"Agonizing and Nerve racking experience"..with Airtel

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Mephistopheles

Mephistopheles

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It is really unfortunate how Airtel treats its customers. I cannot begin to explain how harassed and frustrated I'm feeling because of them.

My landline-phone connection along with my Broadband service has been stopped because of alleged "Non-payment of my bill". Its been about a month now, and no solution to my problem. My services were stopped on 12th of this month due to Non payment of my telephone bill, which I had paid their agent on 17th of the previous month and received authorized legit receipt from him. Even the money has been deducted from my bank account, but they "haven't received any payment or are unable to track my payment".

I have personally went to their customer care office, showed them my passbook as proof of my payment, given photocopies of it and Even their agent came to my place to collect a photocopy of my passbook but unfortunately nothing has changed. Their customer care people have confidently given me assurances twice, but nothing has happened.

I don't know how many times I have called them, and they have called me for asking the same things again and again, the receipt number and cheque number but to no avail.

Honestly, I'm tired of them now..and this is not the first time they have harassed me. Changing of plans without request, Charges without reason etc. I have been a victim of all. I sincerely hope they improve and stop harassing people like this. I dunno why I'm still their customer. My frustration has reached a point where it cannot go any further.

How has the experience with Airtel been for you guys?
 
Have you tried getting in touch with the Nodal Officer? Get in touch with someone senior at Airtel and threaten them with a consumer court if the matter is not solved within the next 5 working days.
 
sibot said:
Have you tried getting in touch with the Nodal Officer? Get in touch with someone senior at Airtel and threaten them with a consumer court if the matter is not solved within the next 5 working days.
Click to expand...

I had a similar experience with them when they changed my Dads plan from "All India re 1" to something of their own choice and as my Dad travels a lot he had that plan, for 4-5months he kept paying the bill (auto-debit) and one day he noticed that his bill was very high. He was refunded money after talking to someone senior.

I think, I will have to do the same now..
 
I had totally peaceful experience with my airtel BB. been using for more than a year. Till now only two downtimes. I always pay my bills online as once I had a similar experience with airtel agent taking the money but Airtel came back saying I never paid (few years ago with mobile postpaid and got that conn disconnected). everything works just fine for me now. twice my plans were upgraded (after giving call and asking for confirmation). I have airtel BB, mobile postpaid and digital TV and no problems at all (none).

maybe it is the people your locality that are playing foul. as sibot said, contact nodal officer and if possible do record the conversation.
 
Have you filed an official complaint with Airtel. They give you a complaint number. The TAT is really quick, 24 hours, you get a call back.
 
Airtel is not what airtel was and their broadband and telephone services sucks big time from the day they merge with alcatel
 
delguy19 said:
Airtel is not what airtel was and their broadband and telephone services sucks big time from the day they merge with alcatel
Click to expand...

wah wah. Have you ever used TATA or Reliance or Sify broadband or cell phones connections? You will undserstand what sucking is!!!

@OP, stick to Airtel. Though you had bad billing issue, overall it is much better than the compeition and far more reliable (connectivity wise).
 
i think the week point is the Agent in the collection Airtel network. I always pay my mobile bill in cash to a collection agent, the only one in my home town (he is an airtel franchise) i usually used to pay the bill ob the last day.; but i used to get reminder sms & phone calls from airtel reps (daily 1 for up to a week) regarding my unpaid bills!!!!i had to dictate them the recipt no. etc. every time!!!!(that was annoying!!!) this generally used to stop after a week & amazingly they used to fine me late fees in every bill (ya they used to reverse it promptly) but i guess that reflected very poorly on payment record!!! now i pay my bill 10 days in advance and the torture has stopped!!!!rest of the service is quite gud...but i feel still costly... waiting for Number portability!!!
 
All you guys who pay via agents, could you not move to an online method. Netbanking, or payment portals. It never fails. I use this method, when in Delhi every corner has an Airtel node.

OP:

File an official complaint, get a complaint number. They will follow up.
 
desiibond said:
wah wah. Have you ever used TATA or Reliance or Sify broadband or cell phones connections? You will undserstand what sucking is!!!

@OP, stick to Airtel. Though you had bad billing issue, overall it is much better than the compeition and far more reliable (connectivity wise).
Click to expand...

ha ha well i am using airtel from last 6 years and i have seen and know what airtel was and what airtel is.
 
asingh said:
Have you filed an official complaint with Airtel. They give you a complaint number. The TAT is really quick, 24 hours, you get a call back.
Click to expand...

Exactly the best and fastest possible way to get things resolved is to put an official complaint on their website.

If that also doesn't solve anything for you then nodal officer is the way to go.

I have faced similar problems with my prepaid and 100% of the time, filing a complaint helps.
 
@OP, just came across this thread... if it has been going on for long and repeatedly how about you start documenting this stuff? do you get paper bills? do you pay cash and collect receipts and/or pay via credit card / netbanking? you have documented proof (in writing i guess) that you have paid yet airtel has no proof you requested any plan changes meaning you have good ammo to sue them nicely and make THEM pay you for a change :) get a lawyer, make the lawyer run around for you and in return offer him a nice percentage of any amount you win in court... just my 2 cents.

edit: especially, grab your mobile phone and start recording video of these "collection agents" who come and ask for money, and also record yourself paying them and collecting the receipt (with date written on it) then you have the bill from airtel with late fees/whatever.... and so on and so forth... you see?
 
been with Airtel since 2005. i've only had one problem in all these years... frequent disconnection of modem. it took them a long time to fix it but after they did, i haven't had any problems since.

instead of calling up customer care, use email. i find that even though it's slower by a day or so, it's more effective.

also, i'd advise paying to collection agents for anything, not just your broadband,
 
desiibond said:
wah wah. Have you ever used TATA or Reliance or Sify broadband or cell phones connections? You will undserstand what sucking is!!!

@OP, stick to Airtel. Though you had bad billing issue, overall it is much better than the compeition and far more reliable (connectivity wise).
Click to expand...

What are you talking about? I've had Reliance Broadband since the last 7 years, and have never had a problem. Very rarely have I had any downtimes, plus speeds are consistent. Perfect for my online gaming and torrent downloads.
 
calamine said:
send an email to care.punjab@airtel.in with cc to nodal.punjab@airtel.in and appellate.punjab@airtel.in

or u can also give a call
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your help, much appreciated

vishalrao said:
@OP, just came across this thread... if it has been going on for long and repeatedly how about you start documenting this stuff? do you get paper bills? do you pay cash and collect receipts and/or pay via credit card / netbanking? you have documented proof (in writing i guess) that you have paid yet airtel has no proof you requested any plan changes meaning you have good ammo to sue them nicely and make THEM pay you for a change :) get a lawyer, make the lawyer run around for you and in return offer him a nice percentage of any amount you win in court... just my 2 cents.

edit: especially, grab your mobile phone and start recording video of these "collection agents" who come and ask for money, and also record yourself paying them and collecting the receipt (with date written on it) then you have the bill from airtel with late fees/whatever.... and so on and so forth... you see?
Click to expand...

Well, the "uncalled for changing of my mobile plan issue" has been resolved now and they paid me back what extra I had been paying. (Well, this issue was with my Dads mobile phone).

And going to the consumer court requires patience and time, which Im all out of and I think the issue should get resolved til I seriously start considering to sue them.

ashr said:
been with Airtel since 2005. i've only had one problem in all these years... frequent disconnection of modem. it took them a long time to fix it but after they did, i haven't had any problems since.

instead of calling up customer care, use email. i find that even though it's slower by a day or so, it's more effective.

also, i'd advise paying to collection agents for anything, not just your broadband,
Click to expand...

Emailed them, no response yet.

desiibond said:
wah wah. Have you ever used TATA or Reliance or Sify broadband or cell phones connections? You will undserstand what sucking is!!!

@OP, stick to Airtel. Though you had bad billing issue, overall it is much better than the compeition and far more reliable (connectivity wise).
Click to expand...

Yeah I know, that is the reason I am still with Airtel, and the BB plan I have is quite good and I couldn't find a similar or better one for the price in my region. (1299 plan, 512/1mbps UL)
 
Recently faced an issue with some extra charges that appeared on the bill.

Contacted Airtel CS, they simply issued a complaint no. and weren't of much help.

Sent an *appropriate* mail to the Nodal Officer & Appellate, necessary action was taken in 3 days time, issue was sorted out over the phone.

From my experience, if you have a simple rather common problem, it will be taken care of asap, rather effortlessly. A little out of the box and you'll get the run around! That's when you NEED to contact the senior officials.

These things apart, their services are pretty decent.
 
Whistle-blowing Airtel’s Humongous MARKETING & BILLING SCAM

Selective Online stories of Customer woes against Airtel
Reveals
How rigorous and consistent swindling of small amounts through “Sensuous lip- service marketingâ€, utter disregard to TRAI billing norms and ably backed up by COCKROACH APPROACH to customer service, day after day, month after month, since 1996 made the Airtel Empire today!)

While I was browsing online to air-and-share my experience with Airtel, stumbled upon (Typing Airtel+fraud or Airtel+cheat in Google) their consistent and systematic swindling of retail customers, most of whom have silently borne their brunt. For many, like the first listing below, it has been an awful and disgusting experience.

The list of pages and the individual listings would require years to read! I made a sample study after going through 100’s of pages – Primarily understood the magnitude of this SCAM, done without batting an eye-lid, year after year.) Here are the voices of some of them…

My Experience With Airtel Broadband in Jaipur, India (This gentleman has, hit the nail-on-the- head, much before anyone, isn’t it?)
My Experience With Airtel Broadband in Jaipur, India | Consumer Blog
And some samples…
Airtel cheated me
Airtel Cheated me - Right to Information
Feel CHEATED by AIRTEL
http://www.techenclave.com/broadband-forum/feel-cheated-by-airtel-134215-2.html
Double Billing
Airtel Complaints - Double Billing,
Airtel Complaints - ISD Activation
Airtel Complaints - ISD Activation
Airtel Prepaid Fraud
Airtel Broadband: Not Fair but Fraud!
Airtel Prepaid Fraud - Arya, Manish Kumar
Bharti Airtel ventures into Retail Fraud
Bharti Airtel ventures into Retail Fraud Views and Reviews
AIRTEL fraud-- illegal deduction of money from balance
Consumer Complaint | AIRTEL fraud-- illegal deduction of money from balances
Airtel datacard fraud
airtel datacard fraud
Airtel FRAUD
Airtel FRAUD - Consumer Law in India | LawGuru Answers
Airtel cheats NRIs with lame tricks: Airtell CallHome
Airtel cheats NRIs with lame tricks: Airtell CallHome Rashmi Ranjan Padhy | Unleashed
AIRTEL FRAUD – Moving to Consumer Court!
SRIVIEWS : Movies Gadgets Celebs AIRTEL FRAUD – Moving to Consumer Court!
Some Assorted complaints
Airtel in - Reviews and Complaints
Airtel Service – BAD, BAD, BAD, Really BAD! The World as I see it
Airtel Complaints - AirTel cheating everyone in India!
Innocent techie in jail, sues Airtel for Rs. 20 Crores!
Innocent techie in jail, sues Airtel for Rs. 20 Crores - SiliconIndia
Airtel Cheating Customer and Irrate Service
Airtel Cheating Customer and Irrate Service
Airtel's cheap cheating tricks
Airtel's cheap cheating tricks - My Scribblings
How Airtel increases it revenues by cheating customers?
How Airtel increases it revenues by cheating customers? | Customer & Management Blog

… The listings go on and on, tens of thousands, from the Techies to the Entrepreneur to the common man- Again, these are only online forums. We can safely multiply this number by 1000 or 10,000 to include the offline customer woes, from Karnal to Kanyakumari, off-and-on the Consumer Courts/forums as well. The wise-men in GOI and TRAI and the millions of Indian’s dream are for last-mile connectivity at affordable cost – “Unlimited broadband connectivity to everyone†is H.E. Abdul Kalam’s dream! Awesome– However, if that happens, imagine the plight of our ‘good-natured rural folks’, who give us FOOD to survive, won’t have any clue to this ‘systematic swindling’ of gullible customers by Private operators like Airtel. Coming to think of that, “Why we always make fun off, turn cynical, berate the value-driven Public Sector folks, when only some(Like in any society, any walk of life) could be “value-less� And again, even that aggregation of all that amassment would ‘pale in comparison’ to this astronomical sum, auditors would arrive at investigating this billing scam. And, Airtel may not be alone!. That’s upto the wise men in TRAI and the Judiciary to find out and advise the NATION.

In conclusion, value-less organizations like Airtel, are modern day Gajni Mohd’s(sic) (read plunderers of wealth), with all the sweetness in the mouth, “waiting like a shark to catch the preyâ€, with all the tact, money and sometimes even muscle power, with absolutely no values governing them, in order to be in the rat-race(sic) and stay numero Uno! Should we have to wait for the ‘Karma effect’ to happen to them?, they unable to bear their own humongous weight, ‘mind-and-heart’ not in sync, hence their ‘feet not on-the-ground’, and, they collapsing like a pack of cards, like we saw recently many Humpty Dumpty’s falling in Uncle Sam’s land! A seasoned Indian Journo would then proclaim it as “Airtel’s Self Inflicted 9/11â€! That’s not far off, isn’t it?. If, as per your thoughtful plan, MPN is introduced on June 30th, then Airtel and its investors will for sure feel the first tremors on July Ist 2010!, going by the tone and tenor of the public sentiments expressed, offline and online.
 
Whistle-blowing Airtel’s Humongous MARKETING & BILLING SCAM

Selective Online stories of Customer woes against Airtel
Reveals
How rigorous and consistent swindling of small amounts through “Sensuous lip- service marketingâ€, utter disregard to TRAI billing norms and ably backed up by COCKROACH APPROACH to customer service, day after day, month after month, since 1996 made the Airtel Empire today!)

While I was browsing online to air-and-share my experience with Airtel, stumbled upon (Typing Airtel+fraud or Airtel+cheat in Google) their consistent and systematic swindling of retail customers, most of whom have silently borne their brunt. For many, like the first listing below, it has been an awful and disgusting experience. The list of pages and the individual listings would require years to read! I made a sample study after going through 100’s of pages – Primarily understood the magnitude of this SCAM, done without batting an eye-lid, year after year.) Here are the voices of some of them…

My Experience With Airtel Broadband in Jaipur, India (This gentleman has, hit the nail-on-the- head, much before anyone, isn’t it?)

My Experience With Airtel Broadband in Jaipur, India | Consumer Blog
And some samples…
Airtel cheated me
Airtel Cheated me - Right to Information
Feel CHEATED by AIRTEL
http://www.techenclave.com/broadband-forum/feel-cheated-by-airtel-134215-2.html
Double Billing
Airtel Complaints - Double Billing,
Airtel Complaints - ISD Activation
Airtel Complaints - ISD Activation
Airtel Prepaid Fraud
Airtel Broadband: Not Fair but Fraud!
Airtel Prepaid Fraud - Arya, Manish Kumar
Bharti Airtel ventures into Retail Fraud
Bharti Airtel ventures into Retail Fraud Views and Reviews
AIRTEL fraud-- illegal deduction of money from balance
Consumer Complaint | AIRTEL fraud-- illegal deduction of money from balances
Airtel datacard fraud
airtel datacard fraud
Airtel FRAUD
Airtel FRAUD - Consumer Law in India | LawGuru Answers
Airtel cheats NRIs with lame tricks: Airtell CallHome
Airtel cheats NRIs with lame tricks: Airtell CallHome Rashmi Ranjan Padhy | Unleashed
AIRTEL FRAUD – Moving to Consumer Court!
SRIVIEWS : Movies Gadgets Celebs AIRTEL FRAUD – Moving to Consumer Court!
Some Assorted complaints
Airtel in - Reviews and Complaints
Airtel Service – BAD, BAD, BAD, Really BAD! The World as I see it
Airtel Complaints - AirTel cheating everyone in India!
Innocent techie in jail, sues Airtel for Rs. 20 Crores!
Innocent techie in jail, sues Airtel for Rs. 20 Crores - SiliconIndia
Airtel Cheating Customer and Irrate Service
Airtel Cheating Customer and Irrate Service
Airtel's cheap cheating tricks
Airtel's cheap cheating tricks - My Scribblings
How Airtel increases it revenues by cheating customers?
How Airtel increases it revenues by cheating customers? | Customer & Management Blog

… The listings go on and on, tens of thousands, from the Techies to the Entrepreneur to the common man- Again, these are only online forums. We can safely multiply this number by 1000 or 10,000 to include the offline customer woes, from Karnal to Kanyakumari, off-and-on the Consumer Courts/forums as well. The wise-men in GOI and TRAI and the millions of Indian’s dream are for last-mile connectivity at affordable cost – “Unlimited broadband connectivity to everyone†is H.E. Abdul Kalam’s dream! Awesome– However, if that happens, imagine the plight of our ‘good-natured rural folks’, who give us FOOD to survive, won’t have any clue to this ‘systematic swindling’ of gullible customers by Private operators like Airtel. Coming to think of that, “Why we always make fun off, turn cynical, berate the value-driven Public Sector folks, when only some(Like in any society, any walk of life) could be “value-less� And again, even that aggregation of all that amassment would ‘pale in comparison’ to this astronomical sum, auditors would arrive at investigating this billing scam. And, Airtel may not be alone!. That’s upto the wise men in TRAI and the Judiciary to find out and advise the NATION.

In conclusion, value-less organizations like Airtel, are modern day Gajni Mohd’s(sic) (read plunderers of wealth), with all the sweetness in the mouth, “waiting like a shark to catch the preyâ€, with all the tact, money and sometimes even muscle power, with absolutely no values governing them, in order to be in the rat-race(sic) and stay numero Uno! Should we have to wait for the ‘Karma effect’ to happen to them?, they unable to bear their own humongous weight, ‘mind-and-heart’ not in sync, hence their ‘feet not on-the-ground’, and, they collapsing like a pack of cards, like we saw recently many Humpty Dumpty’s falling in Uncle Sam’s land! A seasoned Indian Journo would then proclaim it as “Airtel’s Self Inflicted 9/11â€! That’s not far off, isn’t it?. If, as per your thoughtful plan, MPN is introduced on June 30th, then Airtel and its investors will for sure feel the first tremors on July Ist 2010!, going by the tone and tenor of the public sentiments expressed, offline and online.
 
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