[Resolved]  Airtel — Erroneous internet usage charges on postpaid mobile connection

Address:

West Delhi, Delhi

I have an Airtel postpaid connection, the connection details are as under.

Mobile No: [protected]
Relationship number:[protected]
Bill Number:[protected]

There are erroneous internet usage charges in my Airtel bill for the period of 05th May 2011 to 04th June 2011. The total bill amount for May 2011 bill is Rs 122117.43 whereas my credit limit is Rs 5000 only. My average bill per month is Rs 1500.00 only.

The breakup of bill is as under:

1 one time charges: Rs 0.00
2 bill period charges: Rs 279.00
3 usage charges
Call charges: Rs 828.10
Value added services: Rs 1,09,822.10
Roaming: Rs 14.00
4 Discounts: Rs -229.30
5 Last bill period late fee: Rs 0.00
6 Taxes: Rs 11,403.53

Total charges Rs 1,22,117.43

I have been charged Rs 1,09,822.10 for Value Added Services. I would like to mention that I have never requested for activation of internet services on my mobile. As per the TRAI guidelines "No chargeable value added service shall be provided to a customer
without his explicit consent."

The bill shows internet data download of 6.9 GB out of which 6.2 GB was downloaded in a single day on 12th May 2011, which is practically not possible on a mobile internet connection. I am not a frequent user of internet on my mobile. The Data counter in my mobile is showing total data download of 7MB however the bill sent by Airtel is showing the data download of around 7GB, which is a huge difference.

The credit limit on my connection is Rs 5000. As per the TRAI guidelines, "The service provider shall intimate a postpaid customer (1) in advance about his credit limit and
(2) whenever he reaches 80% of the credit limit.
I was neither informed on reaching 80% of my credit limit nor on reaching 100% of my credit limit, even the number was not blocked upon exceeding 100% of my credit limit.

I have contacted the Airtel Nodal Officer on 7th June 2011 (Complaint Number[protected] but I did not get any satisfactory response from them. I have also written a mail to the Nodal Officer but there was no reply. I contacted the Airtel Appellate Officer regarding the same and did not get any satisfactory response from them. I have requested the below mentioned details from them.

1. Date on which Value Added Service (internet service) activation was requested on my connection and by whom.

2. The total volume of data download (in GB) as per your records.

3. The break up of Data Download and what all was downloaded from which websites, provide the website wise data download, time duration and time of download.

4. The rate at which data usage was charged.

5. How did bill exceed the credit limit of Rs 5000 on my account without any intimation upon reaching the full credit limit.

6. Why the connection was not stopped upon exceeding the credit limit.

The Airtel Nodal Officer and Airtel Appellate Officer have not been able to provided me the above requested details so far. They are just saying that the charges are valid and you will have to make the payment.

It has been 10 days since when I filed the complaint with Airtel and seeking resolution to the problem, however, nobody from Airtel is ready to look into it seriously.

It is causing a lot of mental trauma and harassment to me.

Himanshu