[Resolved] Airtel — Poor Airtel Customer Service - Unfair charges levied | |||
2-Mar-11 I had gone out of the country and when I came back in Jan 2011, I requested for retention of the same number I had earlier in 2009. It took several weeks to get my old number back ([protected]). Before going abroad, the connection was in my employer¿s name (Wipro Technologies) but now the connection is in my name after the reactivation. The connection I got reactivated already had `Airtel Live' feature already activated with it. I was not aware about this feature nor about the charges associated with this feature. The handset I had initially was a basic one without any advanced features so it did not matter to me that this feature activated. 19-Mar-11 I purchased a smart phone around March 19th 2011. With the help from the dealer, I got GPRS enabled for my handset. I was told it would be a Rs 98 plan. But still there were some settings which had not been done w.r.t MobileOffice on the handset. So whenever I tried to access internet, the access was actually happening through `Airtel Live feature that had been already been activated in my connection. 19-Mar-11 At that point I was not really aware about various plans and their variations available with Airtel regarding internet access. 25-Mar-11 As usual I was getting many SMS from customer care about the approximate unbilled usage. I immediately noticed that the outstanding balance was increasing by hundreds of rupees on a daily basis. I contacted the customer service on 25th and expressed my concerns.I was told till the bill is generated, they will be not able to find out why I was getting these SMSs on the heavy bill amount. 29-Mar-11 I was still getting SMSs on a daily basis with hundreds of rupees increase in the billed amount. I again got really concerned and contacted Airtel Customer support on 29th March and expressed my concerns. They told me to wait till the bill gets generated on 19th of April, which was 20 days later. They have recorded in their system about this conversation. 9-Apr-11 With help from one of my friends I came to know how to set up the Mobile Office feature properly installed my equipment around 2nd week of April by contacting the customer service.Even after this, Airtel Live feature was still active on my handset. 19-Apr-11 I have got a bill of 3360.32 for the month of March-April 2011 26-Apr-11 I spoke to the customer service and explained my situation. Customer Service rep told me that I have to pay the entire amount as I had actually used internet through 'Airtel Live' via WAP_ALL (Web Application Protocol through Airtel Live Login) gateway. I got the Airtel Live feature inactivated from my phone. 27-Apr-11 I escalated the issue to the Nodal officer and Apellate officer at Airtel as per the advice from Customer Service 7-May-11 Apellate office responded back telling that "We wish to inform you that the 2 GB GPRS Free @20KB/30Ps With Rental Rs 98 is active on your Airtel mobile effective 26/03/2011. As per the above Mobile Internet pack activated applications has to be browsed through Mobile Office only. We would like to inform you that based on your complaint, we have investigated the possibility of the same. Post the investigation we have found that browsing was done through WAP_ALL (Web Application Protocol through Airtel Live Login) gateway. The GPRS plan offers will not be applicable for browsing through Airtel Live. Hence we would like to inform you that the charges are valid. There is an out standing amount of Rs. 3283.19/- we request you to make the payment at the earliest." I had specifically called twice to find out why my unbilled amount was increasing by hundreds of rupeees every day. The customer service were not able to give me proper reasons and failed to advice that internet browsing was not happening through GPRS because Mobile Office settings were incorrect. They failed to tell me that Airtel Live charges through WAP_ALL gateway was hundreds of rupees for every access unlike 98 Rs for GPRS. Please advice on my next steps. Mobile number : [protected]. Account number: [protected] Thanks Guru Was this information helpful? | |||
Aug 13, 2020 Complaint marked as Resolved | |||
 3 Comments | |||
Comments
As per your comment I called 121 to find out about the resolution you have mentioned. The customer service representative indicated that as per records the charges levied are still valid.
I would like to inform again that I had called on 26th March and 29th March to find out the reason for escalating bill (unbilled) amount.
• Though 2GB GPRS [protected]@ 20KN/30Ps was activated with Rental Rs 98 on 26/03/2011 on my connection, your customer service representative did not tell me that the browsing was happening through ‘Airtel Live’ and not through GPRS.
• He did not inform me about the charges associated with ‘Airtel Live’.
• He did not inform me on how to properly set the Mobile Office settings on my handset.
• Instead he informed me to wait for another 22 days for the bill to be generated
If your customer service department does not have the necessary technical infrastructure to look and tell why the unbilled amount is increasing day by day, you need to create such an infrastrucure to properly advice the customer on what is going on instead of asking the customer do continue the status quo for another 22 days and further incur costs.
• He informed me that the unbilled amount would show high amount but discounts would be applied later as per the 98Rs GPRS plan.
• I had never requested for ‘Airtel Live’ feature to be enabled on my connection. Without my knowledge Airtel has activated this ‘Airtel Live’ service on my connection.
• So in my opinion all these charges are invalid.
I would like to inform again that I had called on 26th March and 29th March to find out the reason for escalating bill (unbilled) amount.
• Though 2GB GPRS [protected]@ 20KN/30Ps was activated with Rental Rs 98 on 26/03/2011 on my connection, your customer service representative did not tell me that the browsing was happening through ‘Airtel Live’ and not through GPRS.
• He did not inform me about the charges associated with ‘Airtel Live’.
• He did not inform me on how to properly set the Mobile Office settings on my handset.
• Instead he informed me to wait for another 22 days for the bill to be generated
If your customer service department does not have the necessary technical infrastructure to look and tell why the unbilled amount is increasing day by day, you need to create such an infrastrucure to properly advice the customer on what is going on instead of asking the customer do continue the status quo for another 22 days and further incur costs.
• He informed me that the unbilled amount would show high amount but discounts would be applied later as per the 98Rs GPRS plan.
• I had never requested for ‘Airtel Live’ feature to be enabled on my connection. Without my knowledge Airtel has activated this ‘Airtel Live’ service on my connection.
• So in my opinion all these charges are invalid.
I am curious to know what the TRAI regulations say about the following two aspects:
1. Companies like AirTel enabling 'AirTel Live' kind of 'value added services' on all connections: I believe this kind of value added services are turned ON by default in the customer's connection . If an ignorant customer uses these services accidentally (or thinking that he is using some other service) he will be charged for those services. The customer does have much of say on this since he has used those services. It is his mistake. What does TRAI say about such a revenue model?
2. Companies like AirTel not having complete details about the customer's unbilled amount. Since they don't have necessary technology with them to dig into and find out what is going on current activities on a connection and from which access points the traffic is flowng (in the yet to be billed cycle), they ask the customer to wait till a bill is generated. Till the bill the generated the ignorant customer will continue to make the same mistakes and finally ends up paying a hefty price for the service provider's technical insufficiency/incompetence. What does TRAI regulations say about such situations?
1. Companies like AirTel enabling 'AirTel Live' kind of 'value added services' on all connections: I believe this kind of value added services are turned ON by default in the customer's connection . If an ignorant customer uses these services accidentally (or thinking that he is using some other service) he will be charged for those services. The customer does have much of say on this since he has used those services. It is his mistake. What does TRAI say about such a revenue model?
2. Companies like AirTel not having complete details about the customer's unbilled amount. Since they don't have necessary technology with them to dig into and find out what is going on current activities on a connection and from which access points the traffic is flowng (in the yet to be billed cycle), they ask the customer to wait till a bill is generated. Till the bill the generated the ignorant customer will continue to make the same mistakes and finally ends up paying a hefty price for the service provider's technical insufficiency/incompetence. What does TRAI regulations say about such situations?
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airtel GPRS setting — GPRS activation not done & ignorant customer service
dear sir...[protected] is my airtel no....they are not activating my GPRS service and also not sending me GPRS setting....when i pursue to to custimercare they barred my no....its really hurting a such derogatory action froma company of such repute...
pliz help me