A tale of two LPG connections

It is the worst of time, an epoch of incredulity, age of foolishness, season of darkness, winter of despair...as far as new LPG connection is concerned.

I always thought that getting a gas connection would be a cakewalk. That was my expereince in 2003, when I walked into the nearby Hindustan Petroleum dealership which had opened recently in Madhapur, and got a connection. The mistake I did was returning this connection before I went abroad. After coming back to India in 2007, well, it proved to be a herculean effort to get a new connection. Almot all dealers I approached - HP, Indane, BPCL, told me that the minimum wait period to get a new connection is 1 year after enlisting. Some even refused to enlist my name saying plainly that its of no use. I had to take up a private connetion from Shakti gas at a much higher price, but the service proved to be unreliable. So I finally gave it up. Private gas players are mostly out of business owing to absence of any level playing field. Therefore there is virtually no competition and state run oil and gas dealership is the king. They can do whatever they want to and they don't care about customer service.

Then I got my father in law's Indane gas connetion transferred to my place as an intermediate solution. I could not get a double cylinder as I was told bluntly that I should be considered fortunate that I have one cylinder, because its an age of scarcity. Then in May 2009 after eletion results were declared the unthinkable happened. There was a letter from HP dealership saying that my application has been considered and I need to apply within 20 days of receipt of letter for the new connection. I was elated and duly went with documents like address proof. The dealer was not very enthused, he simply handed me the forms and said curtly that there would be an inspection.

The inspection happened the very next day and then the bombshell was dropped. The guy while inspecting saw the already existing connection and aksed me what should be done? Ideally in a typical Indian set up, he would get some money and write down that I don't have a connection. This is because of rule of Government department of oil and natural gas that if a household has an existing connection, no matter what is the nature of the connection, no further connection should be given by state run oil companies. Which means that because my father in law has a connection and because I borrowed it for running my household cooking ativities for an uncertain period, I was not eligible for a connection of my own. I ignored the cue of the "inspector" and told him to do his duty.

I contacted the dealer, he atfirst refused to entertain me, like all dealers of state run oil companies. Then I approached the regional manager Mr. KS Rao on email and to his credit he immediately called me up and explained Government poliy and his inability to bypass the same,but he promised immediate delivery if I give up my existing connection. Moreover the customer service of HP replied promptly on my complaint against the dealer and the lady assiduoulsy followed up with the dealer who had to finally call me up. He was peeved at my approaching the customer care over such a trivial issue, but finally took my documents and promised to send them to sales officer, which to his credit, he did. The sales officer Mr. Garg called me up and explained that if I give up the existing connection he would ensure a new one for me within two days.

Now thats indeed good service and responsiveness, at various levels - the customer care lady who followed up dutifully and was patient over the phones, the regional manager who was sympathetic and the sales offier who explained and promised quick steps. Kudos to HP Gas that they listened and took some steps. I am satisfied.

Now coming to Indane gas. I received this letter on 1st June from Indane dealership Madhavi distributor at Shaikpet Hyderabad that the seond connection of my father in law has come through and I need to contact them within 60 days. The letter had no envelope and so the postal stamp overshadowed the documents required. Nevertheless I approached them with all the documents we possessed on behalf of my father in law. In the morning when I went there the dealer told me to come in the afternoon. When we went in the afternoon, the dealer simply locked his gate and refused us (along with a few other hapless ladies from various sections of society, the so called amjanta, a term so favourite with politicos who care a zilch about them) entry. The dealership closes at 5 PM and it was only 4 PM, but it was of no avail.

I tried calling up the Indane sales officer Mr. Nagaraj. Initially nobody picked up the phone. Later when he picked up he was curt and refused to listen and told me to contact the customer care on Monday. Now that left me wondering is the customer really the king? or some junk in the eyes of IOC officials? I sent a mail to IOC representative of the state, but so far no reply. I tried lodging an online complaint in IOC portal, unlike HP gas, the complaint/feedbak section simply did not work. This gives the impression that Indane gas does not need or value any feedback/complaint.

I don't know whether this would ever be taken care of by IOC officials but here are some facts. If you open any complaints portal, be it http://www.complaintsboard.com/ or http://www.consumercomplaints.in/, the maximum number of complaints are against Indane gas dealership in gas distribution. That there is a widespread irregularity esp. with IOC dealers is well proven through the sensational murdercase of Manjunatha Shanmugam, the IIML 2003 alumni and a sales officer in IOC in 2005 (read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanmughan_Manjunath) He was incidentally a batchmate of my wife Devmitra in IIML.

But the question is, whether IOC officials are doing anything about it or are they too non chalant about customer grievances?

To be fair when I had a similar problem with an IOC petrol pump outlet (gave less petrol than supposed to for an amount), I raised this in a forum with IOC and IOC official Mr. Srihari Rangrajan (Hyderabad) called me up and promised to take steps against ssuch erring practices in Madhapur area. He is a very helpful chap.
But the same cannot be said of Indane gas, as so far, I only received a curt response and absolutely no empathy.

I am sure the sorry state of oil and gas distribution in this country will change one day, there will be more accountability and perhaps the subsidy regime which has created so many evils esp. that of arbitrage opportunity, corruption and arrogance among dealers and poor quality of service, will be a thing of past.

There is a postscript to this tale. Yesterday morning (15th June) I received a call from the dealer and she apologized repeatedly for the behavior. She said that to prevent agitating people without documents from visiting her shop she had closed the doors.

I received atleast two calls from Indane customer care, both sympathetic and pledging a speedy resolution on the same day. In the afternoon we went to the dealership and she herself made us sit in her room, took all the documents and released us the cylinder, in a matter of half an hour. Seems some phone calls from Kolkata did the trick.

Thank you IOC. However, if the process is controlled and improved so that such escalations and heartburns are avoided, it would be great.