Dear Sir/Ma’am,
This is to bring to your notice fraudulent practices by Vodafone India, unfortunately the consequences of which I’m bearing.
In the third week of November, I received a call from a Vodafone sales person, Mr. Yogesh (+91 8097650496) from their Andheri West Gallery, Mumbai. I was a Reliance user back then, and he inquired about my then plan. I told him that I was rental is Rs. 321, and plan includes 500 STD/Local calls, 500 SMS and 1GB 3G data. He told me that he can offer me a better plan for Rs. 399 in which I would receive 1000 STD/Local calls, 500 SMS and 500 MB 3G Data. The plan seemed attractive so I agreed to purchase it.
The very same day, they sent a person from their office who collected all the relevant documents of me and my son also (my son is a Vodafone PREPAID customer and found this Postpaid offer better)
After 2 days, I got a call from the Vodafone for verification of the documents. They explained to me that the plan is worth Rs. 499 so I told them that their executive has told me that the plan will be charged at Rs. 399, even though the plan is called ‘499’. The person who had called me said that she was not aware about any such plan.
Then I called Mr. Yogesh who gave the phone to his senior. The senior told me that under some limited period special offer that they are offering me, I shall be eligible to pay only Rs. 399 in this 499 plan. He also told me to give a go ahead to this plan when Vodafone calls me for verification again. And hence, after a few days, my Vodafone Postpaid connection started.
Next day, someone gave me a ‘Welcome to Vodafone’ call, so I told them this entire episode. She told me that she has taken my complaint. Regarding this complaint, the Vodafone Pune office gave me a call and he gave this explanation that in the scanned documents he had received, the box for ‘Special Discount’ was NOT ticked, and he couldn’t do so from his end because it was mandatory to do the same on the Originals. He further added that he will ask the concerned person who has the original documents tick on the special discount box and resend it to him. Only after receiving the same, he could put me under the special discount scheme.
After that, I received a bill of Rs. 499, and not Rs. 399 as promised. I lodged a complaint again, and the Vodafone executive said that she would get back soon. But no action was taken so I complained again. At this point of time, I was informed that I would have to visit a Vodafone gallery and have a word there. Following this, I went to the Goregaon West Gallery, Mumbai. They told me that they already had a log of all my complaints, and they even took another fresh complaint. I was then told that I would get a call from their head office regarding this.
The next day, I received a call from their head office. The lady said that Vodafone CANNOT do anything and I will have to pay Rs. 499!
A few things arise from this incident –
1. Vodafone is in a practice of duping customers by promising them false schemes and offering them something else.
2. Then they blackmail the customer because the customer has already left its previous service provider and ported his number to Vodafone.
3. When complained about the same, they are not ready to take the customer’s point of view into consideration.
This is an absolutely clear case of fraudulent malpractice by Vodafone. I’m sure there are many more customers who are suffering a similar plight.
So that Vodafone doesn’t continue with this practice, I would request you to take this case and contact the concerned authorities. If needed, they can listen to all the recordings of the complaints raised by me to ascertain the truth.
Regards,
Ravi Maheshwary
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