[Resolved]  Airtel — Do not disturb feature

Indian telecom regulatory board TRAI had introduced a feature to all the mobile operators that if the customer wishes and activates the "do not disturb" feature(to be provided free of cost) then no promotional calls/advertisement SMS should be sent to that number.

Despite that critical information such as company details, address, residence address, family members details etc are circulated to vendors. I got calls within a week of activating my new airtel number and got lots of call from credit card and insurance companies. (My brother who bought a similar connectio around the same time from Airtel didnt get any call. Catch: He applied as a college student!!!)

To take the DND feature of airtel, you have to send an SMS to them after which they take 45 days to deactivate the feature. In the meantime, I get bombarded with still more calls and text messages from a lot of companies for which I might have been a prospective customer.

Today after about 5 months of activation that system, I still get text messages on promotions and offers.
Worse so that I got a message from a local politician on the day before of election seeking votes (a criminal offence per se).

The customer care executives cannot explain the reason but I seriously doubt whether Airtel compromises the security of its customers by sharing/selling the vital customer information. I am writing to TRAI as well with this complaint.