Airtel — Poor overall service

I topped up my Airtel (Chennai) with Rs.415/- through icici mobile recharge facility at around 9 pm 24oct 08. Instead of choosing to go to the nearby shop, I had resorted to using the online facility as I was at work and had an urgent phone appointment with an important person at 9:30 pm the same day. To my dismay, I didnt get the top up message until 10:20 pm. At 10.20 pm I get a funny message ( with lots of "%20%") which I was able to vaguely make out, a top up intimation message from Airtel. Just to confirm my fears of the recharge amount, I check the balance enquiry *123# and ofcourse I get a shock.. I see I have Rs. 286.51 left;I had atleast 1 Re before recharge. And apart from the poor return of investment, in this one hour from 9 to 10 pm, I had to undergo the embarassment of asking the person with whom I had a phone appointment to kindly call me as "I had low balance"... I tried their customer care in vain.. Never did I get an option to talk to a cust care executive.. In my utter frustration, I put a no wrong when I called aircel care (Im no aircel man)... Just when I was glad to greeted by a phone operator, I discovered it was aircel, and then disappointment again..
What a poor show by Airtel.. I swear, I am ashamed to be associated with Airtel.. My next move?? Throw both my mobile and its sim card into the dust bin..(My plan is talk more plan with 49 p per call, just for information.)

C.Shivakumar,
Chennai
just in case, my email: [protected]@gmail.com (no spam please, but relevent emails certainly yes)