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Why do reputed companies like Airtel treat customers like fools?

54 posts · originally from https://geek.digit.in/community/threads/why-do-reputed-companies-like-airtel-treat-customers-like-fools.157600/

blademast3r
blademast3r Original post #1
May 26, 2012 at 10:11 PM
****FINAL UPDATE : after 4 months, nothing got solved. New issues creep up. Contacted airtel presence, nodal and appelate authority. Nobody cares. I have disconnected my connection. NEVER NEVER NEVER GO FOR AIRTEL CONNECTION.. THEY ARE THE ABSOLUTE WORST and dont care about changing their attitude about it..****

Greetings everybody,

It has only been a month since I took Airtel broadband connection and its absolutely been horrible. The funny thing is the actual connection is great. But their support and staff is really filled with a bunch of fools who treat customers like fools. Here are the issues.

1) My name, phone number and email. All have been wrongly entered in their system despite mentioning the right ones. How hard is it to transfer data from paper to comp?

2) I opted for both broadband and phone. Broadaband was installed fine, I needed my phone to be in another room. Which just takes one more cable from the splitter. The "cabling" guy mysteriously vanished while the "broadband" guy was configuring stuff. When I called the "cabling" guy here was his response : " saaaar cabling procedure takes 3 days minimum ". Do they think we are fools? Or is he mysteriously installing the cable remotely , a procedure which clearly takes three whole days. And this is a private company!

3)My company pays my net and phone bill. Hence I need a hard copy. I clearly mentioned this the first time. A few days back someone from airtel (a crappy call center really) called me up and mentioned bill amount blah blah. And asked me to pay online from airtel.in. I mentioned that I needed hard copy and will pay by cash and told her that I had mentioend this during installation. She said thats ok and proceeded to "change" my bill type to hard copy.
This is the fun! I received a call today asking why I havent paid the bill online !!! So these people havent been able to make this "change" even NOW!!

Here is proably the best part. I have abviously tried to solve the issues.

1) Mailed 121@in.airtel.com with the correct subject format mentioned. I received an auto generated mail saying I will get a reply in 1 day . Its been 15 days now and I havent received a mail

2)I mailed the nodal office and havent received a reply.

3)Called customer care, waited for an hour. My call has been cut many time in between explaining the issue! One of the guys even mentioned that "name" cannot be changed!

4)Finally I went to an Airtel customer relations office and did the usual yelling + form filling to get name etc changed and mentioned for the 3rd time I need a hard copy bill.

Name,email and phone are yet to be changed (3 days since visit). And I am yet to receive the bill. Oh and the cabling expert hasnt shown up in the last 30 days. Guess its taking him more time than expected eh!

I really wish consumer forums and courts were taken more seriously in India. But its not. Simple reason being even if one customer quits there are 100 more who will join! Such is our population. It is really sad.
The issue here is as simple as outsourcing services to incompetent firms. In the last one month I havent interacted with a single "real" airtel employee. It is always been some call center or some "modem"/"cabling" expert firms, who obviously dont care. All they care about is reaching their number targets and not about the big picture of customer satisfaction.

Anyways. I'm not sure what will come out of this rant. It just feels good to vent out amongst competent people really!
M
May 27, 2012 at 12:23 AM
When Nodal Officer don't listen to you Email/Contact Appellate Authority. He's the only person who can give big bamboos to all these d***heads, else you have to live with your current situation, unfortunately
blademast3r
May 27, 2012 at 12:44 AM
Thanks for the reply. Will they care? For some reason I have lost complete hopes of anyone replying to mails!
samudragupta
May 28, 2012 at 4:33 PM
not only airtel but even vodafone and all other companies CC have a bunch of idiot staff... unfortunately we have to live with it!!!
Nipun
Nipun #5
May 28, 2012 at 7:54 PM
I mailed airtel asking why should one get Airtel if such things are common with them along with a link to the OP. I got a mail saying

We are unable to process your request as:

1. There is no mobile number/landline number mentioned in your email or

2. The mobile/landline number mentioned is not in the correct format.

. For airtel Mobile number related assistance, please mention your ten
digits airtel Mobile number in the subject of the email. E.g. 98XXXXXXXX
. For airtel Fixed line and broadband related assistance, please mention
airtel Fixed-line number along with STD Code in the subject of the email.
E.g. 011-4XXXXXXX
Regards.

:lol:
Vyom
Vyom #6
May 28, 2012 at 8:46 PM
Well, its strange that a private company like Airtel is doing something like that! (Or should I say, doing nothing at all :p)
I have a friend who have an Airtel's broadband connection. He always says to me that customer care is good. In case of some problem, if he register the complaint online in morning... guys from Airtel arrives by evening to solve it!

Btw.. I use Airtel as my primary number and I can too vouch that their customer care is sh!t. Just reaching to a "real" person is so darn hard! :(
asingh
asingh #7
May 29, 2012 at 6:09 PM
Their CC is sh$$. All the SPs are like that. Voda, Idea, Tata Photon. They think we are fools, and meeting their reps at their outlets is pure harassment. They act like government officials and make things painful, and never give advise and solutions. Basically useless.
thatsashok
May 29, 2012 at 7:46 PM
try contacting them on twitter @Airtel_Presence and rant. Well you can get a reply there
blademast3r
May 29, 2012 at 8:38 PM
Thanks for the replies guys. Most of you have mentioned "what can we do". Why not we DO something. As a part of my job I get to interact and meet with a lot of people in the European countries and the US. There any single mistake like this for even a single customer is taken seriously. And you want to know the funny part? Even they outsource their CC to India!! So the issue is with guys like Airtel going for "the absolute cheapest" nonsense call centers which employ literally anyone with NO incentive or training or work conditions. Believe me these people are absolute crap!

Like I said. We SHOULD do something about this. collectively.

PS : None of the issues have been solved EVEN NOW
sumonpathak
May 29, 2012 at 8:41 PM
hmm...file a consumer court case...
blademast3r
May 29, 2012 at 8:55 PM
@Airtel_Presence is conveniently choosing to ignore my rant and a URL to this thread.. Pathetic
Nipun
Nipun #12
May 29, 2012 at 9:13 PM
@Airtel_Presence is conveniently choosing to ignore my rant and a URL to this thread.. Pathetic
I mailed them again asking why would I need an Airtel number to know 'why should one get airtel'. Again got the same reply. :lol:
pramudit
pramudit #13
May 29, 2012 at 10:22 PM
even the mobile cc is same.. if you say internet is not connecting then they just send settings again and say that it should work now...
T
techani #14
May 29, 2012 at 11:32 PM
According to me, we dont need to go anywhere! Your disgusting case is a fit case for negative publicity. As you have all the proofs.

Just post your text in facebook, post the link here and send it to all your friends for the publicity.

You will see the magic unfold in front of your eyes!!!

I had done so incase of Bigbazar and they noticed it(though partially), but am sure Airtel will notice it fully.
sriharsha_madineni
May 30, 2012 at 3:56 PM
Airtel takes things for granted they don't even care about your side of the issue. Been a victim of Airtel multiple times back in the day. Was so pissed off that our entire family dumped Airtel at once and switched to BSNL.

I used to think BSNL was $hit until then, but it has been almost 3 years since I moved, not a single problem till date and even the customer care response is much better than what I've experienced with Airtel.

@techani
Airtel was literally a$$ raped by many on twitter. So much so that even there were spoof handles like @airtel_absence for the original @airtel_presence handle. They don't even care. I myself fought for few months and then switched provider, peace of mind restored.
Anish
Anish #16
May 30, 2012 at 5:44 PM
@OP: Dude, post your complaint at
Consumer Court

I too faced the same bad CC in reliance. I got very low speeds in reliance, and I registered the complaint twice. But they call me and say the same old procedure like clear prefetch, restart computer, reinstall the relaiance app etc... I got frustrated and told them that I know my way around and told its their fault. But they replied idiotically, that its the procedure and when I follow, I may get good results. Finally, I posted at consumercourt.in., 5 days after filing the complaint, a guy came from CBE to my place(vellore) to resolve the problem!

I also suggest you to post your complaint at consumercourt.in

Good luck
Anish
abhinavmail1
May 30, 2012 at 10:56 PM
switch to BSNL or MTNL they r better than most of private ISP
blademast3r
May 31, 2012 at 10:54 AM
LOL.. the funny thing is that I switched from BSNL to airtel because they refused to fix a problem and refused to disconnect my line! So according to them I should live with 5 kBps internet forever.. That is a completely different and even more hilarious story..

@Anish sure.. will do that..

As of now I got a reply from @airtel_presence. Some guy called me up. Funny thing is after changing my details etc 3 times. When he read them out they were still the old wrong details! Can you believe this?

Still havent received the bill. He has said it will be done on "priority".

Asked him why the hell CC hasnt bothered replying to mails. He said from next time mail airtelpresence@airtel.in . Does this mean even THEY dont trust CC?? Makes you wonder
blademast3r
Jun 10, 2012 at 3:00 PM
quick update... 3 different people from Airtel Presence contacted me and assured me they had changed the details. But each time they read out the current details it was the same old wrong stuff clearly proving that nothing has been done.

I finally received my bill with wrong name,phone number and email. I have told them clearly I am not paying up. Simple reason, such a person doesnt exist here!

Aaaand now to add to things, its been 24 hours since my previous billing cycle ended and my "Unfair Usage policy" speed hasnt reset.

I cant believe it takes this reputed company so much to change 3 simple fields and generate a correct bill.
RCuber
RCuber #20
Jun 10, 2012 at 3:39 PM
I used to get 2-3 different bills of different people :p
S
SahilAr #21
Jun 10, 2012 at 6:10 PM
Their CC is sh$$. All the SPs are like that. Voda, Idea, Tata Photon. They think we are fools, and meeting their reps at their outlets is pure harassment. They act like government officials and make things painful, and never give advise and solutions. Basically useless.

You forgot to mention the "Giant Idiots"
1.BSNL
2.MTNL
3.Reliance
These are the top pathetic/worst ever Isps in terms of CC..They suck in cC very badly:twisted:
A
Jun 10, 2012 at 6:45 PM
Well, I don't have any problems with BSNL, their telephone exchange is just a stone's throw away from my house, so if any problem arises ( there hasn't been any disconnection since the last 3 years) I can easily go and complain.. :p
Nipun
Nipun #23
Jun 10, 2012 at 7:03 PM
You forgot to mention the "Giant Idiots"
1.BSNL
2.MTNL
3.Reliance
These are the top pathetic/worst ever Isps in terms of CC..They suck in cC very badly:twisted:
BSNL and MTNL both are really annoying. 7+ disconnections a day(My record is 7 disconnections in 1 hour).
Vyom
Vyom #24
Jun 10, 2012 at 7:05 PM
You forgot to mention the "Giant Idiots"
...
2.MTNL
...
These are the top pathetic/worst ever Isps in terms of CC..They suck in cC very badly:twisted:

Well, at least I get "TRUE UNLIMITED" in the case of MTNL!! :lol:
blademast3r
Jul 30, 2012 at 10:23 PM
I want to post an update as to what happened.

It has now been months since my initial complaints. NONE OF THE ISSUES HAVE BEEN RESOLVED.

Here are the people I have contacted

1)Airtel support(via email and phone) - They are simply retarded and fail to understand the issue.

2)Contacted @airtel_presence -- Two people contacted me from here 1)anoop 2)arpit dixit. Both of them seem to understand the issue but NEITHER of them does anything about it. Each time they will say that something has been done but there is NO effect of this.

3)Mailed the nodal authority. No reply in 3 months.

The problem btw has now increased. I DO NOT RECEIVE MY BILLS until I request for duplicated every month. I would gladly pay online but as my email ID is wrongly entered I do not receive it. So each month I need to request for duplicate bills in order to pay then. Also as my phone number is wrong I dont reveive any alerts.

So I need help with two things.

1) How do I go about filing a consumer complaint against them and making sure that some action is taken.

2) Please suggest some alternative broadband and phone plan in Koramangala Bangalore Area.
Renny
Renny #27
Jul 31, 2012 at 12:00 AM
Majority of internet users don't even know the difference between bits and bytes, my friend believes his BSNL connection is 100Mbps and fiercely sticks to this assumption :D

So with people like this ISPs are sure to milk customers and take them for a ride, the % of aware users are indeed very small.
Hrishi
Hrishi #28
Jul 31, 2012 at 12:21 AM
Majority of internet users don't even know the difference between bits and bytes, my friend believes his BSNL connection is 100Mbps and fiercely sticks to this assumption :D

So with people like this ISPs are sure to milk customers and take them for a ride, the % of aware users are indeed very small.

There are people out there having GBE NIC and GBE Modem, I wonder what they believe of. haha :p

fiercely sticks to this assumption
hahaha :p lolz
Nipun
Nipun #29
Jul 31, 2012 at 4:15 PM
I want to post an update as to what happened.

It has now been months since my initial complaints. NONE OF THE ISSUES HAVE BEEN RESOLVED.

Here are the people I have contacted

1)Airtel support(via email and phone) - They are simply retarded and fail to understand the issue.

2)Contacted @airtel_presence -- Two people contacted me from here 1)anoop 2)arpit dixit. Both of them seem to understand the issue but NEITHER of them does anything about it. Each time they will say that something has been done but there is NO effect of this.

3)Mailed the nodal authority. No reply in 3 months.

The problem btw has now increased. I DO NOT RECEIVE MY BILLS until I request for duplicated every month. I would gladly pay online but as my email ID is wrongly entered I do not receive it. So each month I need to request for duplicate bills in order to pay then. Also as my phone number is wrong I dont reveive any alerts.

So I need help with two things.

1) How do I go about filing a consumer complaint against them and making sure that some action is taken.

2) Please suggest some alternative broadband and phone plan in Koramangala Bangalore Area.


Try complaining at akosha.com( File your feedback & complaints against Bharti Airtel - Telecom/internet service provider consumer Forum. ). Heard that they're quite good.
Flash
Flash #30
Jul 31, 2012 at 5:05 PM
If you are in twitter and airtel has a twitter handle, just go on and tweet your frustration/complaint whatever publicly. These companies care more for their brand name, than their customers.
blademast3r
Jul 31, 2012 at 11:19 PM
I have tweeted and they have tried to solve the problem. Always they look at it superficially and all they care about is closing the ticket. The solutions they provide have not worked. There is clearly some bug in their retarded system but they refuse to look at it seriously
blademast3r
Aug 17, 2012 at 2:37 PM
This is the kind of useless boilerplate replies I get from the all powerful appelate authority. I have submitted for disconnection of my connection. My recommendation. Do not do business with such rubbish companies. In 4 months my issues havent got solved. Government offices are better.

MAIL convos
---------------
This is the exact problem that I have talked about and you have repeated it again. Everytime I get in touch with someone all you guys do is provide a complaint number and do the same old set of steps. Nothing gets resolved and the complaint gets closed. The actual request the customer sends is NEVER looked into or replied.

19690642 - this compliant was registered some time back, I received a mail from your people saying the bill has been dispatched overnight. I havent recieved it. What is the point of mentioning the ticket again. I have talked about this problem from past 3 months. What has happened? Nothing. Each time you people open and close a new ticket and send a new bill copy.

Answer this question : WHY AM I FACING THIS BILL PROBLEM EVERY MONTH?? Please call me on *** if you do not understand the question.

20263848 - I already have a complaint number. THe problem here is not with you registering the complain. The problem is with what kind of action is taken after the complaint is registered. Your support staff is extremely incompetent and uncoordinated. They do not understand the problem itself . As long as connection is running at the present monent they will close the case, and not look into why there are frequent disconnections.

I did not expect this kind of replies from appelate authority.
I will repeat this for one last time. Nobody is looking into solving the issue. Each time to get bill I have to contact you? Each time my internet disconnects I have to contact you? Do you call this a good customer experience?

From: "appellate.southabts@in.airtel.com" <appellate.southabts@in.airtel.com>
To: rambhatm@yahoo.com
Sent: Friday, 17 August 2012 12:51 PM
Subject: Re: REGARDING YOUR AIRTEL ACCOUNT NUMBER 7005632004 [|BAL|Qrc217081211082910526154|]

Namaste Mr. Ram,



You wrote in on 17/08/2012 regarding non receipt of bills and internet frequent disconnection for your airtel fixed line account 7005632004.



airtel regrets the inconvenience you have experienced.



We have already registered your complaint regarding non receipt of hard copy bill. Your Reference number is 19690642 and it is under process. Our executive from relevant team will get in touch with the status at the earliest.



Also, we have registered your complaint regarding internet frequent disconnection. Your Reference number is 20263848. The issue will be resolved within 19/08/2012, 1:00 PM.



airtel appreciates your business and always welcomes your suggestions/feedback.



Please do write in for any further assistance.



Please feel free to speak to our call center executive on 121 regarding any query/request and on 198(toll free) for any complaint. You can also email at 121@in.airtel.com.

If it is still unresolved, do get in touch with our Nodal Team with your earlier request or complaint number. You may send an email at nodal.southabts@in.airtel.com or call at 080 41115338 from 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM ; Monday to Friday.

If you do not receive a satisfactory response from the Nodal Team, you may send an email to the Appellate Authority at appellate.southabts@in.airtel.com or call at 080 41115201 from 9:30 AM to 6:30 PM Monday to Friday. The Appellate would resolve your concern within 30 working days.




Assuring you our best of services
Yours sincerely
Amirtharaj
Appellate Office
Bharti airtel Limited


Your response will help us to enhance your experience with Airtel. Please click on the link below & provide us your valuable feedback on this interaction
Click here to provide feedback
*ispeed.airtel.in/iVoiceFeedback/Se...5365DAAD33556B6DE216E95E12368ABE5117594F979D3 7 8 8 9 B7B9CFF 0 7 5 5 77193F5197399FB 0 2&refno=Qrc217081211082910526154



---------Original Message----------
From: rambhatm@yahoo.com
To: appellate.southabts@in.airtel.com
Cc:
Sent: 17/08/2012 11:11:34 AM
Subject: Re: REGARDING YOUR AIRTEL ACCOUNT NUMBER 7005632004 [|BAL|Qrc214081216084310489905|]

It has now been 3 days since you said bill has been dispatched overnight. I
havent received it. Also in 4 months now i have had to contact you or customer
care each time to get my bill. I had clearly explained to you guys last time
there is some problem with the delivery. And yet you have not done anything to
rectify it. Stop giving nonsense replies about being customer centric
organization when you dont care about the customers complaints. I have already
created posts in consumercomplaints. You are forcing me to take harsher steps
with this kind of behaviour.


Yet another thing i wish to bring to your attention. My connection has been
facing frequent disconnections. I filed a complaint with cc. Somebody called me
and asked when they can send engineer. I clearly said send on saturday as i
wont be at home. Within few hours the engineer called and said he is at my
doorstep. What kind of customer support is this?
Later the evening he called and asked if connection was working. The problem
was not that comnection was working or not but frequent disconnections. He has
not done anything to solve the problem but just closed the ticket.

There is a clear problem with airtel and your support services. Everyone is in
a hurry to close the ticket without solving the issue. My four months with you
guys has been horrible only dueto support. I had previously said i am going to
disconnect my connection. I will do that by end of this month unless none of
the issues are pending and there is an improvement in the way you people handle
customer support.

Sent from my iPad
P
Aug 17, 2012 at 3:21 PM
Because Airtel have sufficient customer base. They don't care for the customers.
blademast3r
Aug 17, 2012 at 3:23 PM
^^ The only way that we can take a stand against it is by reducing that customer base by spreading the truth about their useless customer service..
RCuber
RCuber #35
Aug 17, 2012 at 3:32 PM
^^ their Quality of service for say internet and GSM network .. like stability/speed etc is really great.. The issue is their ethics and business practice.
R
roady #36
Aug 17, 2012 at 7:04 PM
damn. Which city are you from, chap? That's really bad to hear about Airtel. Once upon a time I was living with Sify broadband.. which was the worst ISP ever. Then came MTNL.. and I had to pay bill for a month despite calling up the CC and requesting them to fix my connection as i can't access net. Finally switched to airtel.. so far so good.. I have to say that CC is great. I don't care about being named in the "most valuable customer" of airtel as long as I get to SEE some solid PROOF on part of their service.

It's really weird that you had to go through all this.

From my own experience, BSNL and MTNL suck. (Delhi)
Tata, Reliance have latency issues (Delhi)
local ISPs... never.

Airtel.. big money looter.. really bad marketing campaigns.. treating us like fools in the case of airtel smartbytes. They think 8gb is sufficient for 2 mbps connection paying Rs. 800/month. Earlier it was 10gb.

And blademaster.. don't be surprised if you don't get any support from fellow Indians to do something about airtel. This is India, after all. :)
RCuber
RCuber #37
Aug 17, 2012 at 7:20 PM
I had two incidents on my Airtel GSM connection.

Once I accidentally clicked a Ad on a Android application which opened a link. I was charged Rs.30 immediately .. when I check with CC they said "you sent a SMS for activation of some 'BlahBlah' service" :| .. This is utter bull crap. I immediately deactivated it (after giving them my address for validation)

Second incident happened last week (partially my mistake too). out of curiosity I subscribed to HelloTunes. I used their website to set it. I was under the impression that hello tunes was Rs.30/month. when activating the service I skipped the "Terms & Conditions" page (sigh). result. a weird billing .. Rs 2/day .. that's double of what I will should have paid i.e., Re 1/Day. When I checked for deactivation code I couldn't find any. due to busy schedule I ignored the loss. I had it active for about 2 weeks, now after going through 121 IVR, I could deactivate it(all the service)..

Sorry for going offtopic but the business practice is bad horrendous with Airtel.
Nipun
Nipun #38
Aug 17, 2012 at 8:21 PM
damn. Which city are you from, chap? That's really bad to hear about Airtel. Once upon a time I was living with Sify broadband.. which was the worst ISP ever. Then came MTNL.. and I had to pay bill for a month despite calling up the CC and requesting them to fix my connection as i can't access net. Finally switched to airtel.. so far so good.. I have to say that CC is great. I don't care about being named in the "most valuable customer" of airtel as long as I get to SEE some solid PROOF on part of their service.

It's really weird that you had to go through all this.

From my own experience, BSNL and MTNL suck. (Delhi)
Tata, Reliance have latency issues (Delhi)
local ISPs... never.

Airtel.. big money looter.. really bad marketing campaigns.. treating us like fools in the case of airtel smartbytes. They think 8gb is sufficient for 2 mbps connection paying Rs. 800/month. Earlier it was 10gb.

And blademaster.. don't be surprised if you don't get any support from fellow Indians to do something about airtel. This is India, after all. :)


I found MTNL to be the best. I know it sucks, but other ISPs are worse. I have tried Sify(about 7-10 years ago), MTNL(5 years ago), MTS(2 years), and now MTNL again. Airtel doesn't provide any broadband service in my area so never tried it, but my cousin who had it says it was stupid too! So its like all ISPs have failed the exam, but still MTNL is topper :p
SIDDHARTH.BEAM
Aug 17, 2012 at 9:57 PM
I had never tried airtel but have tried tikona and I was unable to understand their billing cycle.
G
gump #40
Aug 17, 2012 at 11:55 PM
BSNL Rocks in my area. AIRTEL are big time fcuk ups
papul1993
papul1993 #41
Aug 18, 2012 at 7:44 AM
BSNL and MTNL both are really annoying. 7+ disconnections a day(My record is 7 disconnections in 1 hour).

My record is disconnection every 2 minutes. Beat that! And I use BSNL because there is no other isp here.
W
Aug 18, 2012 at 12:48 PM
frequent disconnections in any telephone line based internet indicates problem in line quality.unless the line is entirely damaged(very rare) all it takes is a visit to local exchange,talk nicely with line man & give him Rs.100-200 after he is done.sometimes even that is not required if problem is within the portion of line inside your house.just check for any cuts/joints & rejoin them properly after cleaning.
Nipun
Nipun #43
Aug 18, 2012 at 1:00 PM
frequent disconnections in any telephone line based internet indicates problem in line quality.unless the line is entirely damaged(very rare) all it takes is a visit to local exchange,talk nicely with line man & give him Rs.100-200 after he is done.sometimes even that is not required if problem is within the portion of line inside your house.just check for any cuts/joints & rejoin them properly after cleaning.

He also has problem of wrong bills :|
CyberKID
CyberKID #44
Aug 18, 2012 at 1:46 PM
^^ their Quality of service for say internet and GSM network .. like stability/speed etc is really great.. The issue is their ethics and business practice.
Rightly said. The issue is with their ethics. There are thousands of such things happening with us irrespective of the service provider.
There are many such incidents which happened with me using airtel for the last 7 years. Once, when the DoT overhauled the DND thing, asking the consumers to select their choice of messages. I had before that too registered for DND, but at that time, it was disabled, and I started getting messages and calls. I again registered for DND which got activated in 45 days, as said by them, and imagine, on the 46th day too, I got a marketing message. Angrily, I shot a complaint over to the CC, and to add to my agony, I got a complaint reference number and assurance that the issue will be resolved within 7 days. 7 days passed waiting, and on the 8th day, I got two marketing messages. I again called them up, and this time too the person offered to register a complaint. I angrily refused to register a complaint and demanded to talk to someone superior to him. He told me to hold the line while he transfers my call to his manager, and I waited.... and waited.... and waited......... The wait stretched over 20 minutes, and no one ever came up on the line. I disconnected, and when I again tried contacting their customer care, I found that they had modified the code to reach the customer care, and forced me to hear their adverts.
This was too much for anyone to take up. I decided to go upwards. But to whom? Had no contact details to file a complaint. Neither TDSAT had anything. Then, I stumbled upon the National Consumer Helpline. Filed a complaint detailing them about the whole issue, and imagine what was their reply? I got a docket number to track down the status of my complaint, and after that nothing happened. Got no acknowledgement, or anything from them too. They say Jaago Grahak Jaago... and they sleep themselves. So, couldn't do anything about that. After sometime, the messages stopped themselves.

One latest incident. I was travelling out of delhi, and by chance my 3G data pack had expired the last night. Suddenly, I felt need to access internet. Since, the area was not covered by 3G data services, I opted for the Rs. 10 daily GPRS rental pack. Used it that day, and when I came back that day, I just forgot to deactivate the pack, and the next day I got a message that Rs 10 had been deducted from my balance. I suddenly recollected that I had forgot to disable the internet pack last night. I tried doing it, but their application wouldn't allow me to do that. I tried for the next two days also, and tried all sorts of things to do it myself, as I didn't want to go to their pathetic CC, but failed. It didn't showed even in the VAS packs for my number. On the fourth day, I called up their CC and demanded to know the VAS packs active on my number, and to my surprise, the CC told me that the Rs. 10 GPRS daily rental pack is active. When I explained him the whole issue, and asked him to deactivate that, he told me that "OUR SERVERS ARE BEING UPDATED AND YOU WILL NEED TO CALL US BACK AFTER 4 HRS TO GET THIS DEACTIVATED." When I said that do you want me to call you up at 11 PM, as it was already 7pm, he said yes. This got me frustrated even more, and I just asked him to deactivate it right now and also refund the 20 rupees which were deducted from my account, but he replied in negative. I asked him to file a complaint regarding this, and straightaway stated that I want a refund of the balance deducted from my account, and disconnected the phone. In a few minutes, I got a message with the complaint reference number, and the next day, I got a message informing me that Rs 20 were credited to my phone's balance. What I paid for this was, that they simply disconnected my 3G data connection. The next day, when I activated a 3G data pack, I couldn't connect to the internet. I waited for this to get sorted out, as I felt there was some sort of problem with the cellphone tower in my location. 15 days passed by, and one fine sunday, I called them up again to complain about the internet and to my surprise, the CC told me that the connection is active and working. He offered to send me the connection settings, but I declined as I already had them as I regularly used internet on my phone. He asked me to turnoff my phone and turn it on again and the issue would be gone. And this happened too. Just after disconnecting the phone I tried using the internet, and I was able to do that. If this problem would have been sorted out by just switching my phone off and switching it on again then it would have been resolved on the first day itself when I switched my phone off before going to sleep.
There are a few more I have to share. But right now I thinking to get the number I'm using with my data card ported to some other operator, just to make them realize that they will lose a fixed Rs. 750 (for data) and Rs. 50 (worth of talktime) monthly from me.
P
Pavitre #45
Aug 18, 2012 at 2:19 PM
I live in Noida and have been using Airtel connection for more than 5 years now, their CC has been good in this area till now, my friend also uses airtel for 5+ years so whenever we call they come rushing within a day itself but I'm looking to change the connection due to their fair usage policy, recent increase in payment and that they have shifted their response centre regarding modem problems to some local company, which once create a huge communication gap between me, airtel and them..

So Does anyone know a good ISP in Noida plz?
N
Naxal #46
Aug 18, 2012 at 5:14 PM
Talking about business policy or ethics, here is an example of carelesness !!

Delivery has failed to these recipients or distribution lists:

nodalofficer.kol@uninor.in
The recipient's mailbox is full and can't accept messages now. Microsoft Exchange will not try to redeliver this message for you. Please try resending this message later, or contact the recipient directly.

Simply not been able to reach them in a time where free operators too give unlimited storage :p
RCuber
RCuber #47
Aug 22, 2012 at 12:02 PM
This happened yesterday. I visited my uncles place yesterday and he asked me if I can check why his balance was getting deducted.. he is 68 yrs old.

services active -
Bollywood Gossip
Hot Pix

they don't even know what a service is. all they can do is make and receive phone calls and read SMS. its very sad to see this cause they are living on pension money. even Rs30 is expensive for them .I deactivated those services. need to put their phone on DND.
CyberKID
CyberKID #48
Aug 22, 2012 at 12:06 PM
^ The companies are just interested in churning out money - By hook or by crook.
CyberKID
CyberKID #49
Sep 6, 2012 at 11:11 AM
Today, I've lodged a complaint regarding against Airtel regarding non redressal of DND complaints at Consumer Online Resource & Empowerment Centre.
I've been receiving unwanted telemarketing SMS's on a daily basis, and everyday I lodge a complaint regarding that, and till now, I've lodged numerous complaints, but Airtel has informed me of just one outcome, that too I suppose around 6 months back that the unregistered telemarketer has been issued a show cause notice. Just an hour ago, I got an SMS, and this irked me to an extent that I've taken this step. Everytime I get an SMS, I register a complaint, and most of the time Airtel fails to even provide a complaint registration number, leave alone informing me about the action status.

Complaint Text.
Please enter further details with respect to the complaint. (Maximum 2000 characters) *
Non redressal of DND Related Complaints


I am a consumer of Airtel Prepaid Services in Delhi circle. In order to get rid of the pesky and annoying telemarketing calls and SMS's, I registered my mobile number (9********9) in the DND fully blocked category in July, 2011. The DND Registration Number is S1*******0. But, even after registering for DND, I've been getting unwanted SMS's on a daily basis. Everytime I get an SMS, I lodge a complaint and till now, I've lodged numerous complaints via airtel's website as well as the via the complaint registration procedure on 1909, but to no avail. In this regard, a few months back, I contacted the customer care of Airtel, but they didn't want to solve the issue (except filing a complaint), instead they added to my woes by blocking access to customer care, when I demanded to talk to someone, managing the customer services team.
The main problem is no redressal of the complaints. The telecom service provider is required to provide a complaint registration number and inform the consumer of the complaint redressal status and the action taken on the telemarketer, but most of the time Airtel fails to even provide the complaint registration number, leave alone informing me about the action taken on the complaint. If the complaint registration and redressal is in such a pathetic condition, where the telecom service provider neither provides the complaint registration number, nor informs the consumer about the action taken on the complaint, then, it's better not to have one.
Consequences.
Describe the economic or physical damage that resulted.(Maximum 2000 characters)
Till now I haven't suffered any economic or physical damage due to this issue, but why should I wait for one to happen as a result of this?
What relief do you want.(Maximum 2000 characters)I would like to request the CORE team to kindly follow up the matter with Airtel as I am fed up of registering complaints everyday with no results, or else, kindly let me know if I need to do something else in this regard.

Though, they too are expected to take an action in 3 months. So, hoping to get rid of this. afterall उम्मीद पर दुनिया कायम है ।
CyberKID
CyberKID #50
Sep 14, 2012 at 9:59 AM
Seems like lodging the complaint worked. Got a call from Airtel's CC apologizing for the inconveinence and assurance that the issue will be resolved soon. So, in the last two days, I haven't received any promotional message.
CyberKID
CyberKID #51
Sep 19, 2012 at 6:02 PM
Update..... The complaint has forced them (Airtel Customer Care) on their heels. The CC people are calling me up since then to get my feedback on the pesky SMS issues, to ask whether it's resolved or not.
RCuber
RCuber #52
Dec 31, 2012 at 7:06 PM
This happened just an hour ago.

I had recharged my mobile with Rs 249 3G plan for 1GB data on 26th dec 2012. Today I observed that my main balance was getting deducted, as I was watching some videos on youtube and after some time I notice call cost message popup on my screen (~Rs 17 for last call blah blah) . I checked my last 5 transactions and came to know that ~Rs. 30 was deducted.

Obviously being pi$$ed I called up their CC. Asked him why my main balance was getting deducted. he said it shown in that way only :facepalm: and it would not affect my main balance. He asked me to check again. As I didn't know what my original balance was so I could not say much. Later tested and saw my balance was not getting deducted.. and Last 5 didn't show the recent data usage. I sensed something was fishy and call them up again. Now another guy picked up the call. and I went into "Totally Dumb" avatar.

Me: hi, lot of my balance is getting deducted from morning :S .. I don't know what is the problem.. can you check ??
CC: sure sir...
Me: [Interrupting] I used internet .. is that because of that?
CC: yes sir.. I see you have used internet at so and so time.. That's the reason for the deduction.
Me: Can you explain me why my main balance is getting deducted when I am having a active 3G play which was activated last week and the balance is ~950 MB+ on that.
CC: :blink: :unsure: (he checked and realised I had a active 3G plan)
Me: Hello
CC: Sir, I'm raising a issue. this will get resolved on 3rd Jan 2013. Will send your the detailed SMS.
Me: The deducted charges will be refunded?
CC: yes.
Me: thanks.
CC: Anything else I can do for you?
Me: Yes.. connect me to your Manager..
CC: Why sir?
Me: I need to register a complaint regarding the previous agent for giving false information.
CC: :confused: :???:.. okay.. let me put you on hold sir.
CC: My manager will call you back .
Me: Fine...


This is the state of Airtel and their cheating agents.
Nipun
Nipun #53
Dec 31, 2012 at 7:21 PM
They throw messages many times on mobile as if I demanded a callertone or something. On cancelling it says USSD code cancelled. How unethical it is! If a key gets pressed accidentally, the callertone will get active and balance deducted. They'll also have excuse "Sir you enabled it". :x
Vyom
Vyom #54
Dec 31, 2012 at 11:11 PM
Happened with me yesterday.

I had about Rs. 67 as balance. I put some apps to download via play.google.com. Next thing I saw after an hour, there was a popup message something like: "Last Internet Usage: XX MB for Rs 67. Current balance is 0.01". I was shocked, lol.
Called CC, and demanded my money back, since it had 2G plan already activated.

They had to refund. Today afternoon, I got a call from a lady, confirming that my money is refunded.

But the experience was a bit frightening. :|