Location/place: Bangalore
Name of company/service: Airtel
Dear Consumer Forum,
I’m Shiva Tomar resident of Bangalore.
Me and my family has been regularly harassed by Airtel for non-payment.
The issue:
I took a Airtel broadband connection in Nov-2011, this connection was for 4 MBPS speed plan. I asked Mr. Simon who is responsible for new connections in our society, whether Airtel supports 4MBPS in our area?
He said “Yes”. ( A Fraud from Airtel.)
So I paid a deposit amount of Rs. 1399/- to airtel for the 4 MBPS connection.
But right from Day one I had technical Issues in running my connection therefore i could never use it. I raised regular complains about technical issues, so Airtel customer care either kept registering new Service request or re-opened the older ones. But the Issues were never fixed and Internet service was never consumed for the first 2 months.
The Airtel Technical folks kept asking me sir change the wire, change the modem (un-necessary expenses caused by airtel); I did as what they suggested me but the issue was never resolved. But they kept billing me for those 2 months. For which i raised a request for waiver on the first 2 month since I could never use the connection. They took months to look into that but never resolved it.
Then my connection worked for the month of Jan-2012, so i was willing to make the payment for the month of Jan-2012. But they asked me for an exorbitant amount which was because they were charging me for 3 months(Nov-2011, Dec-2011 and Jan-2012). Out of these 3 months the connection worked for the month of Jan-2012 and then Airtel Blocked my internet services for non-payment. Upon asking their customer care and billing department several times i got no help instead Mr. Sarath Babu from billing department challenged me saying sir, do whatever you can; go wherever you want we have seen enough of consumer forum. This happened when i told them that i will reach out to consumer forum if proper justice is not given.
After that they kept charging me for 2 more months, eventhough i raised a request for disconnecting the broadband connection in the begining of the month of Feb-2012 and again in Mar-2012. but no action has been taken on that also.
I escalaed this matter with Airtel Nodalcenter and all they gave me is waiver for Rs.327 which is not appropriate. Then I reached out to the Airtel applette for help which is the highest level of escalation a customer can make with the Airtel. but they also gave me the following waiver:
Month Bill Amount Waiver Amount Balance due My Point
Nov-11 Rs.761.79/ 0 0 Technical issue never resolved so serrvice was not consumed – asked for a complete waiver
Dec-11 Rs.1,555.20/ Rs.327.18/ Rs.590.81/ Technical issue never resolved so serrvice was not consumed – asked for a complete waiver
Jan-12 Rs.1,626.33/ Rs.72.69/ Rs.1,553.64/ Ready to make the payment.
Feb-12 Rs.1,776.10/ Rs.1,385.80/ Rs.390.30/ Airtel blocked the internet service – for what i’m being charged here?
Mar-12 Rs.1,111.46/ 0 Rs.1,111.46/ Airtel blocked the internet service – for what i’m being charged here?
Upon asking Airtel the same question Airtel Applette(Ms. Deepa G) said we found only 3 SRs from you, so this is best we can do. where as I raised the following SRs with Airtel. Some of them were attended but unresolved and for some i just got a autogenerated sms from airtel saying the issue has been resolved.
8181684 – Technical
9970536 – tarriff
9969660
11083456
13977770
11464466
12017836 – billing
8182534
8684092 – 3 (technical issues)
8232594
My question is – is there a bare minimum number of complains that a customer has to raise if one has to get the desired services for which the company is charging?
Why there is no logical or fact based justification provided to me ever?
Why they are harassing me by calling me on a daily basis for making the payment?
Why are they sending people at my home who do not carry airtel Id card and speak rudely with my family in my absence?
After going through all this harassment, I’m notinterested in having any kind of relationship with airtel. In addition I want proper justice here.
When i mentioned my concerns to Airtel(Deepa G) she also gave me the same response which Mr Sarath Gave me. Do whatever you can; go wherever you want we have seen enough of consumer forum.
This was a mockery on the face of customer about the Law by airtel associates who feels protected under the Airtel umbrella and the company also fails in keeping a tab on such associates. Company should be penalized for a false claim (uninterrupted 4MBPS speed), charging un-necessary amount, harassment of customer by calls and threats, not providing proper service and cheating.
I request you to kindly look into the matter and help me in getting justice.
I’d love to share all the email exchange that happened between me and Airtel but i do not know where i can upload a document. please let me know how can i share more information.
Thanks and Regards,
Shiva
9900418018
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