Fraud Alert - Worst experience with Tikona in Pune (Baner/Balewadi)

Tikona user id.: 1105894390

Typically, I have a lot of patience, and try to resolve things peacefully, but the Tikona experience has left a very bitter and sour taste in my mouth, and hence I am posting my (mis)adventure with them. If you don't wish to read further, the summary is - AVOID TIKONA. They are crooks, and take your money very quickly, but do not honor their end of the agreement at all.

On 3rd March 2012, I opted for Tikona's WiBro ADB1099 plan, since they promised 2MBPS speed, and my society in Balewadi, Pune did not have any better service provider. Their marketing executive, Rameshwar (ph. no. 9922760864, sales exec id. 500005594) (who operates in the Baner/Balewadi area in Pune) promptly collected Rs. 1800 from me, as 1 month advance rental (1099), and installation charges (500). He gave no demo. He promised my existing Belkin router shall work easily with the connection.

The installation was done prompty within 2-3 days. During the installation the speed was around 600-700kbps, but the guy assured me it should be okay overnight (what a stupid reason, but I bought it at that time). Nothing. The speed never crossed 700kbps any time of the day. The technical folks visited my place about 6 to 8 times, changed the receiver, still nothing. Oh, and more than half of the time the technical support guys keep on checking the speed through their download test - it is funny, cause you do it once or 10 times, if the speed is slow, it is slow. :-)

I tried using Belkin, it did not work (only amber light). I got on with Belkin's support in Bangalore for about an hour and tried trouble-shooting, and finally arrived at a conclusion that the connection had an issue, the router was fine. It works fine at my friend's place with Airtel connection. I called up the Tikona installation guy, and he shrugged responsibility saying it should be handled by technical folks.

I am now out of money, with a poor internet speed (not even closer to what was promised), and non-functional wireless.

I immediately opted for cancellation, and sent an email to their support on 18 March to that effect. It is also funny that they require you to send email for disconnection, and won't accept the request over phone. Since that day, I have followed-up every week only to get a stupid "request forwarded to backend, etc" kind of responses. They also had the never to send me a bill, without a word on the disconnection part. The marketing guy Rameshwar has vanished, and he no longer picks up my phone.

I am thinking of suing them in the Consumer Court for fraud, since I have all the proofs including emails. As well as I am putting this news out in various Pune based dailies (Sakal, Maharashtra Times, TOI, DNA, Pune Mirror, etc.), as I have contacts at all these places. It is not a question of Rs. 1800, but the countless hours I spent with their customer support on phone, as well as their technical people who visited my house every 3 days putting up a "troubleshooting theatre". My reson of posting here was to warn you of this shoddy outfit called Tikona.

If you are opting for Tikona - think again. You are probably better off without an internet connection! They are a fraud outfit, with shoddy business practices, non-existent technical support, and low ethical/moral standards. I will NEVER do business with Tikona again. If they have any morality left, they better return my Rs. 1800.

I am supposed to get Rs.2000 ever since I gave them my disconnection request. I gave the request on Dec 2010 and have not received the money yet. All what you can do is not to return their instrument unless they pay you the refund, but never expect this to happen as I still have thier hardware, useless.

Originally Posted by nevinjohn

I am supposed to get Rs.2000 ever since I gave them my disconnection request. I gave the request on Dec 2010 and have not received the money yet. All what you can do is not to return their instrument unless they pay you the refund, but never expect this to happen as I still have thier hardware, useless.

The bulk purchase the cheapest instruments available on the market without any proper QC - the primary reason for poor speeds, and quality issues with Tikona. I know this because the speed improvements happen when they change those receiver devices, as well as their small boxes that power these receivers (where both LAN cables are inserted) are also malfunctioning as happened in my case. Probably the total cost of the hardware is not more than Rs. 200.

Such businesses should be BANNED from operating and severe monetary penaties levied on their owners (such that they have to sell their own homes to repay), in my humble opinion. They deserve no mercy for fleecing customers.

Hi


We thank you for your mail.


We have saved your details in our database, and forwarded them along with your grievance to the concerned Department. At Tikona Services, we try our utmost to keep you― our customers― satisfied. After all you are the reason and the very purpose of our existence. However, we realize that it is not possible for a brand to stay true to every customer’s expectations. But as we said, we will do our utmost.

Please be patient and help us serve you better.

Thank You,

Tikona Services

Originally Posted by tikona.services

Hi


We thank you for your mail.


We have saved your details in our database, and forwarded them along with your grievance to the concerned Department. At Tikona Services, we try our utmost to keep you― our customers― satisfied. After all you are the reason and the very purpose of our existence. However, we realize that it is not possible for a brand to stay true to every customer’s expectations. But as we said, we will do our utmost.

Please be patient and help us serve you better.

Thank You,

Tikona Services

My userid : 1102387727
Give me my refund. Its been 2 years now.

"Dear one/s,

Hi this is to inform you that my Tikona ID is 1105357436 and I want
to thank Mr.Vishal Deshmukh from TIKONA who resolved my connection problem
today date upto my satisfactory level,

Thanks Mr. Vishal Deshmukh/Mumbai"

Originally Posted by tikona.services

Hi

We thank you for your mail.

We have saved your details in our database, and forwarded them along with your grievance to the concerned Department. At Tikona Services, we try our utmost to keep you― our customers― satisfied. After all you are the reason and the very purpose of our existence. However, we realize that it is not possible for a brand to stay true to every customer’s expectations. But as we said, we will do our utmost.

Please be patient and help us serve you better.

Thank You,

Tikona Services

Not honoring your own commitment is outright fraud - my expectations are very straightforward - get me the 2MBPS speed your promised, and I am supposed to pay for. They are not misplaced, nor out-of-this-world.

Additionally, I also notice that you post almost the same stuff copy/past to every Tikona grievance. Does anything happen after that? Or are you paid to give a "comfort cushion" to the distressed customer?

Originally Posted by Romu_sood

"Dear one/s,

Hi this is to inform you that my Tikona ID is 1105357436 and I want
to thank Mr.Vishal Deshmukh from TIKONA who resolved my connection problem
today date upto my satisfactory level,

Thanks Mr. Vishal Deshmukh/Mumbai"

And how does it help my case? Why not start a separate Tikona-licking thread?

Hi


We are grateful that your service request was brought to our attention and we appreciate your perseverance in settling this matter. Our team has gone through the details, and as per their update TT no:- 1-2242994024 was raised from customer’s side for disconnection, but as per session customer is using net after disconnection request hence this TT is not considered.
If in future you wants to disconnect the service kindly send written communication from registered mail ID to our customer care ID.

User Id:- 1105894390 and Name:- AMARENDRA GODBOLE

Please feel free to contact us on 1-800 209 4276 to provide us any feedback regarding our service our Customer Care associate will be glad to assist you.


Regards,
Tikona Services

Originally Posted by tikona.services

Hi


We are grateful that your service request was brought to our attention and we appreciate your perseverance in settling this matter. Our team has gone through the details, and as per their update TT no:- 1-2242994024 was raised from customer’s side for disconnection, but as per session customer is using net after disconnection request hence this TT is not considered.
If in future you wants to disconnect the service kindly send written communication from registered mail ID to our customer care ID.

User Id:- 1105894390 and Name:- <<removed>>

Please feel free to contact us on 1-800 209 4276 to provide us any feedback regarding our service our Customer Care associate will be glad to assist you.


Regards,
Tikona Services

Firstly, do NOT post personal details like name.

Secondly, my disconnection request was for 18/March. What were you doing since then? Why did it take so long to have this disconnected? How does my using it matter?

Your business is a BIG FRAUD, and you do not wish to refund the money which is why you come up with stupid reasons for not disconnecting it.

[UPDATE] As I was putting together proofs of Tikona's unprofessional behavior, I received a call from their engineer yesterday. He requested me to have him take a look one more time. By now, almost everything related to Tikona has been changed/replaced in the trial-and-error method to troubleshoot, except for the 50 ft. CAT5 cable running from the terrace to my home. It turns out that the crimping on the home-end of this wire was NOT DONE PROPERLY by the installation engineer. He got it fixed, and viola - I started getting 1.5mbps speed, with all my wireless devices working fine...!

However, this does not make up for the lost time, and mental anguish I faced while I dealt with the Tikona customer support, as well as their complacency to troubleshoot and make a happy customer.

I put a neutral rating to them now, till the broadband works fine for the next 6 months or so, when I might revise the rating. So if you are going for Tikona, largely you are on your own.

Hi


We are grateful that your service request was brought to our attention and we appreciate your perseverance in settling this matter. Our team has gone through the details, and as per their update, yesterday our Engineer visited at customer's place and Realignment is done. After that Speed test is also done. According to speedtest proper speed as per plan is getting at customer's place.

User Id:- 1105894390 and Name:- AMARENDRA GODBOLE.

Please feel free to contact us on 1-800 209 4276 to provide us any feedback regarding our service our Customer Care associate will be glad to assist you.


Regards
Tikona Services

Originally Posted by tikona.services

Hi


We are grateful that your service request was brought to our attention and we appreciate your perseverance in settling this matter. Our team has gone through the details, and as per their update, yesterday our Engineer visited at customer's place and Realignment is done. After that Speed test is also done. According to speedtest proper speed as per plan is getting at customer's place.

User Id:- 1105894390 and Name:- AMARENDRA GODBOLE.

Please feel free to contact us on 1-800 209 4276 to provide us any feedback regarding our service our Customer Care associate will be glad to assist you.


Regards
Tikona Services

Now that you post here more frequently than responding over your regular customer support channel - one more question remains to be settled - the billing reset. Since the issue was from your side (installation problem), the bill that I have received till now should be reset back, and you should charge me only the appropriate amount. Issue was fixed by your engineer on 16/May/2012. I will also send you an email for the record. Please get this rolling. Thanks.

dude you may be right but I am also Tikona and I don't have that bad experience
May be in your premises there may be weak coverage that's why you are not getting speed else it is giving exact speed which they are talking about
i am using ADBB1099 and I am getting more than 1950kbps speed continues and no problem with that
And fore your kind information the device that they have provided you are costly around 2000 rupees so use can use it and i know how to use it

you can simply call me at 9145223756 and I will assist you
because i was used tikona connection before 1year and that device still i have
and I reseted it and configured and using it

[UPDATE]

This thing has not resolved -- after repeated attempts at getting my bill corrected, Tikona refused to do so citing my usage of broadband. Installed in Mar 2012, and finally working in mid-May 2012, and Tikona bills me full for Mar, Apr, May, and does not correct the bill. The only usage was when I wanted to check if things work.

These Tikona idiots do not understand that there was an INSTALLATION problem from their end (bad crimping causing loss of signal), and refuse to correct the bill. They still are FRAUDS, CHEATS and UNETHICAL BUSINESS. STAY CLEAR.

Originally Posted by Ayub Desai

dude you may be right but I am also Tikona and I don't have that bad experience
May be in your premises there may be weak coverage that's why you are not getting speed else it is giving exact speed which they are talking about
i am using ADBB1099 and I am getting more than 1950kbps speed continues and no problem with that
And fore your kind information the device that they have provided you are costly around 2000 rupees so use can use it and i know how to use it

you can simply call me at 9145223756 and I will assist you
because i was used tikona connection before 1year and that device still i have
and I reseted it and configured and using it

There was no bad signal/coverage issue, but simply the crimping was bad -- badly done at installation time causing signal loss. When I asked for corrected bill, they cited some usage (for Mar/Apr/May), and refused. See my update above.

I refuse to go with unethical, and poor business practices -- they should be left to rot in hell.