[Resolved]  Tata Tele Services Ltd. — THIS JUST NOT AN ANOTHER CASE, BUT A LOOP HOLE AND FINE PRINT TATA TELESERVICES USE AGAINST CUSTOMERS

Address:	Swastik Park, Mumbai Suburban, Maharashtra
Website:	www.santanu.biz

Dear Sir,
I write this mail out of a lot of anguish. I had purchased internet service from Tata Tele Services, Mumbai. When I was billed an exorbitant amount, I asked for an explanation. I had valid reasons for my queries (see chain of mails below). I ran pillar to post to get an explanation. The only answer I got was "that the way the bill is" or "you must have used such bandwidth without knowledge". Eventually they threatened me through some third party legal dept, forced me to pay a huge compromise sum (Rs. 22,435) - an unjustified amount for a petty connection.

Sir, I would like to bring to your notice that this just not an another case, but a loop hole and a fine print that the company must have used to deceive several customers like me. Kindly, read through my case in brief -

• I already have a 4MBPs, 75 GB broadband line at Rs. 6000 / year from a local ISP with which I am happy and that is my primary connection for years.
• In order to have backup connection and to have a telephone line alongside, I chose TATA Tele Services as my secondary line with 512 MBPs, unlimited plan at about Rs 1000 / - per month
• Since TATA Tele was my secondary line and I hardy used this connection (only during power failures), I asked Tata for a better plan.
• Meanwhile, I saw a plan of Rs. 500/month from MTNL at 2 MBPS, unlimited. So I requested to terminate my TATA ISP.
• Mr. Naresh from Tata Tele's retention team called me and requested me not terminate services and offered me a Rs. 490 Plan 2MBPs limited to 10GB / Month
• I agreed because my usage never exceeded the 10 GB Mark even on my 4MBps local primary ISP
• Within 15 days my TATA Tele bill showed Rs 15,783 (attached). I was surprised and I requested immediate termination and I physically disconnected my wires.
• I got a mail from TATA Tele that read that it would take a week or more to stop the connection. (All communication in below chain of mails)
• After 15 -20 days I got the new bill of Rs. 37,391
• I talked to Mr. Naresh and he said he would get back, but he never...
• I checked my bill and discovered that in every 20 min slab the average data transfer was from 50 - 100 Units and at certain times in a 20 min slab it showed 285 Units!
• THIS IS WHERE MY ARGUMENT IS. Sir, I am a Computer Engineer and I can bet that it is technically NOT possible to download 285 MB thru a 2MBPs line in 20 minutes! There is something grossly wrong in the metering system
• OR worlds definition of GB is different from TATAs. HERE IS THE FINE PRINT. Tata must have defined GB (Units) as GIGA BAUD where B stands for GIGA BAUD - no of bits, while the world and other ISP's like MTNL's define GB as GIGA BYTES?
• In that case, I have been moved to a wrong plan by Mr. Naresh that I did not ask for!

POINTS TO BE NOTED
• Tata would never answer me back in email. Only sweet protocols through email - No evidence
• The so called legal dept is third party that does not take any cognizance of my interaction with customer care. It only threatens through different mobile numbers and does not even have a valid email id when asked for.

I was forced to cough out this amount. The legal notice sent to me in-turn stated that I was indulging in IPC 420 by not paying them. Whereas I was only waiting for an explanation. Then I did not have time to attend courts so I paid up. I don't want others to get into such trap.

Sir, Don't you feel this is a much wider problem? I am sure that you will appreciate that this issue must be addressed.

Warm Regards

Santanu Bhattacharjee