[Resolved] Vodafone India — Disconnection of service without intimation - address verification blunder

Sagar Bangalore

from Palwal, Haryana

Address:

Bangalore, Karnataka, 560001

I gave an application for switching from prepaid to postpaid on 18 Feb 2017 and the same was activated on 1 Mar 2017 after quite some delay and me calling several times and writing to Vodafone.

On 16 Mar 2017 at about 1800hrs they disconnected the number completely without any warning. After calling customer care, they told that the address verification was negative. The only solution provided by the call center was that I visit the store and submit the docs again. Back to square one! Go and submit the same docs again? I wonder where is the logic in that? My docs and the address is still same and I have to submit same docs again? Vodafone already have all the details. Just because the person who was supposed to check my address decided to go on a coffee break instead of doing his job, why am I being harassed here for? The nearest store is 18kms away and I am not sitting idle at my house to run around submitting the same docs repeatedly. Why do they even have a call center when the only solution provided is to ask the customer to go to the store? (Same solution provided over the phone when I had the issue while converting from prepaid to postpaid) They are quite happy receiving payments online right? Why can’t they assist the customer with the same attitude while he is facing a problem? The funny part is that I have one more postpaid number at the same address (same document provided) and that person did his job and verified the address as correct. Again they cannot explain why one number is having a positive verification and another is negative. I have given the exact same documents for both the postpaid numbers. This clearly shows that the address verification executive is doing a lousy job and Vodafone is punishing it’s customers for it’s own blunders.

The person at the Vodafone store verified my original documents while taking a photocopy. Going by their reply, that the address is negative, they are saying that the address on all my Government issued IDs is also negative (logically!) This shows that they do not seem to have any respect for the Government issued IDs. People have travelled abroad (after getting visas) and they can’t verify the address as per passport!

I am aware of the regulations that require address verification and I want them to do the same too, but not at the cost of causing extreme discomfort to the customer, especially when there is a verified alternate postpaid number with Vodafone at the same address. It clearly shows the carelessness.

In addition, I have paid this month’s bill in advance and a security deposit of Rs. 300. No service provided since 16 Mar 2017 at about 1800hrs. They don’t have the courtesy to call and inform the customer. They just blocked my number and don’t care for my calls. Now they are treating me like a criminal. I wrote to them and send my ID again to vodafonecare.[protected]@vodafone.com Now they are not even replying to my mail. So much for Happy to help!

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Mar 25, 2017

Complaint marked as Resolved

Finally after a third time verification was arranged and the person came to my house, took copy of my ID card and photo of my house and said that the verification would be positive. Now the services are running smoothly.

Vodafone India customer support has been notified about the posted complaint.

Mar 20, 2017

Updated by Sagar Bangalore Update: 20 Mar 2017
Vodafone India called me at 1130hrs to inform that the connection has been restored and an address verification request made with a deadline for 23 March evening. I very much hope the person will give a call or come to my house to verify the address. Will update once the verification is complete (or) if nobody calls again and the story repeats itself!

Mar 25, 2017

Updated by Sagar Bangalore Issue Resolved:

Finally after a third time verification was arranged and the person came to my house, took copy of my ID card and photo of my house and said that the verification would be positive. Now the services are running smoothly.

My feedback & Suggestions to Vodafone India

The verification process can go both ways. The Address verification person could always blame the customer for not answering his calls and put a remark that the house was locked. The customer too could lie that nobody called. You need to have a foolproof system here. Many people have faced this issue (with other telecom companies as well) and have vented their frustrations on the public grievance websites (including me). In my case, nobody had called both the times and that led to disconnection of the service. Only during the third time, I got a call for the same. You could check my call logs. (As per law, if you require my consent for the same, you have my blessing :-). Just this small, but important formality did upset me and the connection was disconnected for 3 days. It is not the monetary loss, but with OTP system for banks, email, company VPN, it was like being on an island in the middle of an ocean. Believe me; it could be embarrassing to tell your boss that you could not login because of a negative address verification. The reason seemed made up instead of genuine. (That is exactly what happened to me, thanks to the address verification person!)

You cannot ask the customer to visit the store all the time. Some o[censored]s stay quite far away and commuting to the store for trivial issues is not reasonable. In my case, you wanted me to submit docs again as the call center could not find details while converting from prepaid to postpaid. However, after a detailed email, the needful was done without me visiting the store. Same story repeated when the verification was negative twice and I was asked to visit store again. Again, I had to write a heated email explaining my situation, after which the verification was arranged for third time, which was finally completed smoothly. Nevertheless, for the deposit amount the customer care did ask me to visit store. I explained to the person that there are four options while making payment online. Current bill amount, Total bill amount, Enter amount and Security deposit. Logically if I pay in the Security deposit link, it should take the amount as deposit right? However, the customer care person insisted I go to store in spite of telling him that the store is far away from home. In this age of 3G and 4G, it seems old fashioned and very inconvenient when there is an option online. (I have sent a query by email regarding this, but I have not got a resolution although an interaction raised – 17XXXXX34) I pay my bills online and I don’t understand what makes it so special that for security deposit I have to go to the store?

My intention is not to blame you and I sincerely hope you could avoid putting the customer through undesirable situation (like in my case) That is why I have taken this time to provide you with this feedback. I have used your services (prepaid) for a long time(when Hutch was still there), but things had never got this complicated before.