Airtel — Airtel Network Charging for dialing 1860 series number without informing customers

Airtel is overcharging extra for 1860 calls!! on postpaid unlimited pack.

I was surprised to see in my postpaid bill that Airtel has charged for calls made to numbers beginning with 1860, even when my scheme is all local and STD calls are free in the package I am paying for.

The Airtel call centre tells me that the number beginning with 1860, is a 'special voice number'( a term they have coined themselves) and can be charged upto Rs 2 per minute.

When I check with the bank ( whose number is beginning with 1860) on whether this number is toll free or not. The bank tells me it is not a toll free number and are chargeable as local calls. If 1860 calls chargeable as local calls, then the same should be included in the free local and STD offer that I am paying Airtel for and hence cannot charge me extra!

The call centre is not willing to hear my reasoning and continues to charge me. They say TRAI has permitted them to charge for these calls. But what they do not tell me whether they can charge for these calls even when they offered the customer all local and STD calls included in the package.

When I checked other network like Vodafone postpaid doesn’t charge me for dialing 1860 series number but why Airtel only doing such things even without informing customer and I hope TRAI has permitted rule common for all the Telecom service provider.