| Address: Belgaum, Karnataka |
Hello
I am lokesh chopra
I was using a airtel postpaid number [protected]( karnataka).
I activated the monthly gprs 98 rs pack on the 10th of april.
This gprs pack is supposed to have 1 gb of free usage and additional charges according to extra usage after this 1gb is used.
On the 15th of april i called up 121-talked to the customer care executive and asked how will i know my gprs usage. She told me i will get a warning message once i near my 1 gb.
Later i again called 121 on 24th or 25th of april, to know my usage- to find out that there is no way of knowing how much of data i had used. But the executive also told me that i will get a warning message once i reach 80% of my usage.
I trusted there info and was waiting for the warning message.
Both these calls were recorded by 121(as is usual for all customer care calls)
On the 26th of april i suddenly get a message-
"The mobile internet usage of Rs2293 till 25-Apr exceeds the free data usage for your airtel mobile.Kindly pay Rs1000 immediately for continued internet services."
I immediately turned off gprs on my set and called customer care 121 to know why i did not get the warning sms about my gprs. I was told that there is no such warning system and that i was given wrong information.
So i immediately gave a complaint and told the whole story to 121.
In the next 2 days i received similar sms but with more internet billing amounts despite having turned off the gprs on my handset-
"The mobile internet usage of Rs2918 till 26-Apr exceeds the free data usage for your airtel mobile.Kindly pay Rs1600 immediately for continued internet services."
"The mobile internet usage of Rs3405 till 27-Apr exceeds the free data usage for your airtel mobile.Kindly pay Rs2100 immediately for continued internet services."
On the 30th April i received a call from customer care executive- I explained to her, how annoyed i was at the confusion that was created due to the wrong information given to me by the 121 agent and also told her that i wanted the GPRS deactivated on my SIM for fear of continued billing (As i had recieved sms of more internet billing amounts despite having turned off GPRS on my handset).
She took it up and deactivated my GPRS service immediately without mentioning to me that i would be charged on pro data basis if GPRS was deactivated before a month was completed from the day of activation of the 98Rs pack.(I was told this after the bill was generated and i had to give a new complaint for this again).
So the first agent gave wrong info that i will get a warning message and this agent i talked to on the 30th of april failed to inform me that if i deactivated gprs in between i would be billed by there pro-data usage rules and not be given 1Gb free as per the 98Rs pack despite having crossed the 1GB.
They told me the calls will be listened to and a resolution will be provided.
The bill was generated on the 8th may. I was given a bill of 7656/- .. so i called 121 and mentioned to them that the bill had been generated and apart from the monthly rental airtel had billed me for the gprs to a amount roughly of 7000/- odd.. the executive took note of this and after several days of constant reminding and checking with 121 for the complaint status, it was confirmed by mr. Pankaj(executive) after listening to the recorded calls that i was given the wrong information by their executive. But he told me maximum he could do was give me a 500rs reduction and an additional 10% discount on the next 6months bills. I told him since this was too little compared to 6000rs(roughly), i need a better resolution. He told me it was beyond his power and gave me the airtel nodal office number.
I called the nodal office who again after several days of constant reminding told me that the resolution department will call me with a solution.
The resolution department called me and said i was billed on pro-data usage since i had deactivated my gprs in between and that the charges were valid.At this i told them that they had failed to inform me that if i deactivated gprs in between i would be billed by there pro-data usage rules and not be given 1Gb free as per the 98Rs pack despite having crossed the 1GB. This is when i found out about their billing system.( Now i am being told about the GPRS deactivation and the resulting billing?? Why not when i asked for deactivation of Gprs?? )
Since the resolution was unsatisfactory, i was given the appellate desk number.
I called them and gave them all the details. On the 21st may my problem was escalated to a priority basis (Meaning not understood- Escalation means draging this complaint, keeping it under pending status even today 24th june?? ). Whenever i called i was just told the problem was escalated to the next level and a new dead line for resolution was asked for. More waiting followed...
In between i have called to know the status, only to find that their officer asks for more days and they have thus kept missing the dead lines.
Here i am left with a sinking feeling, doubting the competence of their resolution team to provide me a solution.
How long does it take to listen to 2-3 call recordings??
Since they were unable to resolve this for so long a time, I asked for the call recordings from the appellate desk to be sent to my mail, but they are not ready to comply with this.
At times when i call, I am told i will get a call back from the appellate desk but i am left waiting with no calls...
To add to this AIRTEL had deactivated all my services on the 12th may due to bill non payment. I had clearly told them that since it was their executive's wrong info that lead to inappropriate billing, i was not going to pay up until i get a satisfactory resolution.
Airtel left me paralysed and helpless then. I was forced to take up another number and service, and forward the same to my friends and family. i have beared all this expenditure from my pocket. Not to mention that i had to constantly call up there executive for the status and bear these call charges.
Went through a lot of pain, anxiety because they failed to provide a resolution.
Now the last few times i spoke, they tell me they will restore use of my number, but why should i use it now??. I had called up ahead and explained the whole situation
to them even before they had barred all my services( may 12th i think), but they continued to bar my number/services then and now all of a sudden they are asking me to use the number again??
No!! Why should i?? When i could not rely upon your services in my time of need, i had to take up a alternate number.
