[Resolved]  Airtel — False Promises & Irrational Billing

Address:

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

Dear Sir / Madam,

I was an Airtel broadband customer from Sep. 8, 2008 until Sep. 17, 2009. The broadband connection was provided through a land telephone .

I requested the Airtel Customer care agent ( Senthil ) to disconnect my connection on Sep 17 ,2009 as I was going out of station & didn't need the service any longer. The agent obliged & tried convincing me to make use of the landline connection to which, I disagreed. The next day I get a call again from the call centre wanting to know the reason for my disconnection of service. This agent too forced me to hold onto the landline connection & then offered me by saying that Airtel will not charge me any rental fees for the landline. However, if any calls were made it'll be charged. Trusting this gentleman, I agreed verbally over the phone.

Since then the telephone has been disconnected & put in storage. To my dismay from Nov.2009 until Jan. 2010 Airtel kept sending bills to my residence being the charge towards rental for the landline connection. The collection agent kept harassing my wife in my absence during this period on her mobile & also by frequently visiting my house. Unable to put up with this harassment ,she paid the bills till Jan 2010. When I heard about this anomaly I instructed her not to pay
any further bills of the airtel. In January 2010, my wife had visited the Plamoodu office of Airtel in Trivandrum & gave them a written application to disconnect the landline connection & withdraw the instrument from the premise. The very next day my wife gets a call on her mobile from the customer care & trying to convince her to hold onto the telephone & they’ll sort out the billing issues. My wife disagreed to this. When back home in February 2010,I spoke with the customer care agent seeking an explanation for the bills raised though the rental was free. I was advised that I've to pay for the rental as it’s not free & may be the previous agent made a mistake !!!!!!

How can an organization of your repute do such type of cheat to customers ??
I reminded the agent again to disconnect & take away the instrument which, till date has not materialized. I requested to speak with a superior in this matter & I was promised I’ll receive a call within 24 hrs which again never happened. I warned the agent that I’ll resort to legal steps if , Airtel still kept sending me rental bills for the telephone. Though, nobody came to pick up the instrument ,I did not receive any bill statements since then ( Feb 2010 ). Hoping the chapter had closed I decided to maintain a low profile even though I had paid Rs.868.99 in excess being the telephone rental apart from me & my wife being mentally tortured & harassed by your company.


The whole episode takes a different turn when I receive a letter from the Trivandrum Legal Service Authority , requesting to appear before the honourable Lok Adalat on August 8 , 2010 as per the Pre-litigation petition filed under section 21 of The Legal Service Authority Act 1987 by Bharti Airtel , Kochi.

The “charge” against me being non-payment of bills for the month of Feb , Mar , April 2010 amounting to RS. 721/= & all the more not responding to three repeat notices sent from your office.
• How can your organization falsify statements in front of the Indian Judiciary wherein, your office never sent me any further bill statements from Feb.2010 onwards ?
• How come your office claims having sent me 3 notices requesting to clear the dues when I received nothing ?
• How come I was not sent any notice from your office pertaining to this adalat rather than learning it only when I received it from the District Legal Services ?


On August 8 , 2010 @ 1030 hrs. I made myself available in front of the Honourable III Additional Munsiff’s Court Hall in the Thiruvananthapuram Vanchiyoor Court for the hearing. Mr. Movin ( Airtel Representative ) was gasping for words when I asked him to clarify certain points pertaining to this issue in front of the judiciary panel. He could only say “may be” , “I think”.... but, no clarifications to my questions what so ever. Then, came a “gentleman” to his rescue . He had no sense of basic etiquettes & started addressing me “aedoo” ( in Malayalam ) & was very rude & unprofessional. He tried comparing Airtel to BSNL to justify over my statements but, in the bargain only axed himself. As things were not going in the right direction I informed the honourable panel that I’m not willing to pay a single paisa towards this issue & I came out of the court hall once the proceedings were finished. If not for the unprofessional behaviour of the counsellor representing Bharti Airtel & the Airtel representative, Movin who had no clue on my case, I would have probably paid up two hundred odd rupees which, the panel put forwarded to me as a compromise settlement.

But, having said this .... why should a consumer like me pay for it when Airtel has wrongly billed me for no fault of mine.

I cannot imagine Bharti Airtel resorting to such cheap tricks to increase the revenue.... Probably, the management at the top rung is unaware as to how the bottom rung of the ladder is manipulating the facts to achieve their monthly targets.

I demand the following,

1. An early response to this mail clarifying all the aforementioned points apart from taking away the telephone instrument from my premise within 48hrs.

2. Refund of Rs.868.99 collected from my wife vide bill nos. –[protected] ,[protected] ,[protected] being the rental charges of the telephone.

3. Cancel the bill amounting to Rs.721/= vide bill nos[protected] ,[protected] ,[protected].


I anticipate a very positive & immediate response to my concerns.


Thanks & Warm Regards,
Binu K.N
[protected]@rediffmail.com