Reliance Communications — The true face of Reliance Communications - Faulty Billing and Harassing Phone Calls

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Kolkata, West Bengal

I am Deep Chakrabarti, a recently graduated MBBS physician at Nilratan Sircar Medical College & Hospital, Kolkata. I was using a Reliance Netconnect dongle for Internet usage last year for a period of about 4-5 months from April-July. My Reliance Netconnect number was [protected]. The plan I was using was NCPLUSNEWMyBestValue2GB with a monthly rental of Rs. 450 and a Credit Limit of Rs. 1000. My dongle was active till August 2014 and there was a Bill generated on 27th August, 2014, of amount Rs. 1145 with due date September 13th, 2014. I had paid the entire due amount and also talked to staff of Reliance communications at Reliance Web world, Shivam Chambers, Syed Amir Ali Avenue Kolkata about disconnecting my Netconnect number. Subsequently after I made the payment, I received another bill amount to Rs. 0, ZERO BILL, dated 27th September, 2014. Then again I had gone and visited Reliance Web World, Shivam Chambers, Syed Amir Ali Avenue, Kolkata with a copy of my ZERO BILL and asked the staff to disconnect my Netconnect number which they had assured me would be done. I MUST ADD THAT THEY HAD NOT ASKED ME TO SUBMIT ANY APPLICATION FOR THE SAME AND HAD SAID THAT A VERBAL REQUEST WAS ENOUGH FOR DISCONNECTION. I had stopped using my dongle completely by then and received no bills for the next three months and I had reasons enough to believe that my Netconnect Dongle had been disconnected as per my wish and instruction. Suddenly on the 29th of December, 2014, I received an e-mail from Reliance that a bill had been generated against my Netconnect Dongle dated 27th December, 2014, amounting to Rs. 455 with due date 13th January, 2015, which also showed that my usage was ZERO. I called up Reliance Netconnect customer care and asked them HOW THEY COULD RECONNECT AND RESTART MY NETCONNECT CONNECTION WITHOUT MY CONSENT AFTER 3 MONTHS ALL OF A SUDDEN AFTER I HAD CLEARED ALL BILLS AND DISCONNECTED MY DONGLE. They said they would look into the matter but I kept on receiving bills from Reliance for the next 3 months from December to February. The February bill was dated the 27th of February, and amounted to Rs 1177 with due date 17th March, 2015. On the 8th of April, 2015 I received a call at 12-11PM from someone who claimed to be Smt. Barkha Goswami, Phone Number - 91-[protected], an advocate at District Court, Rohini, Delhi and asked me to pay my bill my 8th April, 2015, 1 PM or else I would be served a legal notice. She had called me again at 2-15 PM and when I tried to explain her happenings of the past, she paid no heed and said that I was wasting the court’s time and that I would be served a legal notice for non-payment of bill. I have the voice recording of her phone call, which can be furnished upon request. The next morning, i.e. 9th April, 2015, Reliance sent me a fresh bill amounting to Rs. 1177. Then again on the 11th of April, 2015 I have received two calls at 3-25 PM and at 4-15 PM from someone who claimed to be Smt. Puja Mathur, Phone Number - +91-[protected], again an advocate at District Court, Rohini, Delhi. This time, I was asked to pay my dues immediately or else to come to District Court, Rohini, Delhi on Monday, 13th May, 2015 with Rs. 10, 000 as fine for non-payment of my bills. I found it bewildering to be honest that some supposed lawyer can call me over the phone, not verify her identity and instruct me to come to court with a fine. Here are the voice recordings of the two phone calls with her on that day! Additionally, I could not believe someone who can call me randomly and claim to be an advocate and ask for payment of supposed dues within a short span of time. In this age where scams are so frequent, I had no way to verify her identity in such a short time. Reliance had not contacted me in any way for the same matter. I would also like to mention that I had also received a court notice from Reliance at my address. I lodged a complaint with the Public Grievance Portal, Govt of India and also took the matter up with Reliance Netconnect Customer Care and with the Appellate Authority, Reliance Communications from the 9th of April, 2015 onwards. Eventually, I received 3 e-mails on 13th April 2015, 14th April 2015 and on 25th April 2015, each stating that MY RELIANCE NETCONNECT DONGLE WAS TERMINATED AND THAT I HAVE NO DUES REGARDING THE SAME. On the 1st of May, 2015, I have received another phone call from +91-[protected] where an unknown lady who did not identify herself and who was supposedly from “Solitaire Courier Services” called me to confirm my address and deliver a courier in my name. I found this suspicious and when I tried to contact the number back, I was told the number was “invalid”. When I searched this number on the Internet, a lot of responses came up and showed to me that this number was a Reliance Number used to harass its customers and there are innumerable complaints on the Internet citing the same number. I would not know what exactly is going on and why Reliance Communications would continue to harass me or any common customer in this way, for that matter. I do not know why my connection was reconnected without my consent and faulty bills sent to me when I had zero usage. The phone calls made to me from supposed “advocates” when I was nowhere at fault, as was the court notice sent to me. As anyone can understand, these actually have caused me immense mental harassment, and I cannot understand how or why Reliance would instruct its people to act like they did when in reality I had zero dues. Who were these guys who called me? Who instructed them to do so? Listen in to these calls and decide for yourselves. The common man can just not be forced into submission just because of what others may perceive as a lack of brawn. I thought we are living in a free country, or are we? Regards, Deep Chakrabarti deepchakrabarti.[protected]@gmail.com