[Resolved]  Airtel Iptv — Service Deficiency, Non-functioning and No-Service Availability of New IPTV service for 10 days since installation

Dear Sir,

I enrolled for Airtel IPTV Service on 04 Feb 2010 vide at my residence in Lajpat Nagar-IV, New Delhi. The Triple play Service launched recently caters to Telephony, Broadband Internet and TV over a single line.

For the installation of service, I’ve paid Rs.1750/- as installation charge with a monthly pack of Rs.999 per month which includes unlimited broadband at 256kbps speed and a landline connection. This amount paid vide cheque dated 3/2/2010 to Bharti Airtel and the same has been encashed on 9/2/2010.

My experience so far has been VERY FRUSTATING, full of agony, mental torture and all my communication is affected which has deeply hurt my family, my aged parents and my profession/patients.

The service worked initially for 2 days only. Since my complaint on 06 Feb 2010, the service has not worked at all. Me and my father's repeated calls to Airtel service centers are either disconnected by CSRs or not logged at all. I am always told that either the Server is down or the Server is getting upgraded. I’ve been talking to Airtel technical contact Mr. Anand Agarwal ([protected] – system installer) almost daily (for last 8 days) to get the service working but everyday he tells me system upgrade is not over yet.

If the service was launched recently, I fail to understand the need for a server upgrade. Why has the service been commercial when the basic infrastructure is not ready to support the triple service.

As if this harassment was not enough, I’ve received my first bill (Bill No.[protected] dated 09 Feb 2010) for the amount of Rs.2072.43/-. Airtel has mischievously added Rs.1750/- again (the same amount I already paid for installation) in this bill alongwith applicable tax charges to hike the amount of bill. This is nothing but duping the customer and using false and cheating methods to extract the money out of the consumer. I will be filing a separate complaint for the same with TRAI to bring this issue in limelight as I won’t let Airtel take consumers for a ride by not providing the service and charging doubly.

My family members are deprived of their entertainment needs as the TV is down. My kids school assignments are affected as they cannot do their research on internet and they have to spend money on cyber cafes and a family member has to accompany them for the same which causes lot of inconvenience and has upset the family schedule. My profession is affected since I cannot contact my patients for their problems or after-care since last 10 days which is adding to my loss of income.

By subscribing to this Airtel service, I seem to have enrolled for agony, if nothing else.

I want Airtel to restore my service, confirm that the service will run uninterrupted as the whole communication gets affected with this service, refund me the installation amount and compensate me for the denial of services, false hope and false promises, non-functioning of Telephone, Broadband and TV and for the harassment, mental agony and loss of income it has caused to me, my aged parents, my kids and other family members.

Also, Airtel should be directed to put in a geographic redundant system so there are no further excuses like service upgrades the whole communication needs are affected by an untested system/service. Allowing such services on one pipe is catastrophic itself in nature and such services let Airtel monepolize and take the customer to ransom by not committing to restoration of services. No Telecommunication services should be allowed to run if the Operator cannot restore it in 2-3 hrs.