[Resolved]  Idea Cellular — Unethical behaviour and heavy bill amount by providing false information

Madam/ Dear Sir,

I am using Idea Cellular Ltd Postpaid services with mobile no-[protected] and I have been recently transferred to JAEDDAH, Saudi Arabia for foreign assignment so I availed an international roaming pack of INR 599 from the captioned company for discounted international roaming charges and data uses before my departure to Saudi Arabia on 16.07.2016 under which I should have been charged Rs30/- per min for international outgoing calls and International roaming on incoming calls and Rs. 0.29/10KB for data uses. However, as per my itemised bill details I have been exorbitantly charged Rs 120/- to Rs130/- per min for any international incoming or outgoing call as well as for internet charges.

Just two days after my visit I received a text message on 18.07.2016 cautioning me to pay a bill of Rs.23858/- to avoid barring a call and after few minutes my call was barred . I was shocked at the amount of bill which was beyond my financial limit to pay. I contacted several times to customer care of Idea Cellular Ltd through my relatives in India and the customer care executives were having no clue of why my services had been barred and I continued to suffer on my international trip.

After several days of continuous follow up they were finally able to tells us to pay Rs. 8000/- for restoration of services. However somehow I managed to pay Rs. 8000 and my service was reinstated only on 20.07.2016 and same day I received the message to pay a bill of Rs.18718/- to avoid barring of call and again my services had been barred immediately.

Later on in response to my e- mail dated 14.08.2016 the company replied only on 24.08.2016 that you have used the network of other company than our preferred network ''Mobily' and was the reason of such exorbitant call charges and charges for data uses.

Firstly, the Idea Cellular ltd at no point of time cautioned or intimated me during my visit neither through an-e-mail or text message that I was using the services of the other company network which is not in their preferred network list and hence I was liable for standard call and data usage charges instead of discounted charges.

Secondly, they barred my services during my international visit and hence put me in a very precarious position where I couldn't communicate to my family members and relatives for days and spoiled my whole trip.
Then I approached the Appellate Authority, Punjab, Idea Cellular Ltd on 02.09.2016 and mailed them the whole matter and my grievance, but instead of redressing the complaint and giving a point wise reply they just wrote on 05.09.2016 that as the pack was applicable only for using "Mobily" services but I have used other networks so the charges are correct. I again approached them on 10.09.2016 to give me a point wise reply but again I got a mail from their side on 13.09.2016 writing the same old story.
This company has harrassed me a lot firstly by barring my services without any prior information for a day or two then charging me a lot then by not responding to my mails quickly(my mails were responded after 10-12 days) then not giving me a point wise suitable reply to my complaint.
Therefore, I request your goodself to kindly look into the matter and resolve my grievance at the earliest as the company has not intimated me anything regarding the services being used by me and charged me heavily.
My this Idea Cellular no is still not working so please contact me on my alternate international number-[protected] or my family's number-[protected].
I shall be highly thankful to you.