Video Some concerns about Airtel's DTH CC

R

random2

Adept
Some concerns about Airtel's DTH CC - It continuees .....

I am not sure if this is the right section, but it is regarding my experience buying Airtel's DTH services (well, I have not yet bought :) )

Well, it all started couple of days back when i decided that I would like to go for DTH from my crappy cable guy. I talked to my family regarding channels to choose etc.

Armed with information needed, I hit the net and got prices from the respective DTH operator's site also searched TE and couple of other forums. Finally decided that I want to go with Airtel. The list of dealer phone numbers for my place resulted in phone being non existent, switched off and finally a call which a ~5 year old kid picked up. Finally I filled in the short form in AIrtel's website so that someone can call me regarding the packages (Actually I wanted South Economy Pack which is not available for me to buy online).

Today around an hour back I got a call. The girl told me that she was calling regarding Airtels DTH connection I had requested for. So I talked to her about the particular package and she quoted me 3190 for it and she said that she had already mailed me the link for online purchase with a product ID which I could enter and do the payment. She asked me twice when I am going to do it. I told that I will make the payment later tonight and we ended the call.

After sometime, I just wanted to make sure the package was right and opened the mail she had sent me. First thing that surprised me was that her email was not from Airtel. I still thought that since most of the companies outsource such sales calls, it might be from some call center. Then came the big part. The online payment link she had sent me is not Airtel's. Its some other site and thats what made me real mad.

I am not sure if divulging the URLs is a good idea (I will, if it helps figuring out whats happening), but I have seen the two sites after this. The girl's email address is from one and the purchase link is something else. Both look like some generic sales websites for electronic goods and services. Whatever it is, I am not interested in doing any business with those websites.

The only people I have talked about my DTH plans are my wife, mother and a cousin. And I am sure none of them are Airtel's or any other sales channel agents :) The only place I have entered my information is Airtel's own website. Still I get a call, which anyway I was expecting and to my utter disbelief, the lady gives me a non Airtel url for me to buy from. I am definitely not comfortable doing a payment at a website that is not known. And I am aghast at Airtel's business practices. What are they really upto?
 
A quick search shows that vriti interactive does deal with airtel, although there are several complaints against them. Your best bet would be to call the Airtel helpline and ask them to send a rep. Or buy the STB from a local electronics shop and then call Airtel for installation help.
 
I have lost hope on CC front. i will be buying from a local shop. What I am surprised with is, I was told that the call was from Airtel and everything was presented to me as if I was directly interacting with Airtel. Only thing was, I saw the URL and realized what was happening. I am really not sure if this is the way Airtel works when it comes to sales.

EDIT: Thanks logistopath for the above comment. Actually I had just seen their website and did not feel comfortable paying through them. But after seeing your post, I googled and all I see is complaints about them. If I give my contact information to Airtel, at least the payment portal should be their own. Both the sites that i have mentioned above reek of a fraudulent system. I dont say that i might be totally conned of the money, but I can easily anticipate not very good times if I buy from them.
 
Ok, another long update on my experience getting a DTH connection with Airtel -

After procrastination for couple of more weeks, I decided to go ahead with buying a package through Airtel's 'Buy now' page - Its not the link I have mentioned above.

I did it on Friday evening i.e 20th and almost everything went well till the credit card transaction. But finally I got a page telling me this - 'Sorry! Your payment has been cancelled. Please try later.'

But to my horror, I got a message from my credit card company that i had made a transaction. I called up Airtel's cc few times only to be tossed around and was also told that the transaction would have not gone through and I wont be charged. Since it was approved and still not showing up in my unbilled transactions, I thought of waiting for couple of days.

Today I see that the payment has been done and my cc has been charged. For now, I have called back Airtel's CC again and I dont know for good or bad, the first person who received my call took all the details, and gave me a complaint number. Im pretty annoyed about this and think Airtel has next 2-3days to resolve this issue - else I will put this payment under dispute and give my business to a better player.

EDIT/UPDATE: The issue was resolved on Monday, The installation folks turned up today around 11am at my place and were done in next 40minutes or so. Checked it just now and see that its still not activated. But guess this is what almost everyone goes through.
 
Back
Top