Vodafone — Undue & High Charges in Last Bill for VAS after Porting to another network

This is to inform you that I have been using Vodafone number +91- [protected] for several years.

Recently, I planned to shift to my new house in Siddharth Vihar, Ghaziabad, U.P. and due to poor network connectivity at my new house location; I decided to port my number and sent message on 1900 on[protected] for porting to another network. I had informed the same concern to your team while the connection was under porting process. The retention team of your company insisted me for not porting the number to another network with assurance that they will check why network issue is there at my new house location i.e. Siddharth Vihar, Ghaziabad, U.P. But, all in vein, and nothing was done to check the network issue and no support was extended to me.

So, finally I again decided to ported my said Vodafone number to Airtel and raised a message request on[protected]. I made payment of Rs. 588.82/- to Vodafone for my bill (Billing Cycle 11 Mar - 10 Apr 2022) through Paytm on[protected]. My Vodafone Plan Name was Entertainment Plus 499, and mostly every month i used to pay Rs. 588.82 as my usage was within the limits set under the plan.

At the time of porting, I was informed by Airtel Team to clear my dues with Vodafone which will include charges on pro-rata basis which will reflect in the bill generated starting from my billing cycle i.e. April 11, 2022 till my number gets ported to Airtel. My number was ported on[protected] to Airtel and I am willing to make payment of the pro-rata charges to Vodafone also.

In the month of May, 2022, I received a message on my mobile stating-
Hi! Your May'22 bill for Vi Postpaid no. 9868XXXX41 has been sent to your registered email ID - yashoda.[protected]@gmail.com. Please pay your due amount, Rs 1793.39 by the due date i.e. 26/05/2022, failing which the new payment due would be Rs 1893.39, including late payment charges. To view and pay your bill now, click https://bit.ly/ViViewnPayBill. You can also reach us on WhatsApp for billing, payment & more - click https://wa.me/message/2ONATA3W73EIP1 & say Hi!

In the month of May, 2022 itself, i started receiving several calls from your Customer Care Executives (CCEs) asking to pay Rs 1793.39/- as full and final settlement with Vodafone. During the calls, I enquired about break-up of the amount of Rs 1793.39/- and details of the pro-rata charges levied in my bill. I was informed by the CCE that Miscellaneous Charges of Rs. 1, 270.33 for Amazon Prime subscription has been levied. I asked her to reverse the charges as I am no longer using this and do not require the subscription. So, the CCE started misbehaving on call that I need to pay for it else Airtel will also stop my number and i won’t be able to use my number.

I need to bring to your notice that before enabling any value added service like any subscriptions of Amazon Prime/ Disney+ Hotstar Mobile, the same should be confirmed from customer before activating. TRAI also requires Mobile Network providers to bring transparency in offering/activating services and billing.

During the complete month of May, 2022, I had received several calls from Vodafone to clear my dues and i had requested to reverse the charges as earlier it was provided under my plan and since i am not continuing with Vodafone. I am ready to clear my pro-rata bill charges but the CCE girls misbehaved with me.

Also, I have not received any May 2022 bill on my email id with break-up of bills which has happened several times before as well. But i have been regular with my bill payments and before due dates.
It is a clear cut case of harassment, misbehaviour and undue charging from customers who are no longer associated with your company. I have also raised the concern to TRAI on the matter and will reach out to consumer forums, Social media too in case my concern is not resolved.

I again reiterate that i am willing to pay for the pro-rata charges from Apr 11, 2022 till Apr 27, 2022 i.e. date of porting to Airtel. But if i am not continuing with Vodafone and do not require Amazon Subscription, why should i pay for it as I dont require it and it was activated without my permission.

Looking for a quick resolution with a request for no misbehaving calls from your CCEs please.

Thanks in anticipation of an earliest resolution.

Yashoda Behal
[protected]