Airtel
Postpaid validity / treatment of recharge

I purchased a pre--paid SIM - 9740482361. The tariff that i chose was 10ps for airtel to airtel and 50 ps for all other local calls and Rs.2 per day for sms (i.e. first two sms will be charged at Re1-). And validity till 29/12/2037.

Everything was fine till 13th April when I recd an SMS stating that to renew the tariff validity I would need to re-charge with RC36 within 7 days. That's when i learnt that there was something like a tariff validity also!! So I went promptly to re-charge on 15th April and the system didnt accept the RC336 re-charge. So I charged with the regular RC249 and this also was rejected. So I approached the Airtel Office in Basaveswaranagar and showed them the messages I had received. The customer service guy was most un-cooperative and asked me to recharge with Rs.50- without giving much explanations - which I did. It accepted the re-charge and then he asked me to recharge again and so I recharged with Rs.249- as usual. After that I realised that the tariff plan had changed and I was paying 60ps per minute for all the local calls!! I wasnt informed about this at all by the Customer Service guy who was very arrogant and unhelpful.

So I called up 198 - I had to call them atleast 10 times on 19th and still couldnt get a suitable answer (the lines used to be hung up after asking me to hold). So i lodged a complaint by mail and i promptly got a feedback with a reference number and that they will come back within two days. So I waited till Monday before I tried 198 and then I spoke to a supervisor who was most helpful in explaining what the situation was:

1. The tariff that I was on when I bought the SIM is no longer valid!! And is not available any longer. Hence I had to change.

2. Since I went their office and changed they are now charging at 60 ps per call. If need be I can use a different plan now (which will not give me the earlier plan but something close to that). This means that I will completely loose the Rs.300- i have paid at the Customer Service Centre!!

3. I can call another number - 9972534865 and talk to Meenakshi Vohra who is the local boss - also called Nodal Officer (And this number is metered!!).

4. I also told her that i want to change it to post paid and then move on to another service provider since i feel very cheated. She said i would need to go back to the same service center where the arrogant guy sits!!

So I tried to call this number - and realized it goes though a usual voice response and never could get through to Meenakshi. So i lost another

Rs.6-!!

I feel very cheated:

1. The guy who sold me the sim never explained about the tariff validity - in fact whenever i enquire dailling *123# it shows the validity as 29/12/2037 - very very misleading.

2. I am now paying a very stiff tariff of 60 ps per minute for all local calls - when i can get these calls at probably one third the price. If i change the plan then I loose another Rs.300!! Catch 22 situation.

3. I have not receive any response to my email complaint - reference PR042000103, even though their SLA is two days. I don't know how to go back to them again since I don't have the email address to send such responses to!!

4. I just cant get through to their Nodal officer Meenakshi - in spite of being willing to spend some money!!

5. I have to go back to the same arrogant guy at the service centre if I need to get this converted to a post paid plan and then move on to another service provider. I cant afford to change the service provider since a lot of people have this phone number as my contact number.

6. I feel helpless and cheated.

Can somebody help? This is pure cheating.

Sanka

Company: Airtel
Country: India
State: Karnataka
City: Bangalore

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