This is a complaint against Airtel mobile phone services in Bangalore. This relates to my prepaid account.
On Sept 2, 20:00 hours they sent me an SMS saying
“Thank you for choosing hello tunes. You have been charged Rs 35/- for month…” I was given a number to cancel the subscription to hello tunes, but discovered that this cancellation did not bring my account balance back to the original value. Then I spent considerable time getting an operator at the call center to talk to and then was directed to his supervisor, who agreed to reverse the charges. I indicated to him that I consider it a fraudulent practice that it must be stopped immediately.
I got an SMS saying that my Reference Number was CBDHT20904559891 on Sept 4 at 00:29 hors.
On Sept 6, 20:03 hours I received another SMS saying
“Thank you. Please dial 55223 to listen live Aarti from Tirupati Balaji temple. You have been charged Rs 10 for 7 days with 100 minutes of usage …”.
I spent considerable time once more getting an operator at the call center to talk to and then was directed to his supervisor, who agreed to reverse the charges. I asked him how he will prevent this unauthorized charging in the coming days. He did not seem to understand what I was asking despite my repeating it. However, he promised to take this up with his supervisor.
My complaint on Sept 7 was given the complaint number CBDLA20907960777. I received an SMS on Sept 7 showing my Reference No as RDREG40907960778.
On Sept 9, 19:35 hours I received another SMS saying
“Thank you. Please dial 55223 to listen live Aarti from Tirupati Balaji temple. You have been charged Rs 10 for 7 days with 100 minutes of usage”.
I have preserved the SMS messages as evidence. I have never asked for the Hello Tunes service or the Aarti service.
I ask that Airtel should immediately stop unauthorized debits. We do not know how many million customers have been charged without any request from them. Many of the prepaid customers are poor people who do not read SMS messages.
A fine of Rs 10 Crores should be levied from Airtel to prevent such practices.
RamaniS
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