[Resolved]  Airtel — Bill amount paid not posted in my account

Dear Officer,

This complaint is with regards to an unposted Bill amount at Bharti Airtel Limited.

The bill payment was done by cash for an amount of Rs. 920/- on 29th November 2008 at the Airtel Marketing Pvt. Ltd at Koramangala 7th block, Bangalore at approximately 5.00 pm. Once the payment was done and I asked for a receipt, and they refused saying that I would get an SMS confirming the payment. I did get a message, but instead of confirming the payment, it said that the transaction id of '75891645' was not posted. I did not bother to go back immediately to check with them hoping that they would rectify it themselves and it was a temporary issue.

But apparently, the amount was still not posted until the next due date, which is a month later around late December and I had been to the same outlet to pay my bill. They were going to charge me two months bill plus late payment charges of the previous month. I tried explaining to them that I had made a payment last month but did not get posted due to some problem from their end. Though they deducted the amount, it was after a lot of heated discussion and they behaved very rudely.

A month later, some time in January, the problem was still not resolved. I have visited their outlet again, this time spoken to their manager. This time around, he gave me his personal phone number assuring me that the payment would be done, but in vain. Initially when I used to call him up to follow up on the issue, he would at least pretend to be interested in the problem and give me fake assurances. But eventually, when I would call he would claim he is busy in a meeting or out of station and eventually stopped picking my calls. When I would call from another number he would pick up and was so bugged with me that he used to actually refer to me as Rs.920.

Following up with them is not the only trouble, I have also called up their Customer care department at least 5 times placed at least 4 complaints. The Customer care center have also given up saying that they have visited the outlet, but the outlet have denied that a payment was done at their outlet and asked me again to go check with them.

And that’s not all, I would also get at least 3 calls a week for the past 4 months from the collections department asking me when I would pay the due amount. And each time I would have to start explaining the problem from scratch which is a time consuming factor. Nobody in the collections department would bother to go through all the complaints that I had registered with them. I cannot start to explain the trouble and the irritation that I have gone through in the past 4 months due to this payment not being posted.

I just got married 10 days ago. The day before the wedding was also not spared of the trouble these people can cause. They have barred service on my phone and this is not the first time they are doing it. In the midst of all the preparations this problem would be the last you would want to deal with and not having a phone with you can be really crippling. Giving them a call, explaining all of this to them again was the last thing I wanted to do that day, but was forced to do it, thanks to their Robust-insensitive-dumb collections department.

Mind you, I have not spoken a single foul word or abused them whenever I was talking to someone at the outlet or the customer care center. I am good paying customer and was happy with their service for the past 5 years, until now. I am really disappointed with their methodology of working and their insensitivity towards the issue. For me Rs. 920 is not a big amount, and can pay the amount again, which I did because I was fed up with all the rude collection calls who treat me like am stealing service for free, talking about the same problem over and over again to different people at the service center and following up with the manager at the outlet. I did try coping with all of this for the past 4 months hoping the issue would get resolved, but in vain.

However, before making the payment I gave a call to the Manager from the Airtel Outlet once from my phone, which as expected he did not pick. And then from another number which he did pick. I told him who I was and like reflex he referred to me as Rs. 920. Even more annoyed, I told him that I was fed up with this entire issue. I will pay the amount not because I give up, but because I need my peace of mind from all the phone calls, and that I am going to register a complaint against them in the Consumer Forum.

So here I am, asking for justice. I hope all of the above explains the problem that I am facing. Request you to please look into the above matter, get the payment posted and that I get the additional bill payment and the late payment charges that I have done for my account.