My landline phone instrument is not working since past 2 weeks. I lodged a complaint & met very rude customer service agent named Pradeep who initially refused to even log a complaint saying airtel policy has changed & I have to get the instrument repaired on my own. I've had a landline & broadband connection with airtel for last 7 years. They took the deposit & installed an old phone which was changed at least 3-4 times during last 7 years with another old phone whenever an instrument stopped working. Everytime the instrument got faulty it was replaced with another old one which was repaired by airtel several times. They never installed an instrument of our choice saying that they can install whatever is available in the pool and the phone has always been a Beetal instrument, which was also a forced decision on consumers. Now the instrument is not working & its so old that one can barely even read the alphabets on the keys. Airtel has changed its policy without informing its customers which absolves it from maintaining the instrument which is an airtel owned instrument for which they have collected a deposit from consumer & it is definitely a mal-practice to put the burden of repairing very old instruments on consumers.
I wish customers can file class law suits on airtel for this suo moto change in policy which effects all fixed line consumers. How can a consumer be responsible for getting an old and faulty Beetal instrument just because airtel has a contract with Alcatel now? Why was the deposit for instrument taken & why airtel has not refunded it if they don't want to maintain the instrument now? If instrument was consumer's responsability, why didn't airtel gave a choice to consumers to get their own instrument from market rather than collecting deposits to sell the instruments of their own struggling group company Beetal? The customer service was so unhelpful that they disconnected the phone saying this is the company policy & they can't help. Even the Alcatel serviceman who visited was equally cold & unresponsive. I have consulted a noted lawyer & he assured me that it is a very valid case for consumer court as airtel is following unfair trade practices.
Pankaj
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