , when my phone usage is Rs6000 on an average, why would you give me a credit limit of Rs1500. Am I supposed to visit the Loop Mobile place every week? ‘Sorry Madam, Government rules.’
Now Government and Loop Mobile be damned. I am going to another service provider. And their collection agents can chase me for an year now. After all I have had to come into office today when I could have chilled at home because of the railway men strike. And I did not get the message on my suspended account!