Airtel D2H dept flip flops and threats

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Spacescreamer

Spacescreamer

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I had received an Airtel coupon for Digital TV connection with the purchase of my LCD.

The coupon had on it mentioned that to activate the connction, i need to recharge my Digital Tv acc with 750/-, which i had done back then and 'enjoyed' the airtel's connection for few months.

Somewhere down the lane, i started disliking the pic quality and their packs .. and subsequently opted for A LA Carte package only.. and finally stopped recharging at all.
The service stopped and i wasnt interested in activating it again by recharging my account. The Airtel people started offering some schemes of extra top ups and i got it recharged for my cricket needs. India lost overseas and i stopped the recharges for good.

A few weeks back, Airtel's retention team called up and offered that if i dont wish to recharge/continue.. i can return the set top box for Rs 2000/-
I refused and ended the call.

Now after few day's gap, another personnel from Airtel calls and mentions that if i dont wish to recharge/continue.. i will HAVE to surrender the set top box as its the property of Airtel and we allow few day's transmission for free from our side after the installation, that is where the money goes when a customer purchases (in the so called 'free' transmission).
So in effect the customer doesnt pays for the box, but for the few day's streaming.. and while signing up for the connection the customer signs a bond which acknowledges that the set top box is not customer's property.

I told her that i got it for free (hearing to this, her tone fizzled out) and i literally admonished her for her attitude. Conveyed in stern words that i havent signed any bond/contract and pull out the papers for my connection and then bother me. Disconnected the call after that.


Now i havent been contacted by Failtel people again, but i am sure they will do that sooner or later. So my question is:

1) Does the STB really belong to Airtel in my case?
i have seen ads where the * is mentioned to indicate that the STB remains airtel's property. But according to airtel's first convo mentioned, i was offered 2k. And according to coupon which i still retain.. i def recharged for streaming of content specifically.

2) What should i tell them so that they get off my back ?
I plan to use it *sometime* in the future, but at my own discretion.

3) I think its been an year that i had my connection recharged. Does my account/id gets permanently suspended due to this or more prolonged gap?
If yes, then how much to get the STB/Connection working again ??
 
FAILTEL will wake up some day and suddenly start asking for money. Then you can put your complaint in sites like Mouthshut to get them shut. Otherwise they will threaten you with consequences like putting you on Black list. (Probably used by banks for Defaulters etc.)

I had a Airtel Line that I got disconnected. I even had a mail from FAILTEL. But suddenly the billing started after two years. Airtel would not listen to the fact that the connection was discontinued long time back and no phone existed at our premises. But my complaint on Mouthshut was noticed by Airtel. Then the problem was solved.
 
Yes, the STB is the DTH provider's property. The initial amount we pay go towards 'unreasonable' initial payment/service charges. When you discontinue with one DTH operator, you have to surrender the equipment, according to their one sided laws which our Govt has turned a blind eye to. Also there was once this ruling that STBs should be interchangeable between services, where has that one gone ?
 
johnsunder said:
Yes, the STB is the DTH provider's property. The initial amount we pay go towards 'unreasonable' initial payment/service charges. When you discontinue with one DTH operator, you have to surrender the equipment, according to their one sided laws which our Govt has turned a blind eye to. Also there was once this ruling that STBs should be interchangeable between services, where has that one gone ?
Click to expand...


Not sure about that.

In our building we were told that everyone using Local cable or DTH operators will have to switch to 1 common connection. Not knowing who the provider would be I called up Tata Sky to enquire about refunds for the remainder period of my Annual Mega Pack and Boxes. They told me that the amount for package would not be refunded and they don't take the boxes back but I can sell it locally.

In short - I am not going to get a single paisa out of Tata Sky on surrendering the connection.
 
why dont you surrender the box for 2k? it wont be worth 500 if you try to sell it 1 year down the line, and if failtel is giving you 2k for it, just think you're lucky.
i tried to sell my old stb of dishtv (of mpeg2 type) and the dealer says its not worth 500 bucks now.
 
if you are not satisfied with your service, just surrender your stb and get back your 2k. i heard videocon gives more discounts if you are switching dth providers.
 
It's called FailTel for a reason :)
Firstly if you are not actively using the STB get it refunded for money (Only if they give you a cheque at the time of surrendering the STB not after that, coz you will have to forget the money then).
2ndly : If you don't wanna return the STB, next time when they call just tell them that the STB burnt due to a power spike and you threw it in the garbage.
Though their docs say that the STB is FailTel property it only means in the terms that you cannot open/modify it. You are free to dispose it safely :)
 
Recd the call.. Now a diff lady offers 1k via cheque. And within a month of submitting.
Will keep the advice of cheque being handed on the spot in mind.



onlyravi said:
Though their docs say that the STB is FailTel property it only means in the terms that you cannot open/modify it. You are free to dispose it safely.
Click to expand...

Do tell me, Where is this cannot open/modify thing derived from.


6pack said:
why dont you surrender the box for 2k? it wont be worth 500 if you try to sell it 1 year down the line, and if failtel is giving you 2k for it, just think you're lucky.
Click to expand...


I dont want to surrender because of three reasons:

1) I dont like this BS stuff that after paying 2k, the stuff is not yours. It has been on rent. Though i didnt paid for it, if i apply for new after few months of surrendering, i ll be hearing this non sense time and again. And now their policy being printed in newspaper as well..i wont be able to circumnavigate it.
2) I can activate it anytime, use it and again stop watching it.
3) The STB which i got, i think i can claim it as i got it as a freebie due to a scheme. And that kinda gives me a chance to slap airtel in their face.

Opinions on these points are welcome..
The recording enabled STB seems tempting over the reg STB i got, and might be a good factor to surrender current one. Only thing is that i dont intend to get the connection recharged anytime soon.
 
Scheme or no scheme, the STB belongs to the DTH service provider, when they ask you have to give it back its written on the CAF form which you have signed when you got the connection activated.

If you are interested in keeping the STB just let them call and keep on lengethening the surrender.

Earlier there was movement in Provider free STB but it was blunted by Tata Sky and Dish when they only were two providers.

If you are getting more money just surrender and get the money once the cable TV is totally digitized it wont even fetch a glass of water.
 
I have a dth hd box from failtel. I stopped recharging it as I stopped watching tv. they called many times and asked me to recharge I said I wouldnt. one day one lady called me and told me that she will give me a refund if I gave the stb back. I told her that I was not interested. they call me once in a blue moon and ask me if i am interested in recharging. I tell them that I dont want to.

the interesting thing about all this is that failtel box is a ARM proccy with around 512mb ram if I am not wrong. it has some eeprom etc... :evil:

AFAIK, the failtel box was never failtel's property. if they calim that I think you should challenge them to go to court or **** themselves :p
 
The people called me first about a month/half a month back and said that 2000 will be returned. Then they dozed off for few weeks. Their nagging "Priy Grahak.. bla bla recharge stb connection.. even more bla bla" continued in the form of voice calls and sms both in the meantime.
Then they called up again and now offered 1000/- .. i again told them to buzz off. Atleast i ll have an stb at my place for 1k if that is what they offer for it now..

But after reading the replies here, i thought why the hell do i need to stick with an stb to dear life as its be-all and end-all solution for HD content ? AND its Airtel ! If i have to cling onto one.. why not the one with recording feature..??


So now on saturday they call again and offer 1k.. again. I immediately blasted the fellow that you people got nothing other than changing ur statement business?? last person said its 2k refund against the return of the stb equipment.
So in airtelish sly fashion.. response comes out "Sir you have SD or HD stb " ?
I said ofc HD. "Okay sir, you ll then get 2k as its HD. You ll be handed a receipt and the cheque will arrive in a week's time."

When the collection fellow comes.. The receipt doesnt have anywhere mentioned its 2k to be paid.. nothing for that matter actually. Collection guy says that we are not in constant touch with dept from where cheque comes, so we dont know what value you ll get, we cannot confirm.
I ask him to write down on the receipt that 2k is to be refunded.. "Sir how can i write that.. that is not my dept"

I asked for a number of a senior.. ofc Its a Sunday and the number wont connect. So he writes his own number and the Sr's, and takes away the equipment.

All in all.. plenty of loopholes in Airtel's practices where they can extract and maximize the gains from customer/x-customer's pocket.
Funny thing is, the guy who calls up says that its permanently expired.. and few hrs after this.. i again receive the
"Priy Grahak .. yet even more bla bla" call..
 
no mention of exact amount on receipt is not a good sign. they could get away by paying you nothing or just 100-500 bucks too.
 
^ Mera Bharat Mahaan.. what else :)

There is no column at all for the amount anywhere. I argued on 2-3 points and the collection guy was (with all due respect) the bot airtel deploy to get their job done. You hire a brain dead person.. and send it to concerned parties.. what in the world will the bot be able to divulge or give in to ??

I just took the pic of the s/n and the card no, the box's .. and the collection guy's as well.
 
You lost the hold buddy. I doubt you will get any cheque now. You must confirmed without handover the cheque you wont handover the STB.
 
Trust me, if they are giving 2000 Rs for box, grab it. I gave away Airtel DTH free of cost to kamwali bcoz I was fed up of their call center. They will just hang the phone without solving anything.

Only problem now I am facing is - Kamwali bai is scolding becoz she is not even able to handle them in local language support.

Take 2000 Rs & grab Tata Sky or Videocon, They are far far better.
 
Same thing happened for me on SUN DIRECT. A lady was calling daily n irritating my mother, so I told to throw the shit on them. The guys who came promised me 1.6k, but I knew I will never get it. Even he told cheque is not handled by us lol. This is huge scam which is going on
 
Terms and Conditions clearly says "Set up Box Remains the property of the Company". I Heard many Airtel DTH cases where they come and Pick up Boxes who don't use their DTH connections.
I would Damage it very badly and hand over to them if some one Comes up to collect Box TOS doesn't Tell you Don't Damage the BOX! :P
 
Though OT :

Received sms from Airtel that ESPN HD and STAR CRICKET HD are being removed from their platform from 24th December :@ now we are back to square one. No HD sports action for us, TEN HD is useless :P
 
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