Options to watch Indian TV channels used to be somewhat limited in the US (especially for regional-language channels). Sometime ago I came across http://www.watchindia.tv/ , but never had a chance to try it out. Finally, I decided to give it a try & ordered their set-top box (I got the newer version with HDMI output & WiFi support). My experience so far has been pretty good...
Would love to hear your comments if you have used any of these services
EDIT #1: I called WatchIndia to downgrade my subscription (to fewer channels). It's hard to reach their customer-service on the phone -- i ended up being on hold of 60-90 mins sometimes. Even after calling 3-4 times, they haven't yet made this change. It is somewhat frustrating to deal with their customer service
EDIT #2: I was able to configure the Logitech universal remote to control the WatchIndia device. Since WatchIndia device is still not in the Logitech database -- I had to "manually" program the buttons :-(
EDIT #3: None of the iPhone browsers (Safari, Opera, AtomicLite, etc) support scrolling down the watchIndia channel guide -- making the guide pretty useless. The only usable solution for viewing the channel-guide on the iPhone is using this link . This is not pretty, but provides you the info. I hope that WatchIndia.tv will offer a better solution soon. If you know of a better solution, do let me know.
EDIT #4: It's been more than a couple of weeks since i got the device; the quality is still pretty reasonable (even on a big-screen TV). Here are few pictures of my TV playing from the WatchIndia set top box.
"Main lobby"
"Main Menu"
"Channel listing"
"Video on demand (by channel)"
Playing the"NDTV Profit" channel (the slight blur at the bottom is due to my camera shaking).
- The device is slightly larger than the size of a wireless-router
- Setup of the device was pretty easy. It came pre-configured to log-in with my watchIndia account
- Video/audio quality is reasonably good (I use a wired ethernet connection). The video quality reminds me of an average quality SD channel (or a video-cassette). The picture does have some pixelation, but I found it to be tolerable. Check out the pictures below.
- The overall UI has some constraints, but it is not horrible (the UI does have some latency, but it's not too bad)
- The remote is OK; most of the buttons don't seem to be functional/used. I ended up using an universal remote.
- The device lacks support for 2-3 very useful features
- Channel-guide on the TV. AFAIK, the channel guide is only available on the WatchIndia website. I wish they at least had a mobile-phone app for viewing the channel-guide :)
- DVR-functionality (they do have a "video-on-demand" feature by which some shows are recorded & stored on their servers, but it doesn't include all the shows/channels).
- Support for controlling the TV's power & volume.
Would love to hear your comments if you have used any of these services
EDIT #1: I called WatchIndia to downgrade my subscription (to fewer channels). It's hard to reach their customer-service on the phone -- i ended up being on hold of 60-90 mins sometimes. Even after calling 3-4 times, they haven't yet made this change. It is somewhat frustrating to deal with their customer service
EDIT #2: I was able to configure the Logitech universal remote to control the WatchIndia device. Since WatchIndia device is still not in the Logitech database -- I had to "manually" program the buttons :-(
EDIT #3: None of the iPhone browsers (Safari, Opera, AtomicLite, etc) support scrolling down the watchIndia channel guide -- making the guide pretty useless. The only usable solution for viewing the channel-guide on the iPhone is using this link . This is not pretty, but provides you the info. I hope that WatchIndia.tv will offer a better solution soon. If you know of a better solution, do let me know.
EDIT #4: It's been more than a couple of weeks since i got the device; the quality is still pretty reasonable (even on a big-screen TV). Here are few pictures of my TV playing from the WatchIndia set top box.
"Main lobby"
"Main Menu"
"Channel listing"
"Video on demand (by channel)"
Playing the"NDTV Profit" channel (the slight blur at the bottom is due to my camera shaking).
Comments
Thanks for ur review. I too recently subscribed with WatchIndia.tv. I have few questions;
I got my setup box 2 dasys back and got connected. I cant see any channels in Live TV except for Zoom channel. In order to go to channels I need to go to Lobby and use right ,left, up and down bottons to go the channel you want and click ok. I cant use the ch's buttons provided on the remote to move to diffrent channels. Is it same with you ??
More over my headach's are more now, I have subscribed for Mega Pack but right now I can only see 5 channels. I called cutomer support (who doesnt know anything about thier work), said they are also facing the same issue and asked me to send my Box MAC address. I dont belive them, can you pls confirm if it is haeppening to you also??
Pls respond to my questions.
By subscribing to Watchindia.tv, I have got nothing except for headache. I strictly dont recommend it as they r too immuture to provide service at even at average level. I am stuck with them as they already robbed my money.
Hope my issues will be resolved soon.
Sorry to hear that you are facing problems with WatchIndia's customer service. Hope you get them resolved soon.
So far, I haven't had any problems with their customer service (though it's a little hard to get hold of someone during daytime in the US).
Good luck!
By The Way you did not answer my 2nd question. Right now do you have any problems with viewing all the channels. As I mentioned I am getting only 5 channels right now even though I have subscribed for Mega Pack. Customer service told that it is problem with everyone and they are also getting 5 channels only. I know they are bluffing me but just want to make sure with you.
I am getting frusted with them. Not sure how far will I be able to resolve this.
Thanks again for your updates.
Sorry to hear that you are running into so many problems.
I have subscribed to the mega-pack as well & I'm able to see all the channels.
Regarding changing channels...did you press the "info" button twice (at this point, you should see the pop-up cover about half the TV screen) and then use the up/down arrows ?
Hopefully you will be able to resolve the issues.
Note that WatchIndia's return policy is 7-day only :-(
Is there any other TV box to see Indian channels which is better than watch India box. My Mom is here from India and she really feels board at home.
>>>>
Currently, WatchIndia.TV has the best selection of channels. There are some (south-indian) channels available via Roku. Check out my posting at http://smariner.blogspot.com/2010/08/indian-tv-channels-on-roku.html
The Roku box is cheaper, easier to use and can work with a variety of services. If the channels that your mom wants is available via Roku, I'd say go with Roku.
How did you configure your universal remote with the watchindia tv box ?
>>>
I have a Logitech Harmony universal remote. Since the WatchIndia set-top box is not one of the devices that Logitech recognizes, I "manually" programmed the Logitech remote (point the WatchIndia and the Logitech remotes to each other while programming).
Do yourself a favor - do not subscribe to this lousy service. Here are the big problems:
1. TV Guide is always messed up. Either no information or wrong information
2. The channels seems to be unauthorized content. DD India always says 'Test Feed'. Zee TV channel always display WITV. They lead me to believe that the content may be unauthorized.
3. Zee TV channel on 11th Oct is showing stream from Oct 9. The 3 Hr SAREGAMA special that aired on Oct 9th is yet to show up till Oct 11th.
4. There are hardly any Video On Demand shows available.
Their customer service is so bad, that i am totally frustrated. Never make a mistake of subscribing to their yearly pack.
>>>
I agree with this feedback....if you aren't sure about keeping service for a year, avoid signing-up for the yearly pack.
<<<
The watchindia.tv set top box sucks. No Guide. Channels take seconds to change. And picture quality is VERY poor.
1. TV Guide is always messed up. Either no information or wrong information
>>>
Are you using the older version of the set top box? I haven't had these issues with the latest model of the set top box (the newer model doesn't have the Guide feature).
I subscribed watchIndia TV in August.Took there independence day offer for 199$ yearly package.
Also ordered Set top box.
The experiance with them is pretty dissappointing.I should have read review before buying it.
There customer support sucks.
Many buttons dont work in the settop box.
The Wi-fi doesn't work well with setop box so i had to connect through the cable.When I spoke to there custom exec she was rude and said they cannot take the box back.There is nothing wrong with it.
VOD is just for name-We have to wait 3-4 days to get something on the VOD.
Also setmax VOD not working...making short this long story...Please dont subcribe there service.
They are hopeless and have no ethics.
Agree on this one.
>>>Many buttons dont work in the settop box.<<<
This kinda maybe "by-design"....i think they have left room for additional features.
>>>The Wi-fi doesn't work well with setop box <<<
sorry, i didn't try connecting via the wifi connection.
They will never connect you to their supervisor or manager and will always say that within an hour you will get a call but you will never get any call.
This company doesn't have any ethics to listen to customers and their problems. They don't have any say to regret for their issues. Most of the times their servers runs into upgradation.
I have taken my new package last month and it has been 22 days passed and I am not able to see any channel on STB and my account is about to expire now and they are not listning anything not even their manager or supervisor talked to me about any issue. Why the hell they charged my credit card if they know that their servers are under upgradation since last 22 days.
I will not refer to anybody for this service.
Pro
Only source for regional channel.
Set top box.
Cons
Most channel were down most of time.
From last two week whole system is down for server upgrade.
Customer service wait at least 40/50 min.
No refund possible of your package.
Poor Customer support.
So end suggestion don't go for try something else and let every one know.
Thanks
Yogesh Dhake
still not able to pair single time.
>>>
What do you exactly mean by this?
TV box is not able to connect to the TV at all.
>>>
This definitely seems like an issue for tech support. Did you ask them to replace the box? I assume that you've tried all obvious things checking cable connection, rebooting a few times, etc, etc
Its been week and no progress from their side.
>>>>
Sorry to hear that! Hope that they resolve the issue soon.
<<<
I have a question about its remote. Its forward button is not working. When I press it, I see "2X" showing on TV but it does not fast forward at all. Did anyone face this?
>>>
I assume you are referring to the video-on-demand feature -- I haven't tried using the FF button. But, some of the buttons on the remote are not currently active. I assume that WatchIndia may support it in the future.
1. 15-30min wait to get phone answered
2. Live or VOD with 3.5 software does not work
3. Customer support asks for nslookup/traceroute, serial etc but cannot figure out what is the problem.
4. Sent refund email, no reply
Simply sucks...
Thanks again for your updates.
I have the old STB and I made the biggest mistake of signing a 1-yr discount deal about 6 months ago. It has been down for more than a month now, not a single channel! Even before that, I only got about 75% of channels. Their customer service is HORRIBLE! They have no decency and lie through their teeth. I have called about 10 times and wasted few hours and it seems like they are not even trying to fix the issue. Every time, they keep telling me upgrade bullshit- it'll be fixed in 24 hrs, 48 hrs and so on, but nothing gets done! I already have the latest firmware! I have had many cable services in last 10 years, but watchindia is THE WORST WITHOUT A DOUBT! I think my money is pretty much gone...DO NOT EVER GET WATCHINDIA!!!
Regards.
Things to consider
1. It seems you have to be bit technical to get this working and understand. ( In the most Indian house has some engineer get him/her on the phone than calling the support.)
2. Rather than assuming the box and remote and service would works like DISH/Cable then do not order it. The process seems to be more like your learning, the box and the way it behaves.
3. Use LAN then wireless, it seems wireless add complexity, and you might run into refresh the screen.4. A remote is pretty crap. I only use four button, Gree, Red, Blue and Yellow). oh the big power red button.
5. The service can be improved ,I think with time and learning curve one day this company might make it attractive deals for a new way to watch Inidan TV.
6. Where are the freaking Cricket games ???????????
Good Luck.
Ps never subscribe to watchindia.tv.
Before buying the box I see some issues here. The box is dedicated to watchindia which is totally ridiculous. I already have WD TV and Roku so don’t need one more box. If they can provide some DLNA app I can watch the channels through WD TV. Yup tv is on Roku but it doesn’t have hindi channels.
If someone comes up with good quality Indian channels with IP TV there is a huge market worldwide. It seems companies are not matured enough to get this opportunity.
Is there a way to contact them?
Thank you for sharing your experience with watchindia.tv.
Looks like the customer care agents are villagers(I cannot say executives bcoz they dnt talk like one). The most rude people i have ever seen. On their website they advertise big things but in reality nothing is true.. The customer care agents are not at all trained, simply they are advertised to be available 24/7 but infact they are available only at India Timings. They think the other person on the phone is a fool .... Very Rude behaviour.
I regret for buying this product. I request all the people whoever read these reviews please do not buy this product ... Its not at all worth it.
The programs stream very well if I connect the TV box directly to Cable modem with an ethernet cable.
Does anybody kow about any Router settings that should be changed for the TV box to work please?
Thank you!
stay away from this junk.
You don't have to deal with the crappy customer service for your refunds. If your service/Box doesn't work, simply dispute the charge on your credit card.
BTW, did anyone get charged with an FX conversion fee although they never tell you about that?
Also how to do you upgrade the firmware/.
Also how do you upgrade the firmware
I am discounting the fact that many of the functions/features with-in the set-top box menus/remote never really worked.
I do not recommend this box.
Have been waiting for reply from cutomer support have not still able to resolve it.
thanks
Ga
Box is simply rip off!!!!
This time, they are not able to resolve a simple blank screen issue from more than 3 weeks.....It is so frustrating that we subscribed for 1 year and we are not getting the kind of service we expected.
I would not recommend WatchIndia TV to anyone. It is nothing more than a headache
Looks like I am not going to subscribe to this service, was about to subscribe for 1 year and get the set top box (literally 5 minutes away from purchase, then my daughter asked me to check reviews). I will stay with my ATT UVERSE.
Its not the internet speed causing these skips/stop playbacks. I am on a 3MBps TimeWarner cable line. My Other home devices on the same network bandwidth such as WD Live stream HD video off the internet for hours without skipping or stopping.
Or it would be nice to have a AUTO_P-PLAY feature in case if buffering fails or it stops.
There is an existing 'smart-buffering' on/off option, but turning it on/ or off does not make any difference.
I have never been able to watch any channel on this box more than 10-15 mins without having to hit-play again. It can get quite irritating.
I am hoping that the hardware will be upgraded in the future and also allow other better devices such as Roku box or WD Live to support watchindia.tv. Some other indian TV companies such as www.channellive.tv/roku are already doing that.
Other than that picture quality is watch-able, its not 720p or 480p, but still fairly decent.
Also another issue is that the archived TV shows are not accurate, you could hit play on A serial/drama, but the recording is for B drama series. This is likely because the recording is done on strict preset times and not quality checked for accuracy before making it archive available on watchindia.tv box.
Overall, its a good concept but need a lot to improve to mature and evolve. Recommended to buy as a secondary option to an existing primary option.
Just felt I should send this email out before someone else comes into their trap.
Never Never Never go for watchindia.tv connection online/set top.
1. Horrible transmission
2. Horrible customer support / pretty rude.
3. If you don’t like the connection there is no way you can cancel. Customer Satisfaction is least importance for this company.
4. Cancelation policy is ZERO.
5. There is no way you can return the set top box if you don’t like the connection. So you loose like $100+ and you can’t resell the box to others.
Jane
I am thinking to get the servise. I see your post is about a year old... Have you seen any improvement in customer service since then?
Would you know whether the box has HD output or not?
Thanks,
I am thinking to get the servise. I see your post is about a year old... Have you seen any improvement in customer service since then?
>>>
I have not had to any recent experience with their customer-support team.
<<<
Would you know whether the box has HD output or not?
>>>
Yes, it does have a HD output.
>> We can not rely on the server connection though you have over 300mbps internet bandwidth. Keeps disconnet every often and it is very hassle while watching VOD(Their version of useless VOD).
>> All sales are final, though they have some indecent return policies all are use less and I was never success to get my money back when I try to remove channels from the annual subsription. They have very tricky calculation.
>> Customer service SUCKS and it appears it is little better than a while ago. It does not look like a live person answers the call, as they speak the same like recorded voice all the time.
>> HD BOX is useless as of now as we get only standard defination and the HD box can not upscale the signal.
>> You can not follow any serials as the watchindia live server up rate is volatile and 40 % of the time in a week is down. VOD server up time is about 50% and the service is crap. All channels are not available on VOD and available channels does not work for 30 minutes continuously, bottom line it is useless.
>> All streaming is LIVE and time difference in different zones is an issue as the VOD is useless.
>> If you do not have any other alternative to watch Asian TV(though it is Expensive - ok), if you just care some picture on any one of the channels - Go for it.
>> All services are immetured to sell, and the cost is too much expensive when compared to what we get. Com'on, how come one sell the service with 60% of technical problems and the recorded phone voice says that always(100 %).
>> Finally, I wasted about $400 and now I am stuck with both Dish and WatchIndia.It is a total SHAVE.
>> If WatchIndia have to refund money for unavilablilty of the servers or certain channels they would have gone bankcrupt long time back. It is just looting $$$ in the name of entertainment.
Hope this helps.
sounds good, i will try it
Today the problem is that I have a computer program error message "item_variable matching query does not exist." follwed by 10-12 lines of computer code. I have called you and have been waiting on phone for last 20 minutes. BTW I can see the watchindia tv on my laptop.
Generally their support is lousy, once in a while if you are lucky you will get someone with technical knowledge.
Anytime I talk to the tech support, I get the same answer, we will fix this in 24 hours. When will WatchIndia TV folks fix the problem, and give me the service I paid for? or give me credit for the service I am not getting partially almost every day since I got the box?
A very unhappy frustrated user of watchindiatv service.
1) Poor quality of the software.
2) Horrible buffering issues even on a 20Mbps comcast account.
3) Box required constant reboots and authentication to get it to work.
4) Crappy remote that barely worked.
5) Horrendous customer support, that never picks up your calls or responds to emails.
6) When the box went bad(no audio) they refused to replace it even though it was under warrantly.
This watchindia service is a scam. Stay away from this at all costs.
I have been a customer of WatchIndia since 2007-2008. Things had been going
well leaving aside a few network related / Zee channel contract related
issues.
The package that I had subscribed for was something like Zee Marathi Mega
pack. It was a yearly subscription of $120 and had 4-5+ Marathi channels +
base channels.
I received email on May-24-2010 which stated that my
auto renewal payment failed.
The email said *"Due to this error we regretfully have had to suspend
your subscription. In order to re-activate your account please re-subscribe
at www.watchindia.tv or contact us at **+1-866-293-9613"*
Its was no use visiting the website to renew the account because it wont
even allow me to sign in . Plus there is no way wherein a user can manage
his own account online or manage his own payments
I was shocked to hear when he said that my account has been terminated, I
cannot subscribe to my existing package, and he can do nothing about the renewal and that the package I had was no longer available.
This was ruthless, I was getting 4-5 Marathi channels for $120/year and now I am being asked to buy either the Mega Marathi pack for $324/year or buy only
1 channel for $164/year.
My credits cards have changed over a period of year.
WatchIndia site gives no access to a user to manage their own payments, it does not display the credit information to know which credit card is registered, neither can we change passwords on our own account,nor do we receive any email notifying about renewal due date.
Given all the above constraints there is no way can I remember the auto renewal date nor can I remember which card is registered for payment.
Above all I didnt receive any voice message on the registered cell number asking for my immediate action until i discover the email 2 days after it was sent.
I was disappointed to experience all this after being a long time customer.The agent also mentioned that neither of his seniors would be of help in any
different way.
I need my subscription renewed AS IT IS since that's what the email sent to me read too.
I dropped the customer care a long email detailing everything to which they replied back with a lame typical template email which stated the new package information I didnt care about.
All in all we have no flexibility managing our own account and neither can the customer support guys override anything.
Its a decent television service(atleast on PC not sure about settop box)
with lame policies,
no control/freedom of account management
a pathetic customer care service which is hopeless and as unprivileged as we ourselves are in making changes to our account/subscriptions
Based on your description it is clear to me that the package you were subscribed to is no longer available and they wanted to get off the hook. Since your initial contract may have had clause of auto-renewal at existing price/package which they cannot break due to legalities; they came up with cunning plan.
First they would conveniently remove all those customers from payment transaction database so that payment for auto-renewal is not claimed from credit card companies.
Since payment did not go through; auto-renewal is no longer applicable.
Send email 2 days after cancellation so that there is no possibility for customer to contact them and offer to pay using another payment method.
Then offer new packages...
-Shekar
I ordered my TV box on april 4 as some guest were comming in May. and after more than 10 calls they use to tell the same message the box is in warehouse and will be shipped this week. I requested them for the refund for box as well as for subscription for which they outright denied. Then I told them that I will reach Cousumer protection agency then within an week I received the box. And to my surprise the box worked for an week and then it stopped working for no reason and I am trying to reach customer support for this they say that the tech guys will call me when ever they are free and see what the problem is.
I feel they are taking customers for an ride.
a) during new service activation, customer support will make big commitments of good service quality even online & with the box. However, the online reception sucks.
b) Video on Demand is just marketing gimmick. I have never seen recorded videos of missed shows.
c) Youtube is better than this paid service due to its nice streaming and uninturrupted video
d) Customer support is hignly unresponsive & you will never receive the solution except extra questions & troubleshooting steps which are fake & of no use
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DON'T DO THE MISTAKE OF BUYING THIS SERVICE AND WASTING YOUR HARD EARNED MONEY
Dont worry people - this company will not survive long in this market. Cheating companies never survive in the US. It is only good business practices and good service that will reward people.
Can we file a law suit against them for fraudulent services?
Can we file a law suite against them?
BTW one suggestion to the people who tried to cancel within the 2 weeks time frame and couldn't cancel without a charge or the ones whose box was still under warranty. You can dispute the charges with your credit card company. They will give you the credit right away and then investigate.
I paid upfront for a years service and have written it off as a 'bad loss'.
Their service offering is good, if you want to watch on your PC but don't go for the set-top box.
Would a very nice alternative though: krazycommunity.com
I wish why i did not review blogs/review about watchindiatv before i spend abt $500 (including shipping and customs duty charges).
Seems this watchindia is a money making business or scam over internet.
There customer support sucks.
Bought the yearly package in May 21st 2011 on special offer with tv box free but Waited 2 months for Tv box to arrive,
when i connect it shows me Server not responding or if connects then picture quality is worst,
i asked Customer support for help they asks for nslookup/traceroute, serial etc but cannot figure out what is the problem.
at this point gave me 100% confirmation on this pure scam. logged a case on ic3.org, let see how far it goes.
guys Beware this kind of scams over internet
1. 3 weeks to get the tv-box.
2. 9 times out of 10, it fails to connect to my wifi network.
3. and when it does connect, I get either "service not available" or "server is not responding" error message.
3. their customer service has no clue and even after I get an email that technical issues have been resolved, it's still the same.
To my surprise,quality is overall good.I am using ethernet(LAN)as it's just near the TV anyway.
On PC(wireless)it does buffer at times but it's still quite okay to watch.I will suggest using ethernet and trust me you should be fine.
Customer service is what you will expect from any Indian company in fact a little better.Box arrived in just 2-3 days.worked fine.Customer service is useless if you can't get it right.Manual is also useless.
But set up is pretty easy.
overall happy till now,using it for a week.
think before you buy it and loose your hard-earned money./
IT is a very useless service, worse then the free subscription from some of the TV channels like NDTV have on their websites. From the very moment I got the box, the menu kept hanging very often, every channel stops streaming .. the headache is endless. PLEASE DON"T EVEN THINK ABOUT SUBSCRIBING THIS USELESS SERVICE.
never ever subcribe to this service, they have one of the worst customer support, they don't have people who know what it is (tvbox etc) and dumb asses are the tech support.
do not subscribe!!
First thing first, its not even an Indian company and they have a India based call center which is of no use. Once you buy the box, you never get a replacement or a refund for it. everytime you call the cust. care, they ask you to go thru the debugging steps and reboot the box several times. by the time you finish all the steps, you have already wasted an hour or more. the funny thing is, if the cust care representative cant figure out the problem, they simply cut the call (this happened to me 3 times).
there are few more problems:-
- you can watch it on your PC but all the channels stream in India time so you can only watch the things that goes on during night,
- their VOD never works,
- they say its a 15 days trial but charges you on very first day and when you call, they say its not for people ordering the 'watchIndiaTv' box,
- the box freezes so often that you dont even want to turn it on,
- restarting the box takes more than 15 min and in my case, it never shows anything.
I have subscribed for it 3 months ago and haven't been able to cancel my service or watch TV even for a single day without problem.
Its really irritating and they say they dont refund anything.
simply wastage of money. Think before you subscribe...
The problems in past 6-8 months.
1. Live channels hang frequently.
2. Video on demand channels, in 50% cases never get recorded. The episodes for one serial gets recorded with the name of another. Well to add to it, even if it gets recorded it will be 60% or 80%, the rest is gone, they don't record it and they don't have answer to why it didn't get recorded. If by chance you start watching a movie which came on Sony TV yesterday, then I don't remember a single day when I have watched the full movie. Its just half movie recorded. They don't have answers to that too.
If luckily you get to watch a new channel after a month or so, that channel will give a message 'Feed is unavailable'. You ask them and they would say, you were never subscribed for this channel when you signed.
One channel which was a part of the package was lost and when I asked them then answer was WatchIndia is no longer providing the channel as they had some issues with them. So what did I get against that ??? Simply Nothing.
3. When I subscribed for the service I was told that incase if you have to cancel the service you have to pay 1 month as cancellation fee and the balance amount would be paid to you. Today they are saying that you got the service in discounted price so we are not cancelling your service. I have had enough of these guys.
Thanks,
Second, the packages are silly and
little on the expensive side.
Third, the service is up and running only for like 60% of the time. I have had the same problem "Get it now issue" over and over and for no reason they take more than a week to fix it. Every time you call the customer care, the problem has already been escalated to Technology team is the answer.
Fourth, as other user mentioned, they dont work 24/7, I doubt even if they work for 8 hours.
Fifth, I just amazed to know that 'TATA Consultancy Services' is running the customer service for Watchindia.tv. May be its time TCS checks the kind of clients in their portfolio.
This rubbish company is situated is some country (for legal purposes only) so that you cannot even sue them. There is no question of refund of charges. But they are defenitely making millions and I even doubt its a legal company.
Please don't subscribe it unless you have agreement with them if it does not work they will refund the money. It does not work. No customer support. Period
their customer support is so hopeless that the 24 hr number doesn't connect, chat guy says, I can't do anything.
DO NOT WASTE MONEY ON IT
Only way to recover your money is by dispute charge in your credit card if it is under 2 months. I have done it and got a conditional refund from Credit card company and they are giving 60 days notice to watch india to respond. I am waiting for final decision from credit card company.
Now days VOD is empty for SONY chanel.
We had a bad experience with watchindiatv. Unfortunately, we didnt read the reviews because my wife's cousine is using this and they were okay with the service. We ultimately found out that the streaming is equally bad in their place. So just to give more idea: we have signed up for mega hindi and added two marathi channels. We have 7MB/S download speed through the ISP. We have set the watchindiastream to 480p. Eventhen, we are unable to watch all live channels. The VOD simply does not work for the most. We called up the support 3 or 4 times, they just cannot fix our issue. The SLA is 72 hr. The customer support is pretty bad and troubleshooting does not apply to all people. We asked for the money back and were told that they will not pay us for the box; we got to keep the box; we will be charged $20 cancellation fee and a 14 day notice is required. This is a total rip off. Diwali rip off I should say because we signed up Diwali offer. We are planning to report this business to BBB and encourage all the victims to do so. Please see how to file a report against this business below:
http://www.ehow.com/how_5843824_report-bad-internet-business.html
Please don't recommend people this service without them first reading all these reviews.
I bought an yearly package expecting to be a real good one, but the transmission was too bad and the customer support was horrible.
Here is my experience
1. They have tried to charge my credit card for more than 3 times and I had to call to make sure that you charge me only once
2. They have not shipped my TV box until I called / did chat with you for more that 2 times and it took around 3 weeks from my box to arrive
3. I did complain on the day TV box arrived to guys that reception was not good and i have technical issues and they said they will arrange a call back with technical support and no one called me back.
4. I complained again about the issue and this time they said they will send me self- correcting instructions and i did not get any instructions from no one.
5. Well. 3rd Time I have asked to cancel the service, and I was adamant, they said ok and never told me about the cancellation fee or policy
6. After 3 or 4 days some guys calls me and tells me that I will get around $ 100 (I paid around $300) and used the service like 1 day. after all the deductions, and all of sudden i felt cheated.
A very negetive experience overall and I lost over $300 on this. Please stay away and save your money. There are many other such options that are less expensive.
Hmm!
Now I understand why my credit card company did not approve the money first time to the company for the TV box, I needed to call them to release the money. I would definitely recommend this TV service to anyone who wants to buy pain and frustation, instead of recreation by spending their hard earning money.
Customer service dont know how to handle technical questions, they hardly have any information, they put you on hold for 20-45 minutes and end of saying "sorry" for the inconvinience, we will get back toyou...????
Also if there is any tech. difficulty they dont update this on their website and we customer ending up wasting 30-45 minutes calling them on weekend and get frustated.
more than half the time their website is down and channels does not work and guys here is the thing when you call and complain them about it, they dont have any thing other than "sorry, I told my manager to update the site" aslo they dont give you money back and say since you have monthly subscription we cant do that. I also heard even if its yearly service they tell you so many "this' and "that"
WatchIndia Sucks.....dont dont dont ever go there.
horrified customer
should I go for it or not...i have 32" LCD... and dont want pixalated picture.... i am ok with technical set up .. i can handle if required...please suggest..
All of the comments are more or less true. The TV Box is good for nothing, but works better in PC. So, if you are okay with that, you may go ahead. Again, keep in mind, their customer service is really really bad. You will get basically no help from them. You will need to be satisfied with watever service they supply....
I am really confuse about this. will I order it or not? I am looking on some other TV-Box as well. BTW tell me about Dish IPTV Box?. Does it have same problem?
Thanks,
Rajesh
ugulati@gmail.com
202 693 4322
Looking to buy this box. Is any one interested in selling their unit and will take over the rest of the months with a discounted price.
Thanks,
Rajesh
202 693 4322
Thanks,
Rajesh
ugulati@gmail.com
202 693 4322
why stress you up, there are better alternatives:
www.iBoxHome.com
I´ve got one device and the channels I wanted are working great.
And there are no monthly fee´s.
Outstanding GUI (based on XBMC).
Have a look at the i.Box.Home Device.
I heared about the this blog.
Well, I have bought the new i.Box.Home Set-Top-Box, with a very good looking GUI.
Main Asian Channels works great.
Also some international Channels (like CNBC, CNN, Al-Jazeera English, etc.) work nicely.
And many Addons (Youtube, Vimeo, much more).
It´s a german device.
Check it out.
Greetings,
Marc
better you catch them on online chat than call.
also they dont refund but in USA yiou can dispute the charge saying they dont offer the service they commit.
its easy here. their customer service sucks.
Sorry to hear about the issues you have faced with watchindia.tv. I figure at least 90% of comments indicate very frustrating experience.
I was shopping for ways to get desi channels. Your feedback made it easy for me to rule out watchindia.tv.
Well another poor review of watchindia.tv. Received the box 2 days ago and have had nothing but problems.
- Box arrived without plugs
- Buffering probs (11mbps speed all other computers/streaming works fine)
- VOD when it chooses to work only shows limited programs
- Customer support is terrible!
Usual line is 'someone will email you with 24/48 hours to resolve your issue' Well we had an issue immediately on receiving the box waited 24/48 hrs and were then asked to wait for another 24/48 hrs.
No manager to speak to. No refunds, No cancellation.
So only step is to contact credit card company and try get them to refund the full amount, as Watchindia.tv appear to have no intention of supplying the product or supporting it.
My advice, look for alternatives to watchindia.tv. Infact if anyone knows of any, please let me and others know!
Please put the latest comments at the top of the page, so that one does not need to scroll to the bottom to see the latest comments.
Here are some of my experience about this service -
1. It takes a month to get the Box - don't know yet if company still charged for the service
2. After connecting the new box - it didn't work. I contacted customer service (only way is chat and e-mail and no phone) and found that box need a refreshed software
3. After refreshing software service worked for sometime but same issue again. BTW, box is so slow then it takes minutes to get to the channel list.
4. When service is available, quality of the channels are so bad then on a big screen TV it looks like junk - compared to same contents available on youtube
5. When playing VoD - contents playing starts and stop automatically and when starting again it starts from the beginning and no forward/rewind option
4. Time to time - server not responding message - service not available.
In overall this service is more headache then any entertainment.
My strong advice is to stay away from this ...
Just disputed the amount as service quality is totally unacceptable and I'll post my refund experience later..