Cheap tactics by Private Telecom Operators
| I have a Airtel land line phone connection and a broadband connection on the same, I am very happy with their broadband and telephony services that I have recommend quite a few people regarding the same and generally there support is good and top notch. In this month telephone bill I noticed that I was billed for Hello tunes though I have never ever subscribed or opted for this service, I thought that it was a small mistake on their part and I paid the entire bill amount for the month. | ![]() |
Today I called up there customer support so as to remove this service from my account so that I should not be billed for the same next month, after going through a myriad of options via there IVS system I was finally able to reach a customer support representative.
This annoyed me a bit coz first they bill me for a service that I did not ask for and now I have shell out more money to call another special number and waste money to deactivate a service for which I have never asked, I protested and ask the lady to disable the service from there end she told me that it was not possible, This made me a bit upset and I told the lady that If she doesn’t disable the service from there end, I would have to take up this issue with higher authorities and asked her to connect to her higher manager / authority, I also told her that I would also complain regarding the same to TRAI, she immediately put me on hold and after a few minutes told me that they have disabled the Hello tunes from my account.
I do know these telecom private companies need to make money by selling additional value added services and it’s good that they offer all these value added services, but it’s not right to push these services through the customers throat and make the opt out process so difficult that may people might just give up, I have always liked Airtel services and there support dept is excellent but how they handle these particular issue is simply pathetic and leaves a bad taste.
Well I guess this situation might change in the future after TRAI or some other authority might makes some rules against doing stuff like these, but do these big companies always need additional rules to do there due diligence like kids!
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I have also suffer a lot on these ##stards AIRTEL providing hello tunes and charging exorbitant rates. First they send me a message - download free hello tune on my mobile. My son simply clicked OK and they immediately deducted Rs.6/- for this on the ground of ‘Free’. Anyway, after 3-4 days when the desired tune was not downloaded, I contact their Customer Care and complained about this deducting the money from my balance and even though they did not downloaded the tune in my mobile. And look, what happened, they downloaded hello tune and deducted another Rs.45/- from my balance.
I got angried and immediately complained about this and after lot of threatening, they stopped this hello tune which cost me Rs. 51/- for the name of FREE but surprisingly, they even did not accept their fault and charged me that I have opted for hello tune which they have activated in my mobile. I am suggesting my friends not to switch over to AIRTEL at any cost.
PN Jha
I had same kind of experience. The only change is my service provider is Reliance. I found the companies doing these kind of things during last quarter of every fiscal. But makes me wonder is the sheer ignorance on the part of these companies about the fact that these trifles which intiate the irratation in consumers that eventually lead to the loss of consumer
Hi Ranjit,
These telecom companies will almost forever remain the same because the have the authorities in their pockets…
Just consider this if a mobile GSM / CDMA Company bills 3million(30Lk) of it’s customers Rs.1-2/- wrongly for a month, lets say half 1million(10Lk) notice their bill every month or maybe not. Wonder how much the make in a year. (Especially from the poor, that haven’t yet learnt how to use their new phone properly, not to talk of calling customer service).
I have been in India for 6yrs and have tried out each GSM/CDMA network service (Not about their connectivity rather their after sales services / customer service), I have been pushed to an extent I had taken 3 provides to consumer court and next day you notice them begging, want to settle outside the court. (Best part I have wow all cases with telecommunication companies).
4th one is Reliance for my Data card & the refused to accept the fault even those the agent have, I guess I’m only waiting for them to take the wrong step in disconnecting my Data card number or connections.
Know You right the ball will always be in you curt/hand.
Facing inconvenience/s from you service provider -
Consumer Court Really handle the well.
**Note: you wouldn’t need a Lawyer in a “Consumer Court”
I want India to change for the better and I Know India WILL….(Listen India Says … Keep Praying)
Cheers!
Sunny
Ranjit…………. u r just talkin abt airtel bt look at reliance ppl they r worse as we sooo many phones we cannot check each n every bill bt accidently i checked one bill n i found that they had charged me cricket pack abt Rs50 even though we have not prescribed for them we were either getting any sms tooo n not only that when cheked all the bills in some it was caller tune which we have not prescribed for