Airtel — Delay in Service-MNP

Address:	Mumbai City, Maharashtra, 400098
Website:	airtel.in

It all started with our decision switch to Airtel 4G using MNP facility from Vodafone (Mumbai) to Airtel (Mumbai). We went for a family plan, with my number s the primary one. The process started on 26/11/2015 through the Airtel site. Promptly a call came detailing the offers and we took an appointment with their representative for the subsequent Saturday i.e. 29/11/2015. During the appointment we gave all the necessary documents and received the sim cards for our new connections. We were told that upon the completion of porting, the sim cards will be ready for use without any delay. Post the meeting we received no update during the first week, we called up their customer care during the weekend and received a response that the request in under process. However we didn’t receive any update in the second week as well. By now basis the experience we decided it was better to continue with Vodafone. Then all of a sudden on 16/11/2015 we received a message that “The porting request validated and accepted. Porting time 16/12/2015, 23.30.00.” My number got ported out of Vodafone at that time and as instructed we tried to activate the Airtel sim that was provided but the sim failed to register on the network. When we enquired with the customer care on 17/12/2015, we were advised that the connection is active. I was further advised to visit the nearby Airtel store. When we visited the store we were curtly told by the representatives there that they have done the porting to a wrong sim no which again made me regret my decision to port out. We were told that they have registered the complaint & that the matter will be resolved in 24 hours. When we received no update, we again called the customer care the first call was disconnected or I suspect that they hung up. On the second call I repeated the entire episode to the person right from the beginning and after checking I was told that the porting will be done only by 22/12/2015. We started the process when the Vodafone billing cycle was about to end (ie 26th of every month). This process of porting took the entire cycle period. We also were asked to remit the outstanding payment which we did. Now for no fault of ours and solely because Airtel negligently activated the wrong sim, my number for last 7 years is not active. This has caused major inconvenience to me especially since this was the number that all my associates and family know of. If Airtel had invested at least a fourth of the amount that they spent on marketing, in their services division, people like me didn’t have to write long mails like this. Now I’m waiting for the 90 days to end so that I can switch back to Vodafone (not that Vodafone service is anything great, but between the two, Vodafone fares much better). Hate the Airtel experience from the beginning on account of the non-professional behaviour of their customer care. Lack of investments in proper sales and service force can destroy this company in the long run. The sooner they realise it, the better.