On 17-Sep, I enquired at Airtel showroom on Jayadeva Circle, B’lore about Airtel Broadband. That evening, they called to say there was no feasibility. I went back to buy an Airtel Datacard. Even though the initial cost is huge and the speed is very low (supposedly 50 kbps, but u don’t get that much, since its variable), I decided to try it because there arent too many options. Since the hardware was not available, I bought the Airtel SIM for Rs.500 and the next day, I bought Micromax datacard from Koramangala office for Rs. 3500.
On 5-Oct evening, I got an SMS on my datacard, saying address was not available for verification and hence my outgoing calls would be barred unless I contacted my dealer. Venkat Naresh (9880736434) never picks up the calls from customers, so I left him a message stating my problem. But he neither called back, nor picked up my calls, so we went to the office on 7-Oct. He refused getting a message from me and said he does not take calls from customers! After saying that I got a delivery report, he said he will get this resolved and keep me updated. Again, I never got a call back. So I called him and after disconnecting 3 times, he finally took the call and gave the number of Prabhavati (9972575548) who is responsible for sending the person for address verification. She (probably the rudest staff I have ever come across) has the same answer everyday “they will come today”.
On 13-Oct afternoon at 4.30pm, my internet got disconnected. I called Venkat again and he said he will get back in an hour. Again, he neither called back, nor picked any of my calls. The next morning, we were back at the Airtel showroom to meet the Manager Sheela (080-41218134). She simply said Venkat will handle this and took no further interest in the matter.
Meanwhile, I had made numerous calls to Airtel Customer care, trying to find a solution to my problem. But they are good for only one thing: Saying it’s not their problem, and giving u another number to call. Try these as sample:
1. 121 the basic customer care
2. 9845012345 which says its sales counter
3. 9845907070 which is for datacard, but technical help only, can’t undo the barring of call
4. 12118 which is for GPRS on regular numbers, not datacards
All of these will finally refer to where u started from: 121. Also, after few calls to 121, Airtel puts u on ignore list for calling 121 too frequently, which is utterly pathetic on Airtel’s part.
But eventually, I found out that calls were barred because address couldn’t be verified. They call the datacard (it’s not a mobile for God’s sake!! How do they expect me to receive ur call on it?!!) and the alternate number which was wrong. I checked the carbon copy of the form I filled while buying. It showed the correct number; so obviously, the fault is from Airtel.
We went back to the showroom and they accepted that entering wrong alternate number was their fault and said it will be rectified and the address verification will be done next day at 1pm. I asked for the phone number of the person coming for address verification and volunteered to take him to show the house. To this, both Venkat and Sheela say that the address verification is outsourced to another agency and they can’t provide phone number. I again checked with customer care and still the alternate number was wrong, to which the explanation from dealer was that they e-mailed that agency with correct number, so database in Customer care wouldn’t be updated.
The next day passed without verification, so there we were again at the Airtel showroom, to which they say that the person had gone for verification, but couldn’t find the address!! Enquiries as to why they didn’t call for directions are replied that it was a “Surprise Visit”. The customer care says that if we visit dealer and call them from there, they will remove the bar, but Venkat refused to do so, in spite of repeated requests. They now took a hard copy of DL for address proof (which we had already provided with detailed landmarks at the time of purchase, but they say they have sent that copy to Chennai for whatever reason.)
So, here I am, with Rs 4000 initial investment and bill of Rs. 290 dated 13-10 payed within time, but unable to use the internet for no fault of ours.
Its funny how Airtel Digital TV installation guys found my house, but for datacard, my address surprisingly just cannot be found by them.
My advice to anyone considering buying Airtel Datacard: Simply drop the idea. You’re better off with no internet than paying bills for a service you cannot use.
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