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Why this venture?
Well, we all remember just too well the
number of times we have been ripped by these telecom companies. We have also
experienced the bitter pill of lost precious minutes, unresponsive
customer representatives and non refund of dud phone cards. Our problems
were compounded by oftentimes misleading and unscruplous ads, ads which for
example omitted any mention of connection or maintenance fees or a number of
other hidden charges.
For long, a need has been felt for a reliable and up-to-date source of
information on phone cards. This is an effort in this direction.
Our first and foremost objective, and indeed the sole rationale for the
existence of this website, is to bring to the notice of our members the most
cost effective and reliable phone cards being sold in the market at any given
time.
How do you gather information?
From a number of sources - past experience of our members is just one of
them. We make it a point to speak with the card sellers and verify the accuracy
of their claims. It has been our experience that they respond very eagerly to
our queries - the reason being obviously the sales potential. We also scour the
internet regularly and compare offers from a number of companies. We recommend
cards only after a careful evaluation of a number of factors - reliability,
cost, hidden charges, fine prints, reputation of the seller and the service
provider and the quality of customer care being some of them. We also encourage
reputed wholesellers to intimate us immediately whenever they come out with a
new card, or slash their rates.
Does this website offer rates lower
than the market rate?
Certainly. In fact that's one of the objectives of this venture. We are in
touch with a number of firms asking for special discounts for our members. We
pass on these discounts to them as and when we receive them.
What are the other benefits of purchasing
cards from this site?
Better grievance resolution for one. As we have mentioned, the phone
companies respond very well to us because they know that we represent an
important segment of phone card customers. We leverage this position to our
advantage by taking up the complaints of our members with them. It has been our
experience that the rate of resolution is higher when we take up our members'
cause than when someone approaches them individually.
We urge our members to make use of the members' grievance forum available at
this site and let us know as soon as they face a problem. We urge you also to
use our hear the buzz section to post your past experiences so we may learn from
them.
We also plan to represent our members to government regulatory bodies such as
the National Fraud Information Center and Consumer
Protection Forum as and when a need arises.
How can the cards listed on this site be
purchased?
We list only those cards which can be purchased online using a secure
transaction server and the PIN is available for use immediately. Incidentally,
such cards are also cheaper. We do not list cards which are obtained by post -
they are usually more expensive.
Do you sell cards yourself?
For obvious reasons, no. We are students and we neither have time nor the
wherewithal to establish an e-commerce site. We secure special deals from the
companies and gather reliable and profitable information. Members are directed
to the site of the seller and they make the purchase from there. The fact that a
member was directed to the site from this site is recorded for future use.
Is this site restricted to Indian students?
No, for obvious reasons. But it is clear that this site functions to serve
the interests of the Indian student community. Others are welcome to make use of
our site, but due to a paucity of time, we will not be able to take up their
causes with the sellers. Sorry about that.
There have been some low rates in the
market of late. Do the companies offering them transfer voice over the net?
Quite possibly. And we always apprise our members when a particular company
is doing so. We need to know this because the quality of calls is certainly
inferior over the net, as against over the normal phone lines.
Is internet telephony legal in India?
By all means, no. VSNL was and is the sole gateway for international calls to
and from India. Even when its monopoly ends in 2002, internet telephony is not
likely to be thrown open to the common public as gateways will be established on
a license basis.
So how do these companies use the internet
for telephone calls?
Well, where there's a will, there's a way - they use the net upto a
neighboring country where internet telephony is legal, and then switch over to
telephone lines.
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