This has reference to our complaint which was registered with du on March 21, 2010. Du replaced two decoders that telecast the Pehla Gold and Silver packages. We were told that at no extra cost, the new decoders promised "unmatched picture quality", but sadly there was no such thing. This was brought to the notice of du through a string of e-mails to du Customer Care.
Another thing that really irked us was we were unable to record the programmes though our own video recorder. Now it seemed we had to avail ourselves of a special decoder, at an additional cost, if we wanted the facility for recording. We were specifically told at the time they changed the decoders that there would be no additional charge, then why this hidden cost, without clarity? So now we have these new decoders giving lousy picture quality and no facility for recording!
Initially there were a few calls from du trying to offer a solution, but with no success. Worst of all, every time they called we had to deal with a different technician, so one can imagine the frustration and time wasted explaining to each person what the problem was.
The next day there would be a call from their Customer Care Division to find out if we were happy with the service!
Then we would explain that the problem was not corrected, upon which they would tell us they would get their technical team to contact us. This would then set off another round of explanations, with the end result being the same.
Finally they just stopped calling, responding or even acknowledging our e-mails. We went to the extent of requesting them in each e-mail to please reinstall the old decoders.
Can someone please tell us how we can get du to offer us a suitable solution? Why is there no accountability from du?
We would not have batted an eyelid to get their services terminated and procure new cable TV connections from their nearest competitor but unfortunately the competitor does not offer their services in our building in Dubai Marina.
Mr and Mrs D'Souza's follow-up complaint [compiled]:
After our correspondence with Gulf News, we had a du technician come over and sort out one of the problems so that now we are able to record programmes. They just upgraded the decoder with the recording facility at an additional cost of Dh25 per month (in addition to the rental charge of Dh30 per month).
Our main complaint of receiving blurred and inferior picture quality remains the same even though another du technician came over on May 27. He then promised to come on May 31 and have the decoder replaced, but has not turned up.
Du again sent a technician to look into the matter on June 3 at 3pm. The funny thing is he had no clue what our complaint was all about. Neither did the technician at the other end at du from whom he was getting technical support over the phone. Clearly there is a complete lack of transparency between the technical team of du and their Customer Care where our complaint was first registered. The technician did try his best to rectify the problem. The picture quality does show a marginal improvement and he did mention there was nothing more he could do!
When du replaced the old decoders with new ones that promised "an unmatched picture quality" we had expected at least the same picture quality if not better! We are sadly disappointed with what is on offer and we would like to place this on record for the management of du to take appropriate notice and action for the benefit of their valued customers.
We are thoroughly dissatisfied with the new decoder supplied by du. There has been a slight improvement in the picture quality, but it is still not acceptable nor comparable to the old decoder. Our plea to have the old decoder reinstalled was also turned down!
Can du give us a product that is at least as good as the old?
[Following on from the earlier updates] ... It's been well over three months since my first complaint about the picture quality being unsatisfactory. Several attempts were made by du to have this corrected, but in vain. We had reconciled to the fact that du cannot give us the "unmatched picture" quality they promised at the time the decoders were changed and new ones installed in March 2010.
Now for the past one week, the transmission is quite bad and we are constantly having split-second interruptions throughout the telecast of various programmes. I tried calling du Customer Care, but I was put on hold for too long. Can du please look into this?
The management of du responds:
In response to Mrs and Mr D'Souza's query over their IPTV services, we would like to confirm that our team conducted a thorough investigation. We replaced the customer's TV decoder and cables, and can confirm that all channels are available and image quality is up to the expected standard. We would like to assure customers that we always use the latest technology in our effort to provide the best services. We also continuously update our systems as part of our standard process. We would like to reiterate that old decoders are not any more compatible with the updated systems and network and hence it will not be used or provided to any customer.
Mr and Mrs D'Souza respond:
Thank you very much for your kind response and intervention, which helped us get some sort of action/response from the du Customer Care, who stopped acknowledging our complaints or attending to them after a particular point.
Our e-mail to du Customer Care dated July 12 clearly shows that the picture quality is not satisfactory and that there is a new disturbance in the telecast, so I do not know how du "can confirm that all channels are available and image quality is up to the expected standard". There was never any issue of subscribed-for channels being unavailable. We were dissatisfied with the picture quality which had only slightly improved after the service from du.
We are shocked to receive this reply from du. We take this opportunity of inviting any official from du to come and visit us personally, along with someone from Gulf News, if necessary, to judge, verify and confirm that the picture image quality is indeed up to anyone's expected or accepted standards!
Du responds:
In response to Mr and Mrs D'Souza's query over their new du TV decoder, which was replaced by us, we would like to confirm that following rigorous investigation and numerous visits to their home by our technical team, we have not been able to identify any problem with the picture quality on the television.
We always consider the queries of our valued customers with the utmost seriousness, but since we have followed all standard procedures to assist these customers and could not identify any cause for concern, we regret that in this case we are unable to do anything further.
Mr and Mrs D'Souza respond:
Thanks for forwarding us the response received from du with regard to our above complaint. Though we are extremely happy that your intervention did get the attention of du, we are saddened and disappointed by their response.
True, their technical team visited us on numerous occasions but expressed that "this is the best we can do". However, the problem persists and remains unsolved.
We continue to insist and state that the picture quality is hazy and therefore unacceptable to us. We hope that this catches the attention of someone in authority in du who takes a serious note of this and tries to rectify the matter. We know we are helpless customers of du and have no choice in the matter, but only until such time we can find ourselves an alternate provider of the television service. Till then, we have no option but to suffer in silence.
From Mr Michael and Ms Flavia D'Souza Dubai
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