I have to say that Airtel is one of the most unscrupulous company I have met. They have no qualms about troubling the customer and causing grief... Here goes my story...
Story #1: Mysterious closing of complaints without resolution
I have Airtel Broadband & IPTV in Gurgaon. Initially I had no problems and I was happy with the service. Then my work required me to have uninterrupted internet which can only be possible in Gurgaon if you have a UPS installed otherwise, you are hosed (thanks to the wonderful Haryana Govt that is happy to compare itself with Bihar and UP, per the CM in a recent meet). So I went ahead and installed UPS and all was well... Recently I started getting into this problem, whenever the lights switches from primary to backup and few minutes later back to primary I lose the internet connectivity. So obviously I checked all my electrical connections and devices, they all remain on during the power switching... I also did a test by turning off power to my UPS from the mains and then turning it on, to simulate the issue. There was none, this made me think that there is an issue with the Airtel equipment sitting outside my house (i.e. where they aggregate all the connections from the various complexes). Knowing this I started filing complaints about this behavior. It's been nearly 1.5 months and 4 complaints down and nothing has happened. The most funny part is one of these four times (I think the second complaint) a physical Airtel-Alcatel employee showed up at my house to debug the problem. When I explained it to him he understood the problem, then he did the same test as I did (turn off the power to the UPS and back) and nothing went wrong... so he concluded that there is NO issue and closed the complaint even when I told him that I had done this test and the actual problem may be outside my house (in some airtel equipment). I also told him he should wait for the problem to happen i.e. wait for the power to switch, to which he said he didn't have time. He in fact told me I'm the only one with this complaint so I shouldn't be complaining. And being adamant idiot, he decided to go ahead and report "no trouble found" and the ticket was closed. Since then he keeps closing the tickets I have filed without calling me or coming to my house. And guess what the problem is 100% reproducible, only thing being that they have to wait at my house to see if happen... lights go out in Gurgaon 3-4 times a day... so the wait could be longer or short depending on when they come, IF they come. With this frustration, I have decided I am not going to pay my monthly dues till they fix this problem. With all the complaints I have filed I have asked the exec to make a note in the complaint that I am not going to pay the bill. In fact, I also sent email at [email protected] and they have not responded either. 4 complaints down and 1.5 months later I continue to suffer...
Story #2: Mysterious phone bill despite being cancelled one month ago
I had a mobile from Airtel for my office purposes. I left the company and being an exec of the company the company paid for my mobile. So on the last day my admin called Airtel to close my account and tell us what the due was so we could pay it off and the close would happen immediately. We paid the amount that was quoted to us and asked them to go ahead and close the account. However, every few days Airtel customer execs started calling and saying please keep this line, etc. To which I had told each one of the categorically that I already have another Airtel number (personal) and I don't need a second one, I am no longer with the company. Finally I started getting mad at them and they kept hanging up on me... Recently when I was paying my bill for my landline & personal mobile phone I see that the company phone (taken on my name) was still active and not cancelled and in fact they had an outstanding charge. So as usual I wrote to them at [email protected] (this is another funny thing, how many email addresses do they have) and said I was unwilling to pay for this bill and that why had they not cancelled the phone as per our instructions and that they should talk to my admin in case they needed help? To which they kept writing back with their standard reply that the phone belonged to me and that the phone was having dues. When I asked why they had not cancelled it, they said it was cancelled but there was outstanding dues, we verified the credit card and we had paid for the amount on the day of the closure. So it looked like they had kept the phone active in the hopes that I will keep it and now were looking for me to pay for it as well. After 5-10 emails, I told them if they want their money they should talk to my admin or forget about their money. To which they replied saying they had changed the communication email and phone number... what silly behavior... I frankly don't know if they have bothered to call my admin to clarify or gain the money... but I can tell you this is yet another harrowing experience!
Story #3: Mysterious SMS'es to a DND number
This story is also very interesting. I have lived in the US for many years, they had DND service for phone, email, etc. And I had registered for it and it worked beautifully. So when GoI announced DND service for mobile phones, I was excited and probably the first one to register (smiling)... And lo and behold, few months later, I started receiving spam SMS'es and now it has reached to a point where I get at least 5-6 SMS'es in a day (probably more). So one day I decided to call 121 and complaint. The customer rep asked me if I could give her details of the SMS'es I was getting, so I said sure what do you need? She said, oh please give me the name of the sender (some characters usually), content of the message. Imagine once you have got 50 such messages what will be your plight if someone asked you to dictate these one at a time. Do you know why she was taking down the details one at a time? Because she was going to send a written note to each of these service providers that I was on DND and I should not be disturbed... great solution... Finally I got tired and went to the Airtel office in DLF Galleria, Gurgaon. I waited patiently and they exec told me I have to re-register for DND a new process was in place and his supervisor to him to do so. So I said that's great, but I am already on DND so why re-register? Anyways he went ahead and re-registered my number for DND. Then said in 5 days I will stop getting spam SMS'es. I was already angry by then because this guy was just trying to get rid of me. I went out tried calling the 121 and told them about why/how they re-registered my number for DND. The lady on the phone said nothing had changed in DND and that my number is already active, so she didn't know why their office exec had said a new process was in place. I asked her if she'd talk to the exec and she said yes. So went back to the office and asked him to talk to her, to which he flatly refused saying he was NOT going to talk to anyone. This clearly says that he was initially trying to get rid of me and when I caught him red-handed he could not bear it... so I decided to write a written complaint in that office (to which I have not heard back from Airtel) and I also write to the email address, to which I got a polite apology (which seemed like a pre-typed template apology) and I still keep getting spam SMS'es. Recently I got an SMS saying 4/5 paise to send SMS'es including to DND numbers... wow, what a blatant violation of the laws... Today I got a call from an Airtel exec, that they are coming out with a new sw that will fix my problem and that I should wait for 15-20 days more... I said I can only pray to GOD that this stops... because there is NO legal recourse to such a menace... Finally, beat this. One newspaper correspondent decided to call such spam SMS providers to see if they could actually send SMS'es to DND and they said "sir we can charge more money for DND numbers" so yes they can and that this is a great business... Imagine 322 crore SMS business in the country TATA being the largest service provider, why would the carrier want to stop spam... what will happen to their business. The only way you can be out of the spam directory is if you are a big shot like Pranab Mukerjee, he got a spam call for a home loan, he took up this issue and it seems the providers have made sure that the big shots/politicos are not on the spam list... wow what a country...
Govt. enterprises are gone but they have created monsters like Airtel that have no scruples about troubling customers. They just dont F*%#@ care!
I hope Mr. Bharati Mittal reads this write up decides to experience his companies own customer service...
Troubled Airtel Customer.
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