THE ONLOOKER

Amongst the Government organization underwent divestment and a move towards corporatisaton or privatisation; the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited or BSNL and its subsidiary Calcutta Telephones are faring worst towards providing quality service. So is there customer care! Way back in 2005, when Calcutta Telephones was marketing their newly introduced broad band service with tall promises., I was one to subscribe for that. Though I have never found the promised speed what I pay for; but accepted as a matter of fact in terms of 'Indian standard '. On queries I was always told the fault lies with the cable laid and will improve when cable is changed. Further they added when they switch over to optical fiber the service would improve many folds. I know not if they ever switched to optical fiber till recently. On 20 th May 2011 , in the evening my broad band connection went out abruptly; the error report showed error no.651; representing disconnection to server. I tr...

SAMSUNG ; the name was not known even before ten years to many in India but now it comes in anyone's mind immediately after global giant like SONY, CANON or PANASONIC,so far consumer durables or electronics concerned. But as the meteor glows brighter for short time in the sky and travels faster across the sky but never last for eternity like stars so this brand is. SAMSUNG is losing its sheen and its Achilles heel is it's various service centers across the country, specially in the Eastern Sector. Numerous complaints are pouring in about the poor after sales service facilities provided by the company. Actually few are blemish about the products but all blame the service provided by the local service centers. The complaints are about the inefficiency of service personals, non-availability of spares or more serious not attending the complaints at all. SAMSUNG and LG captured Indian market with their excellent customer care and after sales service. LG and several others are k...

Every in India comes at the cost of common men, where vast majority lives below the poverty line or marginally little above it and the benefit of reforms directly reaches to handfuls few, the majority reels under the launch pad of reform rocket. With much doll drum the commodity exchange was signaled off few years ago, so that it is accessible to all and sundry and a market regulator was asked to play the role of watchdogs to ensure its smooth running. Certain parameters were set, within which the investors can invest, speculate and the goods or items were identified that could be traded thorough commodity exchange. In fact as most of the goods were traded in Mandis(wholesale markets), so they found passage to commodity exchange too. The result! is devastating; first it was cereals like rice , wheat, next the term was of sugar, now the poor men’s potato! The traders invest and trade for profit and profit is the sole motif, so be it rice or wheat, sugar or potatoes; excessive s...

One of the FMCG moguls Hindustan Lever has always been known to manufacture and market the fast moving consumer products like cosmetics, tooth paste, soaps, detergents and many more. In India and elsewhere they have wide network in marketing their products through their network. May be the wind of globalization tempted them to taste the water of other consumer ocean. With the well built brand-name they have, they have started with "Pureit", the water purifier. In all the metro, big, medium and small cities and towns, road shows with their newly launched products drew consumer's attention. I too was one of them in Kolkata. However buying one from one of their dealer, it worked well for first six months. But the trouble started when the battery ( the unit that filters the water) needed a change. Since that is to be replaced by the company itself, as it is not available in the market. I contacted their customer care (however the number is not toll free!), they assured me wit...