Airtel — unethical business practices by airtel regarding international roaming and data charges

Address:

Bangalore, Karnataka

Hi,
This is apoorva p. R. And sahana c. A., husband and wife who unfortunately are airtel customers.

Airtel is cheating us who travel international by activating international roaming package (Zero rental plan) without any request from us for activation of this package and then they top up plans (Plan for zone a or zone b countries, etc.) relevant to those countries where we travel through applying daily limit pack of 499 rs and further.

Below are our bill details.
Mr. Apoorva p. R.- bill plan - 399 rs, customer id number [protected]
1. Bill period - 11/4/2019 to 10/5/2019, bill number fm2029i[protected], bill amount is 1804.04 rs
Out of the above bill amount, international incoming calls (10 pulse) is rs 900 + inter. Outgoing calls - 180 rs + mobile internet - 49 rs.
Note: mobile data was switched off during intl. Roaming and internet through airtel service was not used. So this 49 rs. Is baselessly charged by airtel.
Regarding incoming & outgoing calls, refer our general questions below.

Ms. Sahana - bill plan - 499 rs, customer id number[protected]
1. Bill period - 02/04/2019 to 01/05/2019, bill number fm2029i[protected], bill amount - 1838.74 rs
Out of the above bill amount, international roaming daily limit pack benefit at 499 rs with unlimited incoming nrc was activated on 08/04/2019 + international incoming calls (06 pulse) is rs 540 + mobile internet - rs 21.
Note: mobile data was switched off during intl. Roaming and internet through airtel service was not used. So this 21 rs. Is baselessly charged by airtel.

2. Bill period - 02/05/2019 to 01/06/2019, bill number fm2029i[protected], bill amount - rs 854.32
Out of the above bill amount, mobile internet usage 125 rs during international roaming during the bill period + late fee 100 rs for unresolved issue from previous bill.
Note: mobile data was switched off during intl. Roaming and internet through airtel service was not used. So this 125 rs. Is baselessly charged by airtel.
Regarding incoming & outgoing calls, refer our general questions below.

Out experience with customer care and questions/concerns not resolved-
1. Through series of calls to customer care, our basic question was who activated the international roaming pack for both o[censored]s and from when? The general answer we received was it is an automatic default pack for anyone, which gets activated once we start using it during international trip.
However, this is an utter lie customer care executives are giving to various different customers like us. We got to know through one of the calls to the executive (Who was helpful out of 10) that it is recorded in airtel’s database saying ‘based on customer’s request, this international roaming pack of zero rental charges has been activated….’ (We have this call recorded at our end, which we will submit if anyone from airtel disagrees with this information). Then based on this information we have asked all other executives to give us information on when did airtel receive a request on this from us/on our behalf, who’s the person who requested (Name), through what mode (Mail/sms/call) and time of request, which airtel has no answer till date. It is well understandable they cannot answer/give information on those questions, as they themselves have activated the packs to make unethical business like this and make fraud money in the name of service.
From a reputed airtel store, we gathered information that this roaming pack (Zero rental) can only be activated based on customer’s request and it is not a default service. If this pack is activated, then only plans relevant to countries of travel and daily package of intl. Roaming starts applying based on our usage.

We also noted that we received smss while landing in countries that says ‘welcome to (Country)! Opt for airtel’s international roaming pack & enjoy unlimited free incoming calls, _gb data & _minutes of free local/calls to india & _ sms at just rs. _ for 10 days. To activate, call [protected] (International tollfree) or click www.airtel.in/ir (Data charges apply)’. We asked executives when airtel gives option to ‘opt’ this package and options ‘to active’ by calling that no. Or clicking weblink through the sms we received, how do you claim that the intl. Roaming pack is automatically activated and is default? They were just reiterating what is there on our bill and claiming that to be clarification, which is not & stated that we need to pay because we used this service. They do not resolve our query for a justification that was asked on our basic questions, neither are competent enough to address and are rude + arrogant.

We certainly have to know when did airtel receive a request to active zero rental intl. Roaming pack on our numbers from either o[censored]s/our behalf + time of request, who’s the person who requested (Name) & through what mode the request was made (Mail/sms/call).

2. Strange part is, when we asked these executives how to deactivate this pack, they say that we have to call the customer care and make a request to deactivate. When we have not approached airtel in any ways to activate this pack with our will and wish in the first place (& as they claim it as automatic/default service), does it make any sense why we should approach for deactivation?

This is another indication of cheating by them, as for sure they are not going to deactivate it by default/automatic, as it applies for activation.in case we do not know this has to be deactivated by us (As we continue being blank since we have not activated), then airtel can continue charging us throughout our intl. Trips. Also, since they have fake records saying ‘based on customer’s request to activate..’, they are trying to have an authentic record by our calling to deactivate the intl. Roaming service.
We strictly need an answer from airtel when we have not activated the zero rental intl. Roaming service (With our accurate will & wish), why we should initiate for deactivation?

3. The response we got from an executive when asked as per question in point 1. Above is, if you do not want this service then you have to keep your phone on flight mode or switch off. He confirmed that airtel is providing default intl. Roaming service with those plans billed to us is prevailing from 20 years. When asked then why it was not activated on our numbers since the beginning we registered with airtel as we have been frequent intl. Travellers since years, he irrelevantly started explaining the roaming plans, which is none of our concern. He even said that airtel does not take complaints from customers and no process of complaint handling is prevalent. Is airtel kidding us? Do you see the arrogance and negligent response from its staff? The executive who spoke this way is mr. Brad on 24/05/2019 and interaction id of this call is 90381388. With lot of push from our end and with heavy difficulty, he transferred our call to his supervisor (Not sure if he’s really his supervisor) mr. Sachin who also refused to answer on our questions, asked us to pay the bills and cut the call without transferring to the floor manager, despite our request.

4. Without fail we again called customer care on 25/05/2019 and spoke to supervisors mr. Basheer & mr. Kaushik (Interaction id [protected]), who also didn’t give us information on our questions as per point 1. Above. However, we got the intl. Roaming service deactivated during this call. Mr. Kaushik assured that he has noted our request to address by airtel and we will get a call back within 48 hrs, which has not materialized till date.
After 5 days again we called customer care on 31/05/2019 and spoke to supervisor ms. Fevina (Interaction id is [protected] & [protected]) to ask about the call back request, where she confirmed no such request for call back is recorded by mr. Kaushik in their database. Look at the extent of diversified fraudulent assurances airtel staff is giving its customers and is taking customers on ride. We have all these call recordings and will submit if airtel fails to accept these conversations and misappropriate information as confirmed by its staff.

5. The intl. Call charges + mobile internet usage charges as indicated for both of our bills during the respective billing periods are invalid as explained under note there. Hence airtel should waive these charges or prove its validity. Airtel should also waive late payment fee, as the clarification on our questions is pending from their side.

6. Airtel should answer our unresolved open questions as per points 1 & 2 above and address concerns as per points 3, 4 & 5. Even though the bill amount seem small money to airtel, it is still our hard earned money and we will not give it for free to airtel for their fallacious service.

Airtel has started calling us to pay those bills, failing which they are threatening to take legal action against us. We are determined as per our point in 6 here irrespective of anything.