I am an Airtel user since 2010. Last year in June, I received an offer from Airtel regarding securing your device. I had an iphone 7 then. I liked the offer and chose to secure my handset through Airtel secure. Neither had I changed my Airtel plan nor my mobile phone since then. Everything was smooth so far.
On 29th December morning when I woke up, I figured out that my phone was not getting switched on. I thought battery of phone would have drained and hence I had put my phone on charging. After a while I saw that it was not showing any signals of battery charging and neither was it getting switched on. This has never happened before. I tried leaving it on charging for some more time but nothing happened. Again phone was not showing any signals of charging nor did it get switched on. On 31st Dec., I decided to get my handset checked by nearest icare which is located in R City mall Ghatkopar because then I was thinking that issue may be because of the charger as well. The icare team (Maple technologies limited) asked me to submit the phone so that they can diagnose the issue. After running the diagnostic, they concluded that it is a hardware problem and hence cannot be repaired. On 2nd January 2019, I got a call from icare and they informed me about the issue and they also told me that the only option now is the replacement of this handset. As my phone was Out of warranty, I will have to pay the replacement cost. They had advised for the replacement of the handset will cost around 30, 000 Rs. Because I had secured my phone through Airtel, hence I decided to raise the claim thorough Airtel directly.
After receiving email confirmation from icare, on 2nd January, I called up Airtel team and discussed about the issue. I asked them if they can help me with the process of filling the claim. The Customer care representative heard the entire thing and explained me the process of claim over call and shared the same over email as well. As per their guidance, I uploaded the documents on 11th January as by then I had all the documents with me as per Airtel team's expectation. On 12th January, I received call from Airtel that few more documents were required to be uploaded. As explained, I uploaded more documents. On 13th January, I received a tele call from Airtel team for verification of documents I had uploaded. The Airtel team informed that everything was ok and they are processing it further. Same evening, on 13th January 2019, I received call from Airtel team stating claim has been rejected because I submitted the claim after 48 hours of damage. I tried explaining over email and over calls to the Airtel team that that, I can only log in the claim request once icare certifies that the phone is damaged. I am not an engineer who can declare that the handset as damaged. Airtel continuously kept telling that nothing can be done now as claim has been rejected.
I am feeling so cheated. I tried furnishing proofs of emails received regarding the confirmation of damage of handset. Had it been the case of such timelines of 48 hours, why did Airtel representative not inform me on very first call itself about filing the claim within 48 hours of damage. Even after providing all proofs of emails which say clearly that I received damage confirmation on 2nd January and logged the request for claim on 2nd January itself, no one is ready to listen my concern in Airtel. All what they have done is rejection my claim. I am feeling cheated as a consumer and hence request your intervention in this regard.
I checked and verified the terms and conditions mentioned on the Airtel’s website to figure out if I aam actually at fault, after reading everything in detail, I analyzed that Airtel has mentioned a process which says as below (ref. https://www.airtel.in/airtel-secure-terms):
In the Process section, they have mentioned that
“In case of accidental and liquid damage to the device, Customer is required to call Airtel call center on toll free no. 121 or login to www.airtel.in within 48 hours of discovering the damageâ€
I am repeating again, I am not an engineer to diagnose the damage of my phone, I left my phone in working condition, next day morning it was not working, obviously to get the idea what went wrong with my phone, I will get it checked at icare to analyze the issue. Only after their confirmation, I will raise my claim request with Airtel secure.
I would request you to please help me in this regard. I am a middle class person, Rs. 30, 000 matter a lot. Airtel cannot cheat like this in releasing the claim.
Regards,
Mugdha
Airtel customer support has been notified about the posted complaint.
I am very much surprised that after this complaint, the Signal automatically came on yesterday[protected].
No technician was came to solve this problem then why the Airtel Customer Support team advice me for visiting the technician? It is very much clear that Airtel is doing this type of Cheating business also.
Thank a lot Consumer Forum for the prompt action taken by you.