[Resolved]  Airtel Broadband — Installation Charges charged twice

Address:

Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh

I called Airtel as I wanted a new broadband connection, and was told that their agent would contact me. Some time later, i got a call from a man named Prakash, phone number [protected]. He came to my house on 9th October, got the SEF filled up and took Rs 2000 in CASH as installation charges. He did not give me a receipt as he said that the copy of the SEF is the only receipt. Within two days the Airtel people called to install the connection. As I was unavailable, I asked them to come later. The installation was done on 15th October. On 15th November, i got a message from Airtel saying that it was the last date for payment of the bill. I had not received any bill either by post or email, and had to contact customer care for bill details. To my horror I found out that the bill amount was Rs. 2751, even though the package I had registered for was only Rs. 1299, and the billing period was only 10 days! On checking, i found that they had charged me for installation charges as the CHEQUE I paid them had been reversed. How is that possible when I paid in CASH? My copy of the SEF clearly says that the payment was in cash.
Further, the bill says that the cheque was reversed on 13th October. If my cheque really had bounced on 13th, why did the Airtel people come and install internet in my house on 15th, TWO DAYS LATER?
Also, if the cheque bounced, shouldn't they have contacted me to inform me of that? I'm sure the people who manage Airtel are not so generous that they will install a connection without receiving installation charges, or not even try to get the money from the customer if a cheque bounces.
As I did not receive my bill at all, I did not even know about this horror till 1 o'clock in the afternoon on the last day of payment, when I received a message that it was the last day. That was the first information I had about the bill! On contacting customer care i was told that the bill had been delivered to my house and that my family member had received it. Even when i said that I had checked with all my family members, the CSR refused to believe me. She was rude and would only say that their record says that it was delivered. When I asked her the name of the person who received the bill, she said she couldn't tell me that. Do they hand over the bill to anyone they find on the street?
Similarly when I told her that I had paid the installation charges in cash, she again would only repeat that their records show that it was paid by cheque. The cheque was of IndusInd bank, where not only I but no one I know has an account. And aren't they supposed to return a bounced cheque to the customer? Or at least tell me about it?

This seems much more than an honest mistake. After reading some similar complaints on this website, I'm beginning to think that there is largescale fraud happening here. The agent who I paid can, of course, no longer be contacted as "incoming call facility to this number is not available".

Swati Kansal
[protected]