I had booked the low cost android based tablet the T-Pad IS701R for Rs. 3,250 in the month of February 2012. I expected the delivery to happen in first week of March but there were some delays. And now when Pantel have started the shipping process, the unprofessional method adopted by the company may not go well with many consumers and some may want to opt out.
Now before book the T-Pad tablet let me make something clear. The booking process is form based and once you fill in the details you will get a booking ID which will be mentioned on the screen, note it down. Within few days you will receive an email from Pantel Company asking you to confirm the order and make the payments via cash / cheque by using a customized challan that comes attached with the email.
You will need to take the printout of the challan and will need to visit the nearest Punjab National Bank (PNB), fill in the challan and make the payments. The customized challan is not available at any PNB bank, so print out is a must. If you don’t have a printer you can get it printed from your friends or from a computer shop. Punjab Nation Bank (PNB) is the only option available so far, if there is no PNB bank in your area or if it is too far, you make the call, “I would drop the idea of buying this tab”.
So you see the unprofessional approach you book online using a simple form, you then get an email (after few days), you then need to take the printout of the challen (you need a printer.. man.), fill it and visit the PNB bank and deposit cheque or cash, phew!, well I just did that.
PNB will charge you Rs. 25 which you need to add up in the total. So if the tablet is for Rs. 3,250 as in my case. You will be paying Rs. 3,275. It will take approximately 15 to 20 minutes of your time in the Bank and make sure you mention the Rs. 25 separately as that is the commission that the bank gets, otherwise they will consider Rs. 3,275 + 25 an amount of Rs. 3,300.
I made the cash payment, since that will be instant. But I had to wait for few minutes for confirmation. Do remember to collect the depositor copy of the challan. After realization of the payments to Pantel Technologies which should usually happen within 24 hours, the tablet will then be shipped via Gati couriers and you should get it within 24 hours to 48 hours, in some cases up to 95 hours.
You will still need to pay the freight charges when the tablet is delivered – that will be Rs. 175 or Rs. 250 depending on your location.
So in all for the Rs. 3,250 tablet you end up paying Rs. 3,450 or Rs. 3,525 depending on your shipping address. Hopefully I will get the tablet delivered this week and will do a review on that.
BSNL Pantel should seriously think of adding more payment options especially online payments if they want to get more customers.