Screwed by Airtel billing!

Status
Not open for further replies.
R

rshri

Contributor
I have been using Airtel broadband for many years. I have always used high speed unlimited plans. This month I figured that I didn't need to download anything for next 2 months, so I changed my Airtel broadband plan to '599 value plus' which supposedly has monthly 3 GB data limit. Earlier I was on 1699 unlimited plan, so shifting to Rs 599 plan for 2 months seemed like a good way of saving money.

Imagine my surprise when I got a bill of Rs 3.8K when my billing cycle ended this month itself !!
According to the bill I should have downloaded over 9 GB of data !!! This is incredible. I am absolutely sure that I have used less than 1 GB. I have not been using wireless connection and kept my modem switched off when I was not surfing net. How is this billing possible then?

I called CC and immediately switched my plan to 649 unlimited. I then also raised a dispute against the bill. They said they will verify and get back to me by 2nd Jan. Do you think that there is any hope for correction?

Is it possible that somehow my bandwidth is being stolen by some Airtel engineer by hacking the DSL line before it reaches my house? Saying this that because Airtel people that installed my broadband know my Airtel's PPoE userid & password. Is it possible that they use this ID/password to access my bandwidth from their local Airtel server? Should I get the password changed somehow?

All comments/suggestions welcome!
 
Simply refuse to pay up the bill & ask them to disconnect....

They will either disconnect or remove excess billing....
 
personal experience
exactly same thing happened to my friend

He raised a complain and they reversed the charges, be strong dont budge when they say you have used more
It happened again and he promptly changed the plan

BSNL billing is far better than these sucky isp :@
 
HailStonE said:
Simply refuse to pay up the bill & ask them to disconnect....
They will either disconnect or remove excess billing....
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, I critically need internet connection daily and there is no other ISP available here. So I cannot threaten disconnection.

Roxtin said:
Did you downloaded any torrent?
Click to expand...
No I didn't. I did download some stuff from rapidshare though, hardly amounted to 1 GB approx.

New development - Airtel CC just informed me that 649 256k unlimited connection is not available in my area, so I will have to choose some different plan for migration. They suggested 899 256k unlimited. I then instead opted for 1099 512k unlimited. They finally said that migration will be completed within 48 hrs.

No word from Airtel CC regarding billing dispute till now!
 
^^ where are you from ? Delhi ? ..

Just threaten them to disconnect. They are not gonna disconnect your connection as you hang up :P. They will either call you back or make you talk to the retention deptt. in that call only who will then proceed to waive off the excess of the bill.
 
I don't know about how Airtel works there, but in Chennai it's too good to be true kinda work done by Airtel. They response is swift and they respect clients like gods. So I'm sure they will abide !
 
Well most the of providers also consider uploaded date as data charges.
So say if you downloaded 2 Gb and uploaded 4 GB the total would be 6 gb data usage.
Check is this has happened.
But remember dont pay anything upfront even if they promise that they will adjust it later.Stick to your guns until they relent.
 
at least in chennai,Airtel works like a Charm. Never a problem.prompt response any time the line goes dead fixed by the same day itself.
 
dont overthreat because now a days process has changed. cc never transfer the call to retantion team they said retantion team will call u in mean time we take request for diactivation. so take care before giving any kind of bully
 
freshseasons1 said:
Well most the of providers also consider uploaded date as data charges.
So say if you downloaded 2 Gb and uploaded 4 GB the total would be 6 gb data usage.
Check is this has happened.
Click to expand...
No, I never uploaded anything. I am absolutely sure that my bandwith usage must be close to 1 GB (plus or minus) and not much more.
Another strange thing is - when I opted for limited plan, I was told that I will see a warning pop-up when I exceed 80% of allowed data limit. I never saw any pop-up. Was this pop-up supposed to originate from their NetExpert software? Asking this because I never installed NetExpert despite Airtel's engineer's insistence at the time of broadband installation.

No calls yet from Airtel CC regarding this issue. My family is quiet angry with me because of this mess. It was I who insisted on this stinking plan switch though they were not convinced.
My family now insists that I stand my ground whatever happens. I am still not sure about threatening disconnection, it will be very hard to manage without net for me even for a short duration.
 
rshri said:
No, I never uploaded anything. I am absolutely sure that my bandwith usage must be close to 1 GB (plus or minus) and not much more.
Another strange thing is - when I opted for limited plan, I was told that I will see a warning pop-up when I exceed 80% of allowed data limit. I never saw any pop-up. Was this pop-up supposed to originate from their NetExpert software? Asking this because I never installed NetExpert despite Airtel's engineer's insistence at the time of broadband installation.

No calls yet from Airtel CC regarding this issue. My family is quiet angry with me because of this mess. It was I who insisted on this stinking plan switch though they were not convinced.
My family now insists that I stand my ground whatever happens. I am still not sure about threatening disconnection, it will be very hard to manage without net for me even for a short duration.
Click to expand...

Okay see, just dont pay the bill. They'll call you up like sometimes and will offer you a settlement option. The main purpose of the team is not to make you pay the bill but to keep you as a customer. You just let them know that this is the reason that you're not paying the bill and in the end they'll ,for sure, sort your billing issues out.
 
Okay, did u byany chance download a lot of data on the 1st date of a month or last date of another...

and when exactly did u ask for the limited data connection, if it's in between the month, then AIRTEL activates it immediately FYI, and if u downloaded the entire month thinking u were still on ur unlimited, then u are screwed(just like I was, i got screwed for 7k, but i didn't pay a penny.)
 
comp@ddict said:
Okay, did u byany chance download a lot of data on the 1st date of a month or last date of another...

and when exactly did u ask for the limited data connection, if it's in between the month, then AIRTEL activates it immediately FYI, and if u downloaded the entire month thinking u were still on ur unlimited, then u are screwed(just like I was, i got screwed for 7k, but i didn't pay a penny.)
Click to expand...

I requested to changed my plan mid-month and change was done immediately within 2 days. I don't think I downloaded anything while request processing was underway. It could be that they erroneously added my unlimited usage (before plan switch) into limited usage. No way to tell.

Does anybody know about the usage warning pop-up thing that I described in my last post? Does it originates from NetExpert?
 
why dont you log into your airtel account and check the download details? You can check the amount of data you have downloaded for each day.

Log into the portal, click on Account information and then click on your account number. It should give you a detailed listing of your usage.
 
Fahrenheit said:
why dont you log into your airtel account and check the download details? You can check the amount of data you have downloaded for each day.

Log into the portal, click on Account information and then click on your account number. It should give you a detailed listing of your usage.
Click to expand...

Are you sure this information is available? I do see landline phone's call details listing in portal but no internet usage history.
 
yes, this is definitely available. I check my usage regularly although i'm on the 1mbps ul plan...just to make sure that i dont cross 100GB
 
Fahrenheit said:
yes, this is definitely available. I check my usage regularly although i'm on the 1mbps ul plan...just to make sure that i dont cross 100GB
Click to expand...

Thanks! I was able to locate it. But its only showing data for unbilled period. So can't see internet usage details for this problematic bill. I wish I had seen this before bill was generated.

------------------

OK, I am able to locate the usage details for billed month also. Studying it now. Thanks for the tip!
 
Fahrenheit said:
yes, this is definitely available. I check my usage regularly although i'm on the 1mbps ul plan...just to make sure that i dont cross 100GB
Click to expand...

I have 1299 plan.

So If you cross 100GB, AFAIK FUP is applied, right? According to that they wont charge a paisa extra, but they will cut your speed to half. RIGHT?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom