Vodafone — Malpractice and unethical behaviour of managing data usage of consumer

The current data plan promises 1.5 GB per day. However, I've noticed that the data expiring without any or limited usage. This is happening more than 1 year. When complained we were told the problem is with outdated SIM and they replaced the SIM card last year. Still the same behaviour.

The phone number is of my 60 y.o mother who rarely uses the phone expect 5 to max 10 minutes of whatsapp audio call 3 times a week. I've even disabled almost all apps from running in the background, notifications, automatic backup are all turned off. Still the same behaviour and suspected manipulation by service provider Vodafone.

I bought a JIO number to compare the results, which works remarkably good and accurately. I tested it out for Work from Home, with 5+ hours of video calls, Outlook updating without interruptions and exchanging large files AND tethering on 3 devices still consumes less than 1.5 GB for an entire day on JIO. But on Vodafone just on one device within 30 mins of browsing news website (not video feeds) I receive a data alert message that only 400 MB is left, indicating I've used up more than 1 GB already. Again within exactly 30 mins I get message that I've used up the daily limit. This is a 'timed' message than based on the actual consumption. Immediately after this message is received the data speed slows down to just bare minimum.

If it happens once or twice then it is an anomaly, especially that my mum does not use any social media, messaging or video streaming platforms. So I've been monitoring the data usage and it is clear as day & night that Vodafone is manipulating the data usage. The data usage setting shows only 5.6 GB for a MONTH, where as without usage it shows a large amount of data has been used up.

Every time I try to call the customer service it won't connect. I try to chat through their app and it won't connect. Besides their ViCare App itself is filled with promos and ads, which run at the expense of customer's data. This is an unfair advantage to the service provider in advertisement revenue. But still it is Unethical and corporate looting end users who do not understand technology but have paid for the service. I strongly urge that there is an investigation/audit done on Vodafone India's practice. Please note this is not a technical support issue that Vodafone themselves can provide resolution but rather a complaint on malpractice of a service provider.