Vodafone India — Overcharging

Address:

New Delhi, Delhi, 110034

Dear Sir

I would like to bring to your attention billing issue with Vodafone and absolute ineffective customer complaint resolution process. I am reaching out to you after exhausting all efforts within Vodafone right upto Delhi vodafone appellate authority and company CEO, as you can observe from my mail trail.
1. I requested for porting my Vodafone number [protected] from Mumbai to Delhi circle on 25/09/2016 at Netaji Subhash Place, Delhi Vodafone center.

2. Mr Akash Sahrawat from Vodafone helped with the portability request and shared with me the total outstanding amount on my Mumbai circle account number to be around INR 480-490, and insisted I make payment of INR 500/- through Vodafone collection machine same time to ensure there is no delayed payment issue later on the Mumbai circle bill amount.

3. Thereafter he assisted me with making the payment through the machine. Scan of receipt generated from the machine is attached in mail trail below. This mentions credit of this amount within 24 hours of payment

4. Thereafter I was ported within 1 week to Delhi circle and as per advise from Mr Akash, I minimized my usage to ensure not to exceed the paid amount significantly.

5. Later in the month I checked through my Vodafone app that a total bill of INR 980.75 has been generated. On checking I found INR 505 pertaining to some ad hoc charge applied to same.

6. On multiple calls I made to Customer service 198 I was informed that this is some service I availed for which I have been charged and no complaint was recorded as they did not believe there is a valid reason for complaint.

7. After escalating to a senior on one of this call I was informed there was total charge of INR 505/- from Mumbai circle which was added to my Delhi circle bill. On informing that I made a payment of INR 500/- at the time of porting was curtly informed they do not find the same reflecting on their system hence I need to pay up.

8. I thereafter shared the details on receipt number etc to validate my claim and was later informed in mail that my information was incorrect.

9. I escalated this to Corporate care in delhi and received the same response.

10. Thereafter I escalated to Vodafone CEO from where it got routed to Vodafone appellate authority

11. I received a call today informing that my Mumbai bill was INR 1005/- and hence the balance after my payment was INR 505/- was added to Delhi circle bill. I requested for evidence as in my entire 5-year history with Vodafone Mumbai never received monthly bills higher than INR 700 and my surprise at how minimal usage of a week can be higher than INR 500/- as I was informed of outstanding less than INR 500/- on the date of porting.

12. Post-closing the call and in response to my query I was again sent the same delhi bill of INR 980.75/- with INR 505/- charge that I was disputing.

13. Meanwhile Vodafone appellate authority mailed that INR 505/- is billed amount for Mumbai circle and INR 475.5/ for Delhi circle which in aggregate covers my current bill amount of INR 980.75. This in itself disputes the information I received from Vodafone customer care earlier.

This appears to me a deliberate attempt of Vodafone to cheat / defraud unsuspecting customers.

I request your help in resolving this issue for me and helping me to port out immediately to Airtel as I realize the futility of continuing with such a sub-standard service provider.


I do have prior instance in 2012 when similar issue occurred when I was harassed by Vodafone supporting collection agency for an amount that they never billed me and after back and forth (in which they provided multiple random customers & not mine, bills to justify their claims) they admitted they may have missed charging me 6 months earlier and hence had to pay the amount plus late payment fees. The matter was resolved only after I wrote to senior most authorities where they reduced the late fee charges and without as much an apology requested me to pay up. They also impacted by CIBIL score for no fault of mine. I have all the proofs of same and would furnish the details if requested further. This is a serious issue as Vodafone can share anyone's bills with other customers as well as can go to any extent even after realizing their mistakes to recover additional charges from the customers.

I would really like you to consider the evidences for unethical practices followed by Vodafone in India and advertize its anit customer behavior.

Appreciate your help in resolving my current issue which despite escalations to various levels has not been resolved.

Regards
Atul Sachdeva
[protected]


[protected] Forwarded message[protected]

From: Atul Sachdeva
Date: Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 5:44 PM
Subject: Re: FW: [protected] - billing issue
To: appellate.[protected]@vodafone.com, sunil.[protected]@vodafone.com, akash.[protected]@vodafone.com

Hi Niva

I am not sure if I am dealing with intentional cheating or people who do not understand at all..

I had already provided reciept of the INR 500 amount I paid at Vodafone store through Vodafone employee at insistence of Mr Akash Sahrawat (store personnel at Netaji Subhash Place, Delhi center). In case you have not been observant I attach the same receipt again. This was per Mr Akash as payment towards covering outstanding unbilled amount on Mumbai Circle account at the date of request. I am unable to understand why the pending amount is still 505 for Mumbai circle.

The outstanding amount on date of request was less than 500 and I was ported within a week and per advise hardly used by phone...so would like to understand if my Mumbai bill was in range of INR 1000/- in Mumbai circle...which has never been in entire billing history.

The only other reason I can understand is your Vodafone center in delhi is not correct and Mr Akash who was positioned there is a crook and hence I have been cheated by him, in which I case I pursue this issue personally with him.

Few minutes back I also received a call from Vodafone where someone curtly explained to me that my Mumbai bill was over 1005 and they have received INR 500 and pending amount is from Mumbai circle. On requesting proof of that bill I was again sent the bill with 980 outstanding amount from Delhi circle which I am disputing.

I am not sure if there is special attempt to mask this issue, like I similarly experienced in such unethical behavior in 2012.

My additional request to Mr Sunil Sood was to allow me to port out of Vodafone to Airtel now that I realize I am dealing with a company with zero customer service focus.

I have already spent nearly 2 hours talking to your multiple personnel and writing/responding to your mails. Next step at my end if this is not resolved either with proof on what is pending or correction and allowing me to port out, is that I take this to TRAI as well Social and News media to fight it out.

Regards
Atul Sachdeva

On Thu, Oct 20, 2016 at 5:30 PM, wrote:

Dear Mr. Sachdeva,

Thank you for your email dated 19/10/2016 regarding the bill issue for your mobile number [protected].

As per our telephonic conversation dated 20/10/2016, we would like to inform you that Rs 505 is outstanding amount which you need to pay for Mumbai circle and for Delhi circle are Rs 475.75 and total outstanding amount is Rs980.75 inducting Mumbai circle which you need to pay.

The service request number for your reference is[protected].

In case you need any further assistance, please do call or email us. We’ll do our best to help you.
Happy to help,

Niva Sweety Topno
Appellate Office
Vodafone Delhi
Contact numbers:
For any queries call 199 (chargeable for agent access @ 50p/3min) or +[protected]standard calling charges applicable)
For complaints/requests: 198 (toll free)
Nodal office :[protected] Available between 9:30 a.m. to 6 p.m.(Monday to Friday)
Fax : [protected]
E-mail : nodal.[protected]@vodafone.com
Website : www.vodafone.in

From: Atul Sachdeva
Sent: Wednesday 19 October 2016 21:40
To: Sood, Sunil (COR), Vodafone India
Subject: [protected] - billing issue

Mr Sunil Sood

I am writing this is with extreme pain and dissatisfaction of services of Vodafone, despite being a continuous customer of Vodafone for more than 5 years.

Current Issue
I ported my number to Delhi Circle on Sep 25, 2016, and was advised / insisted to make payment towards unbilled amount (INR 500/-) as of date on my existing number, which he facilitated through your Vodafone collection machine instantly. However the same amount is billed again to me and despite repeated interactions with your customer service (Which appear least bothered to help) they do not recognize the payment made. I am attaching the receipt copy generated by machine, I thankfully retained since then to prove my case but I see no solution coming out of it

Prior instances
I have had similar issue in 2012 when collection agents were sent to chase / harass me for an amount apparently due in Jan but never billed to me till July. Upon talking to customer service for proof of billing I was sent bills of different customers (which in itself is a severe Infosec issue within your company) and thereafter they send me mail summary of details of amount which they had never billed to me. This throughout I faced discourteous behavior with all the staff involved and never received even an apology for this issue even after Vodafone discovered this was issue at their end.

At this stage I am not bothered significantly with INR 500/- overcharged to me this time, which I can even forget...I just regret my decision at continuing with Vodafone. I sincerely request you to help me cancel my portability within Vodafone (from Mumbai to Delhi Circle) and facilitate my portability to Airtel which I trust for better customer service. This request is irrespective of resolution of my case here. I do hope and expect at your levels the sensitivity to customer service is high and you would save me from ignominy of taking this to TRAI or social media, which frankly I have no intent / patience to do so.

I would really appreciate your help in resolution of my issue as I requested you in this mail. Appreciate your help.

Regards
Atul Sachdeva