My Name is Martin K Frank.
I would like to register a formal complaint against the Airtel Cochin Broadband Sales/ Service Providing Team on their Unethical Practice of making Fake promises of providing immediate “Airtel Xtreme Fibre” Broadband Connection upon making full payment in Advance, but cheating the customer by not abiding to their commitment and Later after repeated follow-ups and mails to customer Care Team, Nodal officer & Appellate authority, they inform that it is not feasible to provide connection to the location, which is located at the heart of the city of cochin. (Initially they confirmed to give the internet broadband connection & collected the money after physically verifying the location and reconfirming the same)
I have recently shifted to my current location in Vytilla, Cochin. I wanted to take a new Broadband Internet Connection since my son is having daily online classes an also his Online School Final Examination were about to start.
While I was enquiring about the immediately available Broadband Services in the neighborhood, I was approached by an Airtel Broadband Sales Team Staff (Cochin Region) by name ‘Mr. Amal Rajan’ (Contact No: [protected]) on 20th March 2021.
When I told him about my urgent requirement, he assured me to provide the “Airtel Xtreme Fiber” Connection within maximum 1-2 days’ time if I pay the 3 months amount of Rs. 2828/- in advance (at 100 mbps speed). I had clearly told him that I was willing to take the connection only if he is 100% sure about providing the connection in a day’s time owing to my son’s online classes and examination starting within a day. He told me that he was 100% sure about the same.
But then, my neighbor Mr. Pramod had cautioned me about the recent bad experience he had received from the same Airtel Broadband Sales Team. He had also recently paid the full amount for taking Airtel Broadband connection at his residence believing the false promises of the Airtel Broadband Sales Team & after weeks of waiting, he had to finally opt another Service Provider and had to apply for the payment back from Airtel.
When I enquired about the same to Mr. Amal, he reassured me that it was due to some technical problem with the Airtel Connection Board and this time he had rechecked the same and had already ensured that the problem was solved. Hence, he reassured me that I would be getting the Broadband connection at the earliest.
When enquired about the Airtel DTH Connection, he told me about the Airtel Android Box service and also advised me to pay another Rs. 1500/- toward the DTH Android Box Deposit Amount along with the broadband payment, so that he would send the Airtel DTH Team as soon as I receive the Broadband Internet Connection.
Upon getting his reassurance about the Broadband & DTH connection, I paid a total amount of Rs. 4328/- (Rs. 2828/- towards the Airtel Broadband Connection + Rs. 1500/- towards the Airtel Xtreme Android Box DTH Connection) via online payment through the link that has been forwarded to me through the Airtel App via SMS. The details of the same has been provided below;
Airtel Transaction Id:[protected]
From the day of making the payment I have been consistently following up with Mr. Amal. But the only response I got from him is “I have talked to the team, but not yet got the confirmation.” As promised by Mr. Amal, I was supposed to get the connection before 23rd March 2021.
But even after checking several times with him and getting reconfirmation from him before making the payment, the Airtel team has cheated me by giving false promises, even after I told them about the urgency of the situation.
If they had at least .01% doubt regarding the delay, I would not have paid for the Airtel Internet & DTH Connection, but would have installed another connection through an alternate service provider which was easily available. Owing to the same, my Son could not write one of his exams and failed to attend his online classes.
After sending the complaint mail to the Airtel Customer Care Team, Nodal Officer & South India Appellate Officer, I received a simple sorry mail stating that it is not feasible to provide connection to my location in Vytilla, which is located at the heart of the City. It was also mentioned that I would be receiving Rs.2828/- after 7-10 working days (Even though I had paid Rs. 4328/-) as if they are doing a big favor to us. All this was done even after a team of third party sub contracted people by the Airtel came to my apartment and laid & fixed the required fibre optics cable through the wall to my room.
I strongly urge the consumer complaints forum to take necessary action against the Airtel Team, Cochin and request fair compensation for the mental trauma & pressure caused to me and my family due to this unethical practice by the Airtel Management & Airtel Broadband Sales Team who take the slightest of their chances to cheat the customers by giving false promises and snatching their money for attaining their monthly sales target. I also request to immediately credit the full refund of Rs. 4328 + necessary compensation for their act of cheating the customer.
Airtel customer support has been notified about the posted complaint.
