[GTO]

What www.pgportal.gov.in is about:

The DAR&PG has been making endeavors to bring excellence in public service delivery and to redress grievances of citizens in a meaningful manner by effectively coordinating with different Ministries and Departments of the Government and trying to eliminate the causes of grievances.

This is a Government of India Portal aimed at providing the citizens with a platform for redress of their grievances. If you have any grievance against any Government organization in the country, you may lodge your grievance here which will go to the Ministry/Department/State Government concerned for immediate redress.

About 3 months back, I decided to use MNP (Mobile Number Portability) and move from Vodafone GSM to Reliance CDMA. Primary reason : Better coverage in Mumbai, including at my place (where no GSM provider is able to provide a clear signal).

• MNP Attempt 1 : I carefully studied the MNP procedure, contacted Reliance and prepared all the necessary documents. Then, I called Vodafone customer care to inform them of my decision, and asked if anything required to be done before applying. They assured me that there are no pending obligations on my account and that I can proceed without worry. Applied for MNP and within 5 days, I received the first rejection SMS. I was livid. The Vodafone SMS read that I am under some kind of "contractual obligation". I got in touch with Vodafone and they told me some rubbish about an SMS pack. Well, why didn't you inform me of this earlier, when I'd specifically called to ask? Either ways, Vodafone cancelled my SMS pack (and whatever other packs possible) & told me that I'm good to go.

• MNP Attempt 2 : Back to Reliance. Same form, same documentation but had to buy a new SIM. 5 days later, my application was rejected again on the basis of "contractual obligation"!!! Once more, Vodafone gave me some crap about special packages that I had on my number; this DESPITE my calling them 3 times to ensure there are no "contractual obligations" pending. I wrote to Vodafone several times, and finally got a written assurance (on email) that I can proceed with MNP. And that Vodafone won't unfairly stop me.

• MNP Attempt 3 : Back to Reliance. Same form, same documentation but had to buy a new SIM again. 5 - 6 days later, my application was rejected. This time, the reason was "Outstanding bill". What on earth, man! I have held my account in good standing for 7 years now. And obviously, at any given point of time, any mobile customer will have some outstanding $$$. The new bill was generated 2 days prior to my MNP rejection, and the due date was still a couple of days away. Either ways, at the time of applying for MNP, you are made to sign a declaration that you will clear your previous operator's dues. Why the fuss?!!!

In my books, Vodafone is breaking the law by unfairly harassing its customers from leaving, and resorts to cheat tactics to try & make things as difficult as possible. I knew there is no point reasoning out any more with Vodafone because, as experience showed, they are just going to make me run around in circles.

In the meantime, I got caught up with work, so couldn't pursue this for a while. Later in October, I brought up the MNP task again. While looking for solutions online (where else, but forums!!), I found a post on rimweb.in that suggested lodging a grievance on www.pgportal.gov.in. I did so immediately. To cut a long story short:

• Right after lodging a grievance on pgportal, I received the name, address & phone number of the official who has been assigned my case. My case was allocated to Ms. Monisha Bishwas who, as I found out, was extremely straight-forward, competent and a disciplinarian.
• Shortly after lodging this complaint, I received a call from Vodafone profusely apologising for the inconvenience they have caused me, and that I am free to move to any network of my choice. I again took a written email confirmation from Vodafone to that effect.
• Applied for MNP again, and somehow didn't receive any SMS (accept / reject), even after a week.
• I called Ms. Bishwas' office one morning and explained my case. By the afternoon of the same day, she called me back and had Reliance on one line, and Vodafone on the other. She categorically told Vodafone to stop playing games and to process my MNP application at the earliest. I could hear her giving instructions (and Vodafone's very apologetic replies ). Next, she got Reliance on the line and gave them very clear instructions to process my case as well.
• Within 60 minutes, I had a call from Reliance. And in 48 hours, a confirmation SMS from Vodafone & Reliance on the success of my application.

I'm now on Reliance CDMA! The porting went through successfully on the 19th of November, 2011. Get this : Earlier today, some Senior chaps from Vodafone & Reliance called me to check "if my connection is working smoothly, and if I have any other complaints at all". Even after telling them that I have no complaints, they asked me the same question 2 or 3 times each.

Hats off not only to the pgportal.gov.in initiative, but also to the Government for diligently following through on its grievance-solving mechanism. I did call Ms. Bishwas early in the morning to thank her for her support. She replied that gratitude isn't needed, and she's just doing her job. Hats off, Ma'am.

P.S. If you thought CDMA network users don't have a choice of phones, check out www.cellwala.com. I got myself a Samsung Fascinate (CDMA version of Samsung Galaxy S) for 16K.

P.P.S. @ Vodafone : Sorry, but your attitude sucks. It's left such a bitter taste in my mouth that I'm going to port my other number out of your network as well (a number I originally had no plan to use the MNP on).

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Shifting Gears forum.

[frankmehta]

GTO, I was WAITING for something like this. God bless!

[download2live]

I am shocked.
These things happening in India?
Rubbing my eyes.

A sweet surprise. That is all I can say.

We need more of such agencies.

[deetjohn]

Wow! Thank You GTO for a super piece of info. And great on part of the Government of India for making this happen.

We need to spread this news out.

[R2D2]

Thanks GTO for a most useful post.

Looks like most service providers are playing this game! I had an Idea connection which was to be ported to Vodafone. Idea rejected my application. Best part is that it was rejected on the same day as my bill was generated and the amount paid in full. I had read about these stories and made sure there were no dues.

I was upset and called the helpline and yelled at the CSR and demanded an explanation. The explanation was an amount was due on the day the porting code was generated! Really now! I told the CSR that bill wasnt generated and Idea still a Rs 1000 deposit which they had taken from me for ISD services. Well, the experience did boil my blood.

And to cut a long story short, Vodafone resubmitted my application and it went thru. Wish I had known about this Govt. of India site.

Cheers!

[mayankjha1806]

This is just so awesome, loved it. Thanks a ton. I went to the site and tried searching if i can create a Grievance on EPF department Pune. Did not find any links or information regarding the same. So is EPF departments come under their purview?

Correction : Found EPF to be part of their juridiction. My EPF Pune case has been pending for last 5 years and its time i raise it to the next level.

Here is the list of orgs covered.

http://dpg.gov.in/AuthPages/OgCovered.aspx

[mercedised]

It appears that only Govt. departments are listed as (To be covered under this pgportal). I saw a list of telecom companies that comes under their authority only government one's were listed on their website.

[shankar.balan]

Man. Excellent info indeed!
Hope that one can get the insurers also to play ball on this!

[Ford5]

GTO you did not have to buy a New SIM the second time you went to Reliance. Your first sim purhcased from reliance which is not allotted any number officially holds good until you submit your documents.

In my case "contractual obligation" was cited once because there was a glitch from Reliance's side while passing on my documents to Airtel.

[fordday]

Let me narrate my experience with the portal.
Sometime last year I noticed our cooking gas does not last for more than 45 days as it used to. A newly delivered cylinder felt a little light, though there was no way to check. We have an Indane connection. After two or three cylinder deliveries, I noticed the trick.

Its goes like this - After booking, the invoice will be made on X date and the physical delivery of the cylinder will be after X + 3 days. During this intervening period the delivery guy/gang probably along with the connivance of the distributor, would pilfer LPG, in some other storage/godown. There is a plastic wrapper seal around the cap to prevent this kind of pilferage but the delivery boy while handing over the refill would flick the seal right in front of us and say "It was sealed, saar!" without even me asking. Next time when he came I asked him not to touch the seal and let me check, sure enough it was torn and put there very cleverly so that it is difficult to see unless you are expecting such a thing.

Next I logged in a complaint in the portal with my observations, under Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas. Within a week there was letter from IOC manager, southern region, in his letterhead stating that they are looking into the problem. Another letter came after a month, then came the call from distributor. He was brusque to an extent and asked me why did I lodge a complaint? I told him because I had a problem. He said if I don't want LPG from him surrender the connection or choose a different distributor, I replied if you cannot give me a full sealed cylinder against the payment surrender your agency. No more calls from him. During the next refill, the senior manager from IOC, accompanied by distributor guy and the delivery guy came to my home. They bought along a scale. My wife was alone at home. They were very polite and explained everything and weighed the full as well as empty cylinder in front of her and showed the difference. And explained what to expect. The guys mentioned there won't be any more such problems.

I got several calls, few emails and printed letter from IOC afterwards asking me if everything is ok. Atlast the IOC manager asked for my permission to close the complaint and requested me to send him and email to that effect. So from then onwards no such problems.

My request to all of you, sit up and act.

Sorry for the long post.

[smrtdvl]

Its good to be part of TBhp Thanx a lot GTO. It's about time we needed something like this. Might use the website for a couple of problems I have been facing including my wife's EPF.

[noopster]

I am glad that the pgportal worked for you and presumably others as well.

But this is NOT what the government is supposed to do.

Reliance and Vodafone are both private operators. The government's job ends at creating a functioning, efficient and TRANSPARENT mechanism by which MNP and other such value-added services can be facilitated.

This they have absolutely failed to do.

The problem with this country is that in a lot of cases, anything that is legal and (on paper) straighforward gets caught up in a web of bureaucracy, paperwork and corruption. Agencies like PGportal, while essential, are in theory superfluous: if the system worked the way it was SUPPOSED to, they wouldn't have anything to do.

Having said that, I will definitely use this the next time I have a similar issue to grapple with

[yosbert]

Originally Posted by fordday

Let me narrate my experience with the portal.
Sometime last year I noticed our cooking gas does not last for more than 45 days as it used to. A newly delivered cylinder felt a little light, though there was no way to check. We have an Indane connection. After two or three cylinder deliveries, I noticed the trick.

I have a similar suspicion with my Indane connection too. Do you mind sharing which agency was involved in this incident?

[amit_mechengg]

i have raised a request on this forum for my year back case of stolen car and ICICI Lombard rejecting the claim and harassing me. lets see if i get any positive response and help. i raised it under insurance section of central govt.