Airtel — airtel's new anti-consumer policy

I was shocked to receive an sms telling me that if i do not recharge my current unlimited pack, my outgoing will be barred from the last day of the current pack. I have talktime balance in addition to the unlimited pack... Talktime i have paid for in the past. They say if i do not recharge before my pack is over, they will deduct rs 23- from my main balance.

1. Effectively, airtel is not honouring a transaction i paid them for.

2. They are defying trai directives by barring outgoing in fact even while the pack is still valid. I believe trai ruled that a service can be barred only if there has been no activity for two months or no recharge for six.

3.in protest, the entire family is now planning to port all our numbers out of airtel - post paid and prepaid with unlimited packs, and even switch our cable service from airtel to tata sky.

It is time all consumers stood up against brands that are trying to bully them. It is better to switch to state owned operators like bsnl and mtnl whose service may be poor but at least they don't fleece customers.