| Address: Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh |
Sir,
I wanted to cancel my postpaid connection [protected] & [protected],
When i visited the vodafone store at chintal, hyderabad the store incharge told me u can cancel after 3 months in order to get the deposit refunded, so i waited for 3 months and then went to get the number cancelled. This time at Vodafone store begumpet,
The representative there, processed the request and told me i have to clear Rs.174 to close it, which i paid and while checking the calculations i found that my deposit amount was only Rs.300 for noth numbers put together. I paid a deposit of Rs.600 for both numbers. The representative at vodafone begumpet asked me to take up this issue with the vodafone store where i paid the amount, i came back to Vodafone mini store chintal, I verified with the reciept i had, and after the talk with codafone store incharge, and i understood the amount was put into the pocket of the vodafone store incharge...
Now i went back to vodafone store begumpet and placed a complaint about the deposit amount issue, they said we will look into it and then get back to me once the issue is resolved. i wantd to cancel the account and Surprisingly they told me that i can get refund back only after 6 months !!!!!!!!!
I cleared unbilled amount (after deducting deposit amount) to close the account few days back and now they say only after 6 months deposit can be refunded
So i waited for about 15 days and then i received a call from vodafone support asking me WHY I WANT TO CLOSE THE CONNECTION, further when i verified, he said the deposit is now Rs600, and was credited to my account by vodafone store chintal (BRAIN POWER technologies)
as despoit amount 10 days back. I never received any intimation or call from vodafone though the representative told he would personally call me once the deposit issue was resolved and customer care would also call me.
I decided to take up this issue and went to meet the Grievance officer at Vodafone HEad office located in begumpet, Varun TOWERS.
In the conversation he says i should go catch the neck of vodafone mini store incharge to get the deposit amount back, and that the VODAFONE MINI STORES DO NOT belong to VODAFONE
(wow i wonder why they are using VODAFONE mini store, guess vodafone charges BRAND royalty fees for using the their name)
All the above said took about 25 days and in the mean time, my numbers are active and i was billed and the grievance officer asked me to go clear the unbilled amount and close the connection. !!!!!!!!!! i waited for 25 days for issues of VODAFONE cheating ME to be resolved and i was not informed for clearing of the bill, and when i dig into matter it was resolved, and above all the amount stolen by vodafone store guy from desposit, instead of refunding me it ws sent back to vodafone account, and in POSTPAID cancellation refund of deposit needs 6 months, so my money is GONE to vodafone, and above all i have to still PAY vodafone the unbilled amount for all this period.
I just left the numbers active without paying anything, and saved my time without roaming around looking for the customer SUPPORT which actually caused me loss of money and time. i am shifting my corporate account numbers all of them to other service provider. and i had a issue with my corporate account numbers and when speaking to customer care he told me after 90 days i can get back my refund. i.e 3 months and he is 200% sure about it and this rule did not chagne at all.
In SHORT VODAFONE does not have any customer support and what they do is CHEAT people, with just advertisements. They take money and still they want more before providing any service and over that NONE of the vodafone employees and the so called (does not belong to VODAFONE) Mini store people, know any rules or conditions and so they create their OWN rules as and when they want as per convenience.
And during this 25 days of torture, i found very interesting complaints especially on VODAFONE 3G, my simple advise to all, do not USE vodafone. (They are capable of raising Rs.2500 bill on a prepaid mobile which had 81 rupees talktime...and ofcourse you just end up paying money to vodafone and it will never END.. you keep paying paying..)
Regards,
PurnaChand
[protected]
Aug 13, 2020
Complaint marked as Resolved 
my name is ashwinder singh. my phone no is [protected].
without my constent , your has set the callertune to my number as mentioned above.& rs 40 has been deduct from my mobile. if neccessary action gas been not taken , i will surrender my number, your compnay not provided good image to customers &we have not call to any nimber bcz of low balance. i have enclosed a coy of trai guidelines
Provision of value added service without explicit consent:
[ Extracts of Directions relating to Provision of Value Added Services (VAS) to customers. ]
1. No chargeable value added service shall be provided to a customer without his explicit consent and that any value added service, which was earlier being provided free of charge, shall not be made chargeable without the explicit consent of the customer (Direction dated 3rd May, 2005).
2. In order to address consumers’ concerns relating to charging by the service providers for requests made through call/SMS for unsubscribing of value added service and provisioning of value added services without explicit through tele calling etc, the Authority has directed, through direction dated 30th October, 2007, all the service providers inter alia, to ------
provide, within one month from the date of issue of the said Direction, the facility to all their customers for registering their requests for unsubscribing any value added service by such customers ---
through e-mail or FAX or any other means (other than telephone calls and SMS);
through telephone calls and SMS made to the customer care/helpline/toll-free number (other than e-mail or FAX) without incurring of any cost for such telephone calls and SMS made by their customers;
continue to extend the facility referred to in the preceding sub-paragraph to their customers;
give adequate publicity to the facility, as referred to in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) above, by publishing complete information about such facility on their websites and by communicating the same through SMS and other means to the customers;
ensure that-----
in case of any offer for any value added service, made in writing or through SMS or FAX or e-mail, (other than tele-calling) to the customer, such offer shall contain all relevant details of the value added service offered to the customer including the charges for such value added service and seek and obtain the explicit consent of the customer, through telephone or SMS or FAX or e-mail or by other electronic means, for availing by such customers of such value added service, before activation of such value added service; and
in case of any offer for any value added service, made through tele-calling or by any other means [except means referred to in item (i) above] to the customer, such offer shall be subsequently made in writing or through SMS or FAX or e-mail, containing all relevant details of the value added service offered to the customer including the charges for such value added service and seek and obtain the explicit consent of the customer, through telephone or SMS or FAX or e-mail or by other electronic means for availing such value added service before activation of such value added service;
the consent referred to in item (i) or item (ii), as the case may be, shall be acknowledged through SMS before activation of such value added service, or immediately after such activation, and also reflect the same in the next bill, if issued to the customer, giving relevant details of the said explicit consent;
keep complete records of such explicit consent obtained from the customer for subscription to the chargeable value added services and the records of the acknowledgements of such explicit consent by the service provider, for verification, for a period of one year from the date of such explicit consent;
3. In order to address customers’ concern relating to unintentional / accidental activation of value added service through pressing of certain key(s) in the telephone instrument / mobile handset such as Press Star to Copy Hello Tunes, Out Bound Dialer (OBD) call, the Authority, directed all the Access Service Providers (including M/s Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. and M/s Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd.) on 27.04.2009 and 04.09.2009 to ensure within forty five days of the issue of this direction that --
in case a chargeable value added service is offered through pressing/dialing of certain keys in the mobile handset / telephone set, such as “Press Star to Copy Hello Tunesâ€, service provider initiated call or Out Bound Dialer (OBD) call, the service provider shall, subsequent to the pressing/ dialing of particular key(s) in the mobile handset/ telephone set by the customer, expressing his interest to subscribe to such service, convey to the customer in writing or through SMS or FAX or e-mail, all the details of the offer of value added service including the terms and conditions and charges for provision of the service and also about the fact of his having pressed/dialed the particular keys in his mobile handset for subscribing to such value added service, and seek and obtain the explicit consent of the customer, through telephone or SMS or FAX or e-mail or by other electronic means, for availing by such customer of such value added service, before activation of such value added service;
in all cases of activation of value added services, including those covered under item (i) above, the explicit consent of the customer shall be obtained by means of --------
a customer originated call to a specified number;
a customer originated SMS to a specified number;
a customer originated interactive session to a specified number; or
a request made by the customer in writing or by fax or e-mail, --- before activating any value added service;
Provided that nothing contained in this clause or in clause (i) above shall be applicable to the provisioning of a value added service if such value added service is provided by following the double confirmation process as specified hereunder in clause (A) or (B), as the case may be, namely:-
in case of service provider initiated call or Out Bound Dialer (OBD) Call, the following steps or process of confirmation and reconfirmation, including procedure for un-subscription, shall be followed for obtaining the explicit consent of the customer, for activation of the value added service, such as Caller Ring Back Tunes, namely
(Step-1) pre-recorded call is made by service provider informing the customer about the value added service and the charges therefor;
(Step-2) the caller tunes are played and the customer is told through automated announcements to press relevant key(s) in the mobile handset/ telephone set, other than keys ‘*’(star) and ‘9’, to select his choice of the song and thereby expressing his interest to subscribe the service;
(Step-3) the charges for the selected value added service is again announced and the customer is told to reconfirm subscription to the value added service by pressing ‘*’ (Star) key followed by ‘9’ key in the mobile handset/ telephone set;
(Step-4) the subscription by the customer to the value added service is confirmed through announcement;
(Step-5) the subscription to the value added service is again acknowledged through Short Message Service (SMS) immediately after the confirmation by way of announcement as referred to in the preceding step, indicating therein the charges and relevant details of the value added service such as monthly fixed charge, Ring Back Tune (RBT) download charge or its recurring charge, validity period of Ring Back Tune, including toll free telephone number for un-subscribing the service through Interactive Voice Recorder (IVR) or voice or Short Message Service (SMS), as the case may be; and
(Step-6) in case the subscriber seeks to un-subscribe the value added service within twenty-four hours from the time of its activation on the ground that the subscription to such service was unintentional or accidental, the service provider shall un-subscribe such value added service and shall reimburse or credit to the customer’s account the charges, if any, deducted or levied for subscription to such value added service;
in case of provision of a value added service through the mechanism of “Press ‘*’(star) to Copy Hello Tunesâ€, the following steps or process of confirmation and reconfirmation, including procedure for un-subscription, shall be followed for obtaining the explicit consent of the customer, for activation of the value added service, such as Caller Ring Back Tunes, namely:-
(Step-1) pre-call announcement is made about the Caller Ring Back Tune (CRBT) or other value added service, as the case may be, and about the applicable charges for such service and the customer is prompted to press ‘*’(star) key and ‘9’ key.
(Step-2) the subscription to the value added service is acknowledged through SMS immediately, indicating therein the charges and relevant details of the value added service such as monthly fixed charge, Ring Back Tune (RBT) download charge or its recurring charge, validity period of Ring Back Tune, including toll free telephone number for un-subscribing through Interactive Voice Recorder (IVR) or voice or Short Message Service (SMS), as the case may be; and
(Step-3) in case the subscriber seeks to un-subscribe the value added service within twenty-four hours from the time of its activation on the ground that the subscription to such service was unintentional or accidental, the service provider shall un-subscribe such value added service and shall reimburse or credit to the customer’s account the charges, if any, deducted or levied for subscription to such value added service.â€; and
no chargeable value added service is activated -----
as in the case of “Press “*†key to Copy Hello Tunesâ€, referred to in paragraph 7 above; or
through the pressing of “*†key or “#†key or any other key or any combination of keys/buttons in the mobile handset/telephone instrument by the subscriber,-------
either through outbound dialer or service provider initiated call or during pre-call ring-back announcements (both voice as well as automated) during a customer initiated call to a third party unless the explicit consent of the customer is obtained in accordance with item (i) and (ii) above;
music or video related value added services, such as caller ring back tune, background music, wall paper, etc., shall not be provided, even if it is provided free of charge, without taking the explicit consent of the consumer in the manner as indicated in item (ii) above;
the service provider shall inform the subscriber through Interactive Voice Response (IVR) or voice or Short Message Service (SMS) at least three days before the due date of renewal of a subscribed value added service, the due date for renewal, the charges for renewal and the toll free telephone number for un-subscribing of such value added service.
[ For more information click here Direction No. 303-1/2006-QOS dated 27th April, 2009 ]
[ For more information click here Direction No. 305-5/2008-QOS dated 4th September, 2009 ]