Vodafone India — cheat and fraud

Pre context:
Me and my family using vodafone from the time it was branded as orange/hutch in india. Since then we are loyal to vodafone. Now the story i am the gonna tell should force you to the think about your customers and overall business plan.

Story: phase 1 ~ cheating plot

As like other telecom companies in india, vodafone is also taking help of 3rd party agencies to sell there plans, sims and new customer acquisitions. So roughly approx 2 months ago i got an unfortunate call from one of the agent mrs. Radhika.

Radhika: hello sir, i am radhika calling from 'vodafone', do you have 2 mins to talk as i have a new cheap and effective postpaid plan for you.

Me: yes, tell me i am interested.

Radhika: plan is of 250rs and in that, you get unlimited calling local and std, 1 or 2 gb data per day and also with carrying forward feature etc.

Me: plan looks solid, please activate this.

Radhika: sir, to get this plan, the next day i will be sending a new sim card and the person who is going to come will do my e-verification. Once that done is done you have to pay 330rs cash to that guy and this amount will get adjusted in next bill which you will get in future.

Me: everything looks fine but i don't need a new number as my current phone number is linked to multiple accounts, banks etc hence kindly activate the same plan to my current number.

Radhika: yes sir, don't worry the new sim will get activated in next 2 days and it will have your current number over it, have faith. We will do it from the backend.

Me: ok, send the guy with sim tomorrow and i will pay 330rs.

Radhika: can you please give a few references.

Me: ok, i will share with you after the call.

Now, the next day at 2 pm vodafone sim delivery agent comes with the sim, he performed my e-verification. I paid him 330rs and he gave me the sim and told that insert the sim in the phone next day.

Till now the things were looking perfect but the next day when i inserted sim to my phone, it showed no signal. I was thinking that there must be some technical issue, so i called radhika. She told me there is some technical issue and due to that my sim verification couldn't happen hence tomorrow again she will be sending a new sim but i have to pay again 330rs for it, and she told that this will get adjusted in the future bills, hence for coming few months i don't have to pay anything as i have paid in advance.

Next day again the agent comes with the sim and i took the sim and gave him 330 cash. I thought now the problem is solved and in a few days, the new plan will get activated.

Story: phase 2 ~ the bluff game

After 2 days of getting the new sim, i again inserted it into my phone and hoped that it will work but again it showed me zero signal. I was a bit frustrated hence i called radhika again for the same, she told me the technical issue at vodafone server and will take a minimum of 1 weeks of time to get reflected. I have already wasted my 2 weeks into this process and paid rs660 till now, so i thought let's wait for 1 more week.
Again called radhika after 1week to know the status of the sim, she told me that it will happen, don't worry and disconnected the call. Again after a couple of days, i tried reaching her on call and msgs but she stopped reverting and soon her phone number got unreachable and i had no other medium to get in touch with her.

Days passed and i thought she will revert me and i was planning to call vodafone customer care for the same but then, after 10days radhika called me and said in vodafone lots of issue is happening and she left vodafone a few days back. I asked her now who will solve my issue? She gave me a reply - go to vodafone gallery or calls customer care, she can't help.

Story: phase 3 ~ sweet adjustment

I was so devastated by what just happened to me and surprisingly it was done by the great vodafone. I decided to port out from vodafone and i sent sms to 1900 with my number. The next day i got a call from your customer care executive asking me the reason for porting out, i explained to him the entire story. He told me that he will activate a rs249 plan to my current number. He then checked the system and informed that i have one more connection with my name, so then i requested him to do the same with my other number also, which is currently been used by mom. He talked with me in a great way and i finally felt that my problem got solved.
But in this full conversation of odd 30mins, he didn't inform me about any other number which is linked to my name, and i got an impression that now i have got my slate cleaned.

Story: phase 4 ~ the final nail

Though after talking roughly for 10mins, every time my call gets drop and every time when i am in my home the 3g/4g don't work. I had little hope on vodafone that with time these issues will get settled.
But since from 2 weeks, i started getting sms and calls (5-6 times a day) from your side stating that i have not paid the bill of rs937 for mobile number [protected], frankly speaking, i didn't remember this number and then i checked my records for this, the result was shocking as it was the same number which was sold to me 2 months back stating that its a plan for rs249.
I called vodafone customer care for this issue so they gave me an awesome response - sir, please go to vodafone gallery as we can't help you into this. So yesterday i went to your vodafone gallery situated in new panvel, mumbai. I explained to them the full story and the response which i got was - sir, what we can do in this situation, you liked the plan and you trusted them and took the sim, you should have asked for id proof and recorded the conversation hence we suggest you deactivate [protected] and clear your dues, that's is the only solution.

I felt so upset and cheated, that at the same moment i paid the bill for the number and service which i never used and was sold to me by a cheat method. I left the vodafone store and went to airtel shop and sent a port request.

Learning for vodafone:
Understand how your customers are getting cheated under your nose, and with these series of events, i feel they are allowed to do it and your management is also directly involved in this scam.

Just by acquiring companies (Idea telecom) won't help you in long the run. Try understanding customers problems and be there to help them when they need you the most.

But in the end, i would just request vodafone to compensate me for my financial loss, it might not indulge me to come back to vodafone but for sure it will help me to restore my faith that a bit of professionalism and humanity left in vodafone.