[Resolved]  Airtel Prepaid — Insufficient talktime on doing top-up on roaming sim

I have a sim issued for main use in the state of kerala. However I mainly use the sim on roaming. I have no std connection in my house (kerala), hence I had resorted to this option so that people can call me directly from home in case of emergency. I work from chennai, and use the sim there most of the time. On saturday (1st augutst 2009) I had around Rs. 250/- to spend on boosting my talktime. The shopkeeper wasn't sure if I could do a top-up for rs.250, so he had asked me to confirm with the customer care.

I dialed 121 and reached the chennai customer care unit. On the call I had specifically mentioned that my sim was a "kerala sim" and it was on roaming. He immediately replied that he wouldn't know about any offers to my number. Since I wasn't interested in any offers I explained to the agent that I had a max. of Rs.250 to spend; what is the max amount I can do a top-up for within this range. The agent replied that I could do an ec-recharge for rs.250, and I'd get a talktime of Rs.224 (approx).

However on doing the recharge I got only Rs.1 talktime. On calling the chennai customer care unit again I was asked to call the kerala customer care. I did so and learned that there was such a offer prevailing on my home network wherein you'd get Rs.400 worth local airtel-to-airtel calls. However I did not receive any sms pertaining to this offer from my home network prior to the day of recharge.

Later I posted my complaint to the airtel customer care email unit ([protected]@airtelindia.com). In their initial response they said that the recharge has already been credited to my account. They even mentioned that the 121 service won't work since the sim was on roaming. The email also mentioned that if I wanted to get talktime I had to do a recharge with RC 12 RC 30 RC 50 RC 150 and RC 155. Since I was in doubt if the shopkeeper had done the recharge correctly I went on to ask if the previous transaction was a normal recharge or top-up.

Their second response was exactly same as their first one. I again responded to them back sternly saying that I did not receive a proper answer to my question. Moreover I did ask them about the talk-time recharge options they mentioned in the previous mail. When I asked the customer care agent about the max value I can do a top-up to (within Rs.250) he disclosed an incorrect information. He said that I can do a top up of Rs. 250. I again asked him if this can be done via the ec-recharge way. He said yes, it was possible.

Had the correct information been conveyed to me in the first place I would have had all of this. I asked them to kindly give me the talktime or the equivalent amount via suitable means. I even said that if I received another copy-paste response I'd escalate it to the consumer court. This is not a threat; it was my right.

In their 3rd email response they were quite persistent with fact that the previous recharge has been credited to my account.

I do deserve the talktime credit to my account, or the equivalent amount sent to me via a cheque to any banks payable from chennai.

I am furnishing details for cross reference:
Customer Care request ref numbers (with date & time):
[protected] (2nd aug 2009 - 9.01pm)
[protected] (2nd aug 2009 - 10.25pm)
[protected] (4th aug 2009 - 12.46 am) - came after sending the 1st email
[protected] (4th aug 2009 - 8.01 am)
[protected] (4th Aug 2009 12.05. pm)

Email acknowledgment unique ref no.:
[protected]
[protected]
[protected]

Mobile No:[protected]

- Arun.