The centralised power helpline leaves customers powerless
Consumers find new system difficult as they have to wade through range of pre-recorded messages that are tedious & confusing
3 min read
In order to build and maintain a simpler system of registering and redressing complaints by customers,the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited has launched a centralised helpline.
While MSEDCL believes that the centralised helpine will be appreciated by consumers,the latter have a different take. Previously,the complaint helpline was distributed area-wise across the city. Each area had its own complaint centre which customers could call and register complaints following which help would be sent to check the default at the earliest.
With this new centralised helpline,the complainant has to wade through a wide range of pre-recorded messages and options before reaching a human voice. Not surprising then that consumers find this new centralised helpline tedious,troublesome and confusing.
One of the options in the pre-recorded message is to check the meter. When my house is in darkness how can I go and check the meter? And even if I make my way down with a torch to where the meters are located,how will I know whether it is the fault of the meter or a problem which must be fixed by the engineers from the MSEDCL? If I knew how to troubleshoot,why would I call them in the first place, asked Harsha Shah,a resident of Laxmi Road. It is such a risk to fiddle with the meter. What if I get a shock? Then someone will have to call them again and wait endlessly to speak to someone. This is ridiculous, she added.
A resident of Shivajinagar said that she gets confused with the various options that are offered by the pre-recorded message and by the time she reaches the option to connect with an executive,she has lost all patience. It is in case of an emergency that we have to make a call on the helpline. But to get through to the executive we have to wait for a long time and keep selecting options by pressing numbers. The executives then ask us for our customer number and other data which we do not have at our finger tips, said Rekha Pawar,a resident of Shivaji Nagar.
Suryawanshi M K,sub division engineer at Shivajinagar,claims that he receives calls from residents in his area to register complaints on his personal mobile number and asks his staff to work on them with immediate effect. Even though we have introduced the centralised helpline,many people call their sub division executives and engineers or the local MSEDCL vehicle or the section offices to register complaints because they feel more familiar with them and also because they want to skip the task of following instructions of the pre-recorded message, he said.
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