Wateen

[KO]

Hi All,

I signed up for a Wateen internet connection at my office, details are below. I've been trying to get them to cancel it since April 2008, but despite faxes, calls and emails they are just not responding. I stopped using service back in April, but it's still active.

Since the charges are 10K a month for internet and additional for line rent, I want it to be formally disconnected it soon as possible, but they either ignore or say "Well get back to you". It's been many months now that I have been unable to get through to anyone at Wateen.

I know this is not a tech support forum, but I figured this case might be of interest to some of the people here... and also one of you might be able to provide the direct contact of someone at Wateen.

Connection Date: 10-12-2007 (Trial service before this period, for about 6 months).

10-12-2007          Paid 3 month advance =30000 & Rs. 30000 for CPE

28-04-2008          Paid Rs. 18852/- Telephony charges from Jan 2008 to Apr 2008-09-22

regards,
Khalid Omar

[Zainub]

Don't have any contacts that might help you out KO, but I can empathize with you. I had to wait 6 months after my first connection cancellation request with World Call before one of their guys finally arrived to take the modem away. I don't know if you've tried this already, but if you haven't, may be you should try and talk to them in a not-quite-so polite manner a few times, and make it known to which ever customer service representative you're speaking to how upset you are, they might speed up the process. But that's the best I can suggest, Good Luck!

~ Zainub

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this email do not reflect the views of any of the author's current, past or future employers.

2008/9/22 KO <khali...@gmail.com>

[Fouad Bajwa]

Hi, just a suggestion, at Pakistan ICT Policy monitor we have senior
reps from all telcos and internet companies listed, u can freely post
to the list, i think pta should also be aware of this and that list
will help u just do that! Its on yahoo groups!

from my pda.....

--

Regards.
--------------------------
Fouad Bajwa

[Asif Hanafi]

or if your on linkedin, you can find one of them through mutual friends...

[Babar]

KO, if you are ok I can post your case at my blog .... that may create
some noise.

On Sep 22, 2:20 pm, "Asif Hanafi" <asifhan...@gmail.com> wrote:
> or if your on linkedin, you can find one of them through mutual friends...
>

> On Mon, Sep 22, 2008 at 11:03 AM, Fouad Bajwa <fouadba...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Hi, just a suggestion, at Pakistan ICT Policy monitor we have senior
> > reps from all telcos and internet companies listed, u can freely post
> > to the list, i think pta should also be aware of this and that list
> > will help u just do that! Its on yahoo groups!
>
> > from my pda.....
>

[Rana Waseem]

You must try to contact the service center manager. May be he/she can help you out.

Rana Waseem

Rana Waseem
Mobile # 03338600887
BB PIN# 252CC987

---

From: Zainub <zainu...@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2008 20:56:58 +0500
To: <telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: Wateen

[Badar Khushnood]

Salam. I've routed it to few of my relevant contacts. Let's see if it helps! I can share these contacts with you if you like.

BTW, to get my WorldCall cable connection fixed, I usually have to CC my email to the following as a catalyst:

- comp...@pta.gov.pk
- enfor...@pta.gov.pk
- chai...@pta.gov.pk

Best of luck,
Badar.

[Fouad Bajwa]

Don't u think we should all step up together and form an internet and
telcom consumer rights group to help ourselves and other users since
all this crap telcos are putting consumers through isnt going to
subside?

i've heard that pta has a reasonable doctor from nust as their
chairman and he is trying to set things right disrupted by the
previous regime?

once again, kindly post to the pakistan ict policy so we can direct
this problem to a possible joint solution!

[Mustafa Rana]

Khalid,

 

I sent an email seperately to Rabia at Wateen copying you, she might be able to help.

 

Many thanks,

Mustafa

[Salman Ansari]

You may try writing to Furqan. He usually tries to get things sorted out:

 

Furqan.Qureshi/Wateen/Lahore [Furqan....@wateen.com]

 

Salman

 

From: telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com [mailto:telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Zainub
Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 9:57 PM
To: telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: Wateen

 

Don't have any contacts that might help you out KO, but I can empathize with you. I had to wait 6 months after my first connection cancellation request with World Call before one of their guys finally arrived to take the modem away. I don't know if you've tried this already, but if you haven't, may be you should try and talk to them in a not-quite-so polite manner a few times, and make it known to which ever customer service representative you're speaking to how upset you are, they might speed up the process. But that's the best I can suggest, Good Luck!

[Kashif Aziz]

Last time I tried to contact Wateen support email (mentioned on their web site), it bounced back. Later I started getting out-of-office messages. Clearly the sup...@wateen.com email was forwarded to an individual who had OOO messsage set.

Here are few emails to try.

Jawad...@wateen.com
nadeem...@wateen.com
Ameer.Hus...@wateen.com
zafar....@wateen.com

1.) Telecom Carriers & Operators: ldi.wh...@wateen.com

2.) Calling Cards & 111 call-by-call products: ldi.r...@wateen.com

3.) Telephony Products: tele...@wateen.com

4.) For network problems (24x7): n...@wateen.com / +92.321.438.1006

Best,

Kashif


www.apnijobs.com - Jobs in Pakistan and abroad

 

[Fouad Bajwa]

This does seem we have a Telco and Internet Consumer Rights Group
forming here, as for the all the suggestions and contacts shared on
this list, this shows that as a collective you can attempt to seek
change and that is what matters the most............even though no one
replied back to my suggestion but I'd still say, we have to do so at
this stage!

Fouad Bajwa

--

Regards.
--------------------------
Fouad Bajwa

[Sajjad Zaidi]

That is a crucial step before ours can finally be called a mature industry. With the initial buzz long gone and explosive growth starting to flatten, this is the right time to form such a group. Failure to do so could have a negative impact on all that we have achieved.

The sort of resources we have in this group can definitely get something going so let's do it.

Sajjad
http://sajjadzaidi.com/

[Irfan Khan]

On a related note, I would like to talk about the capacity of human
resource in the Telecom industry. I don't want to pick on the customer
support, but they are the ones people interact with the most. And I
hope you will agree that they have to go a long way to become
courteous and knowledgeable. Sadly, they are not alone. We all know of
cases of billing mistakes, etc. in which their counterparts in IT and
Accounts have a lead role.

While I sympathize with KO that he is facing problems with a certain
company, but I believe that the problem is with people and systems,
and not in organizations per se. People make organizations work.
Trained, skilled and competent people make organizations work better.

To me, the telecom industry is spending more on its glossy facade than
improving its weak structure. The customer dissatisfaction is nothing
but a logical outcome.

irfan

On Sep 23, 7:03 am, "Sajjad Zaidi" <sajjadza...@gmail.com> wrote:
> That is a crucial step before ours can finally be called a mature industry.
> With the initial buzz long gone and explosive growth starting to flatten,
> this is the right time to form such a group. Failure to do so could have a
> negative impact on all that we have achieved.
>
> The sort of resources we have in this group can definitely get something
> going so let's do it.
>

> Sajjadhttp://sajjadzaidi.com/

>
> On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 6:22 AM, Fouad Bajwa <fouadba...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > This does seem we have a Telco and Internet Consumer Rights Group
> > forming here, as for the all the suggestions and contacts shared on
> > this list, this shows that as a collective you can attempt to seek
> > change and that is what matters the most............even though no one
> > replied back to my suggestion but I'd still say, we have to do so at
> > this stage!
>
> > Fouad Bajwa
>
> > On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 5:09 AM, Salman Ansari <sal...@super.net.pk>
> > wrote:
> > > You may try writing to Furqan. He usually tries to get things sorted out:
>

> > > Furqan.Qureshi/Wateen/Lahore [Furqan.Qure...@wateen.com]

>
> > > Salman
>
> > > From: telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com
> > > [mailto:telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Zainub
> > > Sent: Monday, September 22, 2008 9:57 PM
> > > To: telecom-gr...@googlegroups.com
> > > Subject: Re: Wateen
>
> > > Don't have any contacts that might help you out KO, but I can empathize
> > with
> > > you. I had to wait 6 months after my first connection cancellation
> > request
> > > with World Call before one of their guys finally arrived to take the
> > modem
> > > away. I don't know if you've tried this already, but if you haven't, may
> > be
> > > you should try and talk to them in a not-quite-so polite manner a few
> > times,
> > > and make it known to which ever customer service representative you're
> > > speaking to how upset you are, they might speed up the process. But
> > that's
> > > the best I can suggest, Good Luck!
>
> > > ~ Zainub
>
> > > Disclaimer: The views expressed in this email do not reflect the views of
> > > any of the author's current, past or future employers.
>

> > > 2008/9/22 KO <khalid.o...@gmail.com>

[KO]

Thanks everyone for the help everyone. I am shooting off a few emails to the contacts suggested above.

Someone asked why - I've sent out a number of emails (and a few faxes) to the public facing email address of Wateen, also to a couple of people working there (including one suggested above) - and have not received a reply yet, since April 2008. That is reason enough for me never to do business with them again.

The initial reason for cancellation back in April was that from Jan to April '08 the service was most unsatisfactory, but I haven't used it since than so I don't know how it works these days.

I posted a few times to this mailing list about this issue a few months ago, when someone else was discussing Wateen's internet service.

regards,
Khalid Omar

[Faraz Javed Awan]

The GM wateen telecom is my ex-boss named omer shah , take his email address not quoting my name pls. he is a customer services guy and will take appropriate and right action against your complaint in least time Inshallah.

Name: Mian Omer Shah
Designation: GM Wateen Telecom
Email ID: omer.shah at wateen.com


Have a blessed Ramadan


Regards
Faraz Awan

--
Regards
Faraz Javed Awan || Assistant Manager Customer Operations || Worldcall Wireless Limited Pakistan || Mobile:+923333366961 || +92217060062

[Fouad Bajwa]

Its what I call the affects of prevailing preference in hiring Friends
& Family, or simply put the F&F Syndrome in telco sector. I know a
number of companies in the sector that to-date tries to hire by the
F&F Syndrome and then finally when they can't find any skills at all,
they have to hire from outside, one example, the notorious wateen!

Nepotism destroys companies if its the only strategy and does not have
a Performance Appraisal and Competition Criterion attached to it.

Another important note, companies like Wateen or Warid do not hire
managers from in-house staff that may get promoted to such key
positions, they always hire from outside or abroad, such has happened
to some of my friends (one left to STC and another is now in their
operations abroad) where they had such instructions...........

Somehow, these big companies even if they are foreign groups investing
in the country, become polluted with our local SEITHISM Culture
Syndrome that drive nepotism over skills and resource
development..............

Another friend from Wateen tells that apart from the IT staff, hardly
any of the customer support or customer interaction positions have
ever received any training locally or from abroad..........all
customer interaction is on a pre-assumption that optimal quality of
customer service will be made available...............and KO is
experiencing it to the optimal level...........

so much for wateen.................once again..........we do need a
consumers rights group for coping with the illiterate telco customer
services provider community!

Fouad

On Tue, Sep 23, 2008 at 10:03 AM, Irfan Khan <irf...@gmail.com> wrote:
>

[Muhammed Nasrullah]

Wateen has a lot of competent engineers and a number of very sound business professionals. The problem I'm afraid lies with lack of corporate strategy and leadership at the top level.

[Faraz Awan]

Well i second Nasrullah Sb. views
However things will start changing once this guy named Mian Omer Shah
who is now GM Wateen Telecom,
Worked for Mobilink GSM for around years n years, then taken by Warid
Telecom Pakistan, One of the true persons behind Warid's successful
launch and then been taken by Warid Bangladesh, now in sister concern
Wateen Telecom
One can hope that wateen will improve the services as Omer is back in
Pakistan

On Sep 23, 3:00 pm, "Muhammed Nasrullah" <nasrul...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Wateen has a lot of competent engineers and a number of very sound business
> professionals. The problem I'm afraid lies with lack of corporate strategy
> and leadership at the top level.
>

[Shehzad Abbas]

I wouldnt use Wateen even if they handed em out for free.

Foaud, I think yours is a noble idea. would be glad to contribute.

[Muhammed Nasrullah]

I'm willing to place a wager that after a week from today, this issue will not have been resolved :)

[KO]

I've emailed three of the contacts provided above, I'll update this list when and if I get a reply...

[Imtiaz Noor]

gambling in ramadan!!! :P

On Wed, Sep 24, 2008 at 9:59 AM, Muhammed Nasrullah <nasr...@gmail.com> wrote:

--
- Inspirex

[KO]

So Wateen did get in touch, but so far, that's all that's happened. No resolution on past bill, etc. The ball is in their court now... but anyways, today's newspaper reminded me of my experience with Wateen:

Broadband was to be my salvation, and it was a joyful day when I got my connection on 17th July, provided by a company who I will not name in case they get litigious, but their name begins with a 'W' and ends with 'n' – work it out for yourselves. For eighteen days I lived in a kind of net-heaven. YouTube, streaming radio and TV stations from around the world, email at the speed of light, no longer restricted to graphics-lite sites – wonderland! Then it rained.

Read the whole thing here: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=138507 - The article ends with:

By last Thursday and in the light of nothing happening I went to the 'W' office and had a protracted discussion on the failings of their customer services. The outcome was that we came to an agreement about me not paying for a service they were not providing and it looked like we might be getting somewhere. The franchise promised to call that very evening and re-start my account. They didn't. It's no way to do business, is it?

Pretty much my experience as well, that of many promises and no calls back. I wonder if they have a CRM software, or even something simple like Outlook...

regards,
ko

[Wasim Baig]

On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 1:16 PM, KO <khali...@gmail.com> wrote:

So Wateen did get in touch, but so far, that's all that's happened. No resolution on past bill, etc. The ball is in their court now... but anyways, today's newspaper reminded me of my experience with Wateen:

Broadband was to be my salvation, and it was a joyful day when I got my connection on 17th July, provided by a company who I will not name in case they get litigious, but their name begins with a 'W' and ends with 'n' – work it out for yourselves. For eighteen days I lived in a kind of net-heaven. YouTube, streaming radio and TV stations from around the world, email at the speed of light, no longer restricted to graphics-lite sites – wonderland! Then it rained.

Read the whole thing here: http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=138507 - The article ends with:

By last Thursday and in the light of nothing happening I went to the 'W' office and had a protracted discussion on the failings of their customer services. The outcome was that we came to an agreement about me not paying for a service they were not providing and it looked like we might be getting somewhere. The franchise promised to call that very evening and re-start my account. They didn't. It's no way to do business, is it?

Pretty much my experience as well, that of many promises and no calls back. I wonder if they have a CRM software, or even something simple like Outlook...

So, did Nash win the wager? Do we get a treat ...

--
wasim h. baig | principal consultant | convergence pk | +92 300 8508070 | as you scope creep, so shall we reap ...

[Muhammed Nasrullah]

lol, I'll double or nothing it'll be the same another week from now :)

[Muhammed Nasrullah]

Out of curiosity, any update?

[KO]

Sadly, no. While a number of senior people from Wateen did get in touch with me and promised a resolution right away, nothing actually took place.

I asked them to send me something in writing repeatedly, but no one ever did, despite promises made by 6 different people at Wateen. It got annoying actually, the number of people who called and said don't worry, we're taking care of the issue.

The current situation is that their billing department has sent me a bill for Rs. 80,000 - for a service which I cancelled many months ago. I sent that bill to the people I was talking to, and that's where things stand now.

Recently I found out that a old class fellow of mine works in a senior position Wateen, so now I'm sending over the whole case to him.

regards,
Khalid Omar

[Babar]

the situation in Lahore is not very different, a number of people are
switching from wateen to competitor services:
http://telecompk.net/2008/10/27/why-i-switched-dsl-service-from-wateen-to-link-dot-net/

On Sep 29, 12:35 am, "Wasim Baig" <wa...@convergence.pk> wrote:

> On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 1:16 PM, KO <khalid.o...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > So Wateen did get in touch, but so far, that's all that's happened. No
> > resolution on past bill, etc. The ball is in their court now... but anyways,
> > today's newspaper reminded me of my experience with Wateen:
>
> > Broadband was to be my salvation, and it was a joyful day when I got my
> > connection on 17th July, provided by a company who I will not name in case
> > they get litigious, but their name begins with a 'W' and ends with 'n' –
> > work it out for yourselves. For eighteen days I lived in a kind of
> > net-heaven. YouTube, streaming radio and TV stations from around the world,
> > email at the speed of light, no longer restricted to graphics-lite sites –

> > wonderland! T*hen it rained.*

>
> > Read the whole thing here:

> >http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=138507- The article ends

> > with:
>
> > By last Thursday and in the light of nothing happening I went to the 'W'
> > office and had a protracted discussion on the failings of their customer
> > services. The outcome was that we came to an agreement about me not paying
> > for a service they were not providing and it looked like we might be getting
> > somewhere. The franchise promised to call that very evening and re-start my

> > account. *They didn't. It's no way to do business, is it?*

>
> > Pretty much my experience as well, that of many promises and no calls back.
> > I wonder if they have a CRM software, or even something simple like
> > Outlook...
>
> So, did Nash win the wager? Do we get a treat ...
>
> --
> wasim h. baig | principal consultant | convergence pk | +92 300 8508070 | as

> you scope creep, so shall we reap ...- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[Fawad Niazi]

Whats your opinion? Is it the weakness of customer services staff (lack of expertise) or SOP for customer services (Procedural flaw) or the very TECHNOLOGY (WiMax) is the real culprit.

 

I guess Wateen people are not sleeping and they might have tried a bit as elaborated here. If its the technology issue then i wonder if we may say that all operators based on technology starting from W and ending in X are lousy.

 

Any comments on it?

 

Fawad

[KO]

The Wimax technology is fine. I have a Mobilink Wimax now as a backup link, haven't used it much yet, but it does seem to be working most of the time, unlike Wateen.

I had a trial Wimax connection from Wateen for 3-4 months, and it worked very well than. This was the time when Motorola was setting up their network. I posted about it to this forum then also - my experience than was that when it worked, it worked better than anything else I've used in Pakistan - faster and with lower latency than the PTCL and Maxcom DSL I use today.

The connection was always working on and off, but there were times it worked for a few days non-stop.

The problems started when I actually signed up and started paying Wateen - the connection didn't work for days at a time, and when it did, it was often slow.

I can think of two reasons for the difference - the lack of users during the trial period, and the Motorola engineers working on it back than. Both these things have changed since than, so either one of them (or both) could be the problem now.

Their internal networking structure isn't up to par either - the DNS servers are flaky, and their proxy servers used to be always melting down back when I used the service last.

See this thread: http://www.wiredpakistan.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=11

regards,
ko