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It all began on Saturday morning, the 10th of December 2005… I was bored when the idea to write an imaginative story struck in my mind. I began typing in letters, one by one.. Titled it as “discovery by a script kiddie!”. It was based on nothing but my imagination. Never did I expect that my imagination would, for once, become a reality! But my expectation was proven to be wrong, by that one phone call I received.. the call from a mate. The moment I was told about the astonishing news, I froze in disbelief. And that was the moment that led to the birth of “dream” I had; the dream in which I make a phone call to Dhiraagu Customer Services, inquiring why I was facing difficulties to access their e-bill system.

I wasn’t satisfied with the explanations I got from them, and that was the sole reason why I decided to ring them up again after a few hours time. Hence, I dialed the Dhiraagu Customer Services. As usual, I waited five minutes for them to answer my call..

Dhiraagu: Assalaam Alaikum, Dhiraagu Customer Services!
Me: hello! ehcheh ahaalan vegen ingeythoa.
Me: e-bill ah access kuran ulhegen miadhu access eh nuvey....
Dhiraagu: ehenthoa?
Me: aadhe
Dhiraagu: miadhu eba ulhey ingeythoa e-bill.. alhugandu menge e-bill site inee down vefa!
Me: aadhe thiyeh noone ingeythoa aslu vaahaka akee.. adu ivunu gothuga ingeythoa flaw eh ulheythee..
Me: dhen meehaku buni ehcheh alhugandu ge ebill ves beleyene oa ehen meehunnah ves.. eyee thedhu vaahaka eh thoa?
Dhiraagu: hiyeh nuvey ingeythoa
Dhiraagu: evves possibility eh hiyeh nuvey onnaaneheneh e-bill ehen faraathakah beleyne kamuge
Dhiraagu: eyee hama fudhey varakah CONFIDENTIAL dhehthoa? dheefa innaanee kommme faraathakavves
Me: aadhe dhen confidentiality othas security rangalhu vaanethoa ey mihaaru? E suvaalu ufedheythee…
Me: eba kiyaa dhehthoa ehen meehunge bill thah beleyey, ehenve e olhun araathee CUSTOMER egge haisiyyathun suvaalu kollan vegen
Dhiraagu: ehenthoa?
Me: aadhe! ehen vedhaanethoa?
Dhiraagu: ehen nuvaane ingeythoa! evves possibility eh neenaane egothah vedhaane kamuge! eyee alhugandumen mikolhun username password ehchehi provide kohdheefa ves onnanee hama veri faraathun application form husha alhuvvaa egothah thaa dhehthoa. ehenveema hiyeh nuvey innaane heneh ehen belleveykasheh ehen faraathakah
Dhiraagu: haqeeqathuga ves eyah rangalhah access vegen noonee nueh vadheveyne
Me: ehenthoa? dhen e gothah vaahaka fethureythee alhgandu password change kuran vegen login kuran ulhegen nuvi, vahakaa akee site akah login eh nukurevuney..
Dhiraagu: aadhe miadhu site down vefa ineema dhehthoa? ekamu varah rangalhu vaane mee komme month aku effaharu kahala gothakah password badhalu kurevviyyaamu hama safety akah dhehthoa?
Me: umm.. kon irakunthoa up vaanee?
Dhiraagu: ehen neygey dhannavaakah ingeythoa?
Me: keevvegenthoa down vee?
Dhiraagu: eyeee mikolhuga dhehthoa alhugandu men ekkala.. mee iyyega ulhunu update nuve ulhumuge massalathakeh. iyye noon eyge kuree dhuvahuge haa thaanga, dhen ulhefa miadhu down vee...
Me: ehenveema ehen neygehthoa dhehthoa dhannavaakah kon irakun kameh up vaaneekee eh?
Dhiraagu: mee..... madu kollahvahchey...
Dhiraagu: monday ingeythoa rangalhuvaane kamah vanee
Me: eyee maadhamaa dhehthoa?
Dhiraagu: aadhe
Me: ok thank you ingeythoa varah bodah
Dhiraagu: welcome

That was it! Heck?! ALL LIES!! They never admitted there was a flaw in the e-bill system! They never admitted the flaw being the reason for their system downtime! They never admitted the possibility for users to view other users’ bills! But…

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE! Isn’t it? Wasn’t it? Obviously, that day, as time flew by, more and more people were becoming aware of the issue! How kind of Dhiraagu would it have been to admit the flaw in the first place and issue a press release regarding it? Or somehow make the public aware of the issue? Isn’t it a right of the customer to be informed about such issues? Why had Dhiraagu chosen to be silent?

They chose the wrong path! Paths that are completely opposite from what they had mentioned in the Customer Service Policy! Here’s a screenshot from their “Customer Service Policy” document! Take a peek at it!

Well.. It does state “You can expect us to: Treat your personal information in the strictest confidence”! hmm hmm! Think about this. If Dhiraagu had given importance for customer privacy, would it have been possible to easily view other users bills? According to the imaginative story I wrote, it didn’t take a super duper genius to figure out the flaw and access others’ bills! So Dhiraagu, implement your policies!

That’s all about the second (and last) phone call I made to Dhiraagu regarding the e-bill issue. After that, just like the others, I patiently waited for Dhiraagu to fix the bug and bring the system back online! Meanwhile I noticed, by then, Dhiraagu had put up a little notice in their e-bill site. Following is a screenshot of the notice:

“…down for maintenance”!! LOL! As you all already know, Dhiraagu issues press releases (or inform through their website) about their planned “maintenance” works, which may cause interruptions! So, why was this “maintenance” an exception? What exempts this maintenance from being informed prior to the scheduled date? Why was it silently buried? It doesn’t make sense when Dhiraagu informs the public of other maintenance works, and not this one! I wonder why…

I really think we shouldn’t tolerate a giant company like Dhiraagu to intentionally do tricks like this! We, customers, do have rights and we gotta fight for it! We shouldn’t let our service provider be so careless in securing our private information! Think about this! Do we want them to conduct a million-rufiya advertising campaign OR do we want them to spend a penny to secure our data? Isnt everyone’s answer the same? Dhiraagu, listen to us and consider our requests!

Finally, after two days, the e-bill system was brought back online! Yay! The flaw discovered earlier was fixed.. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see someone come up with another flaw in their system. Oh btw, here’s the error message I get when I try to implement the old trick I did to get others bills..

Anyways, since this matter has been raised, I’d like to reply to all those of you out there who’ve asked me this question! …

“Why do you bother about these issues? What benefit do you get from it? Mind your own business and get a life!”

Well.. I’m really fedup with Dhiraagu due to the dirty monopoly game they had played in the past! I haven’t forgotten how they had taken advantage from the customers! They had abused the power of monopoly! Charging extremely high prices and saying “our prices aren’t high compared to other telecom providers in this region” never brought a smile to my face, and I bet neither did it to anybody else’s face! But anyways, I really am not trying to spoil the “good” name Dhiraagu has (I wonder if there’s any room to spoil it further!), nor am I aiming to beat them up in anyway… I’m doing this “ikhlaastheri kamaa eku” on a very “mathiveri maaiy magsadhu” :p

And that is… to demand for new and improved, better and safer services, that we (as customers) have the right to get! Its our right! We gotta fight for it! I salute jaa and Digital Squid for the commitment, effort and courage to (positively) criticize Dhiraagu and make the public aware of issues related to them. It is doubtless that it would lead to nothing but improvement to Dhiraagu’s services.

hope I’ve said enough regarding this e-bill issue. this will be my last and final post regarding it. So, Dhiraagu: sue me if you want, but remember the truth is out there! :p

Cheers! :)