Airtel — Dongle # [protected]

Address:

New Delhi, Delhi

Hi, I bought an Airtel 3G Dongle, on 21st January 2014. I paid advance rental of INR 2550 + INR 350 (Security deposit). For two months, I tried to use it at my residence (Block-4, ODS, Lajpat Nagar-4, New Delhi 110024). But, it never managed to give me a consistent connectivity. Everytime, it either gets disconnected, or never managed to gain a bandwidth over .5 to 1 kbps. In these two months time, I haven't even used 1 MB data, as the dongle couldn't provide me with any bandwidth. I consistently called up their customer care technical team, and lodged several complaints. But everytime, I get this sorry reason, that they are looking into it and their "Backend Service Team" will call me. I never received any calls from their, so called "Backend Service Team", but their Tech team is consistent in replying that they did spoke to me, WOW. Finally, frustrated and exhausted, I called up their customer care, and give him a verbal beating. Then the truth was disclosed to me, that they are having some wireless internet service issues at my area/locality. I asked them, when will it be rectified, and they had no clue. I finally lodged a cancellation request in the last month of March 2014, and the disconnection request was approved on 29th March 2014. I again called them up regarding the refund status, and they told me that it will be done in next 60 days, as it is their corporate policy to hold in ransom, the customers money for 60 days before releasing it. And I was being told shamelessly, that two months rental will be deducted on pro-rata basis even though Airtel was incapable of providing me with any service. Today, on 25th May 2014, I called up to enquire about the refund status again, and I got the good news, that nothing will be refunded, as advance rental is not refundable. Also, no security was visible in their system. So in a nutshell, Airtel 3G Services, simply earned INR 2900 from me, without providing any services. Kudos to Airtel. I could go to the Consumer Court with my complaint, but I don't want to waste my time or energy, as we all know how efficient the system is. My simple reason for writing this post, is to bring to light the atrocity of corporates like Airtel. If they have the guts to treat customers from the nations capital like this, I can only guess the agony of customers from Tier-II and Tier-III cities. I simply warn my fellow customers, to be very sure about the service availability of Airtel in your specific locality before going ahead with any Airtel related purchases. Entry into Airtel Services is very easy, but they will suck you dry, once you try to leave their ecosystem. Arunav Talukdar...