[hvkumar]

Mission 9821045167: Sometime in Jan 2010 when my Scorpio was illegally detained by cops in MP, social media & online forums came to my rescue. A fortnight ago, we demonstrated the power of our collective strength when my mobile number was illegally blocked by Loop Mobile, raising questions on dubious practices adopted by mobile telephony companies in India – phone-tapping, “market practices” of defaming customers, misuse of customer data & acting callously & in a mala fide manner. In the online world, we all took the initiative in leading a fight against Loop Mobile & TRAI – and we have won: my mobile number was ultimately restored on Friday afternoon. Thank you, friends, words cannot express the extent of solidarity & help from all of you.

It is very difficult to thank each of you but I have to specifically mention a few names: the commander in chief was Badri Nathan (who I came to know through team-bhp and has become my close friend), a man who could have been the best interlocutor to solve the Kashmir problem. Badri took it on himself to engage almost every stakeholder in the telecom industry, whether it is at the highest level of telecom policy making, Loop Mobile, other telcos, TRAI & press, and if I have my number back again, it is thanks to his hereculean efforts to marshall our resources. Veteran pressman & RTI activist Krishnaraj Rao saw sense in my cause and ignited the press & the press release & communications by him to the Press was one of the turning points for this victory.

The massive online petition to TRAI - of getting almost 1000 signatures in just 2-3 days - surely was a magnificent act, thanks to the efforts of some of my friends who took the initiative and all those who signed & reached the ears of TRAI that Loop Mobile had erred & flouted every rule in the book.

Invaluable contributions from many friends, including Gurudutt Bc, George Abraham & Manish M Merchant (all in this Forum), who helped in contacting the right people & giving insights of how the industry works & resolve the issue. Rahul Somasundar, thanks for initiating the attack on the Loop Mobile web-site which we all followed...

Legal brains of our legal friends who also interrogated the erring customer service executive & senior Loop officials – especially our Ravveendrra Boppana - who shared their legal acumen & wisdom and advised on legal strategies.

I can’t thank enough Gautam Basak (bolbolero) who not only reported the defamatory call but also tracked down the complainant Sandeep Kumar & brought to his attention the mistake that he had made & also convinced him to withdraw it, paving the way for clearing my name as a telemarketer. He and Car Edge Kashyap Ashar helped me immensely in helping lots of road travellers without any dislocation & I think we did not disappoint anyone on the road. The matter was never of a wrong complaint being made – but the ineptness & callousness of a mobile company over-reaching itself to suspend his number without proper investigation and add insult to injury by defaming him & hiding behind the petticoat of the telecom regulator to deny me mobile telephony services for 18 days. I feel sorry for Sandeep also for the anger that we all felt towards him, I believe he made the complaint against me by mistake & unintentionally.

There were lots of conspiracy theories doing the rounds with certain persons claiming “credit” for blocking my number – and for the first time Loop Mobile officials also burst into laughter when they heard it from me – and all I can say is that this is like saying that Lashkar-e-Toiba took credit for my constipation today morning.

Thanks to Whats App for keeping me in touch with the world without any interruption whatsoever since it works independent of a mobile sim card. A bigger thanks to the Samsung Note 2 which was gifted by my online friends to me, which also helped record the proceedings of the meeting senior Loop officials had with me which had them confessing to their mistakes and admitting to unacceptable market practices, besides making promises that they could not fulfil.

Pardon me if I have left out any names of all those who helped, but it has been a rocking 17 days with lots of deliberations, actions & moves. My mobile phone is especially thankful because it took the first real holiday, along with its master, when it went silent after almost 5 years of relentless use tackling phone calls & messages; I suppose I have to thank Loop Mobile for giving me a holiday from taking calls from motorists across India... this team-bhp thread also helped pile on pressure.

Yes, we do have a strong legal case against Loop Mobile, and the telecom regulator TRAI needs to tighten the noose around errant mobile operators, but when the regulator itself is strangled under the pressure of lobbies, interest groups & bureaucratic hassles, I wonder how the interests of the hapless mobile are going to be protected at all. The policy gaffes, blatant violations & procedural lapses that we have seen in this case may be dismissed as one more instance of a Insolent India, but the basic Q remains: Are we safe?

THANK YOU, ALL.

[carzone]

That is really great to hear HVK sir. Hope you continue to help the Motorists around India. Also, think of switching over to some other service provider now that we all have learned about the practices that loop is being using.

Thank You again for being such a great help in making us travel the whole of India.

[KALINGA]

Congratulation Sir.
Sir, Now the time has come to change the operator.
Loop mobile should punish for misuse of customer data & callous attitude.

[ajmat]

HVK Sir - Congrats, we are all glad to be of help

Please change provider ASAP and sue the pants of Loop for the distress caused

[sgiitk]

Great news indeed. They should not be allowed to get away however, and put to public shame.

[selfdrive]

HVK sir, it is great to see the light at the end of the tunnel. As ajmat says, please do sue these morons.

Also, in terms of backup please consider another service provider known to be reliable in your circle.
I would also advise to keep backup options ready in case mobile verification is not feasible for at least core activities such as bank approvals, etc.

[saket77]

Ah! Some music finally to our ears! Time to change the operator now.

[HappyWheels]

Good new HVK; will suggest you change the service provider ASAP.

[Sommos]

Extremely glad to know that your turmoil has ultimately come to an end.
This is the best time to shift the number to a more reliable service provider.

[hvkumar]

Unfortunately, I doubt if any operator is better or worse, they are all the same.

Pursuing legal solutions is no solution at all in India, it takes too much of stress, resources & sometimes ends up as an exercise in futility. However much I would like to be an activist, I am limited by my desire to get on with my life, and not perpetuate matters. However, I would like us to take up some of the generic issues raised in this sorry episode, which I am summarising:

1. Do mobile companies have safeguards for blocking a mobile number when complaint(s) are lodged against it?

2. How do you protect yourself against mobile companies from tapping your phone not only for voice, messages but also data that passes through your phone?

3. When India has a powerful Information Technology Act, why are we unable to stop mobile companies from accessing confidential data & misusing it?

4. Should not this "market practice" of defaming customers purportedly for arm-twisting them for recovery of dues, etc stop?

[JoseVijay]

Happy to hear the news HVK. Great work done by the commander and the others.

[sdp1975]

Good news indeed !

HVK, will you continue helping us as you did earlier , or any changes post this episode ?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by sdp1975

Good news indeed !

HVK, will you continue helping us as you did earlier , or any changes post this episode ?

Nothing has changed. These types of events happen & may happen too. We cannot run away just because of that.

[Redeemer8]

HVK Sir,

Great to hear that your number is restored. I'm sure, it would've definitely been a difficult & traumatizing experience during all these weeks but you've come out strong & victorious!!

We look forward to your guidance & support in the days to come, this deliberate act to defame you cannot take away from whom you're for all the thousands of BHPian's & users of this forum. I signed the petition as guest user to restore your number (using the link in Team-BHP) but I'm glad now to post a reply directly to you now as a BHPian. Cheers

Take Care,

Warm Regards

[Mohan Mathew A]

congratulations on getting your number back. I still think it will be worthwhile to port your number to some other national carrier. In case of such incidents they might be more responsive because they have a larger stake.