Airtel Prepaid — Airtel's policy of "Recharge Anywhere Anytime" Not Working

I've always topped up my prepaid phone with airtel via ICICI on the internet. FOr last few weeks, it's no longer available yet the AIRTEL website continues to promote this as an option. Since this past Saturday (4 days now), I've tried to top up at 5 different retail outlets in Varanasi. ALL of them have been unable to do it, stating that Airtel has not balanced their accounts and they are not able to recharge prepaid phones. Seems like AIRTEL is having big problems. This is not good business. When you call their 121 customer service number, you only get prerecorded messages which have nothing to do with the problem and they give no other recourse for resolving problems by phone or on their website. It's one of the least customer service friendly companies I've ever dealt with in India. Very frustrating!!