[silversteed]

I had a Vodafone postpaid connection in Chennai, and due to the numerous marketing calls (despite registering with National DND registry) and myriad network issues, I decided to switch to Airtel when I came to Bangalore. A friend of mine here who uses Vodafone told me that Vodafone b'lore is no better than Vodafone Chennai, and also Airtel has a better network. So I walk in to the Airtel office in Koramangala on 3rd Jan. I had just joined, so I didn't have a company ID card. I anticipated some problems due to this, and I managed to get a letter from the HR stating that I'm an employee here, and I stay at so and so address in B'lore. I had a copy of my passport for permanent address proof. The executive at the counter asked me for how long have i been in B'lore. I tell her that one day. I tell her that I have all these documents and I stay in a lodge/hostel kind of setup, it's not a rented house. Now she tells me that they can't give me a connection since I cannot provide them any bills or rent agreement copies. I was expecting this, so i took out the letter from the HR. Now, they repeat their statement and add that this document is not valid for them. Okay, I say, I thought if Vodafone doesn't have problems accepting this letter, then Airtel would also not have problems. Since you are refusing me a connection, I'm walking to the Vodafone store out there (pointing to the Vodafone store on the opposite side) and get a connection. This ploy worked, and she asked me to wait. Now, another lady comes and takes the copies of both documents, takes another copy each/ scans it, and asks me to fill up an application form. I walk out with a SIM at 7pm. Number activated at 9pm :-)

While applying for the connection, I'd marked clearly in the form that I needed CLIP, GPRS, e-Bill with details, an SMS Pack of 99INR, register with National DND, and missed call alert. I call the customer care at 121 and the agent tells me that none of these are activated. I lose my cool and blast at the guy. I tell him that i'm gonna write an e-mail to the grievance cell address, and tomorrow I'll be talking to them. Vodafone Chennai used to provide a far better service, blah blah blah. It worked. Morning 8am on 4th Jan, everything active.

Moral of the story: Show no heed for the state of the person handling our issue. Just blast your way up and it'll pay off.

For people who don't know this - 198 is a toll free number - for both Airtel and Vodafone. You are not bothered too much with the IVRs numerology tricks. It ends with just one press. Press 1 and get to talk to the human being. After all, they don't bother which option we'd opted for and we can talk to them about all the issues.

[Captain Slow]

I keep getting this SMS everyday.

From AD 54321
You have been renewed for IM plus all in one Messenger subscription service from Airtel. You have been charged Rs.5. Join games club at http://gclub.in

I just spoke to the customer care. This joker I spoke to knew nothing and just said that we can register a complaint.

[pradkumar]

Same thing happened with me. I just wrote a mail to 121-at-airtel.in to tell them that I'm being charged Rs. 15 for using Fusion Lounge subscription service. I didn't want to waste my time calling them. They have sent me an acknowledgement for the complaint; hopefully they will do something.

Pradeep

Originally Posted by Captain Slow

I keep getting this SMS everyday.

From AD 54321
You have been renewed for IM plus all in one Messenger subscription service from Airtel. You have been charged Rs.5. Join games club at http://gclub.in

I just spoke to the customer care. This joker I spoke to knew nothing and just said that we can register a complaint.

[drrajasaravanan]

Hi
I am using airtel from 2005. Initially had a postpaid connection but then changed over to prepaid as i was not satisified with the billing . I meant the billling were right but for my usage i was overpaying. So migrated to prepaid and using it since. There have been issues with them but so far they have managed to sort it out at some point. Yes it some times drives you up the wall when you talk to this customer care but when you persist it gets sorted.
The worst i have faced happened last month. On Nov 29th they had deducted 115 rupees from my prepaid account and again on 2nd of December they had deducted 55 rupees from my prepaid account. When i called customer service they took a complaint and then they failed to resolve it. First they calimed i had browsed after my gprs pack had run out, crossed the 2gb limit, browsed using airte live instead of mobile office, dowloaded from airtel live. I was fed up after couple of calls and resorted to email 121 instead of calling them on the mobile as every time i call them i was going through the same thing again and again. Some thing like what happens in groundhog day. Email did not help much as they promised to call which they did not and then i received messages which requested me to call 198 but i guess they have blocked my number or something as i could not talk to anybody. Finally i made a list of all the people who have mailed me and again mailed 121 referring to their mail, irresponsible attitude, carelessness and finally quoted a article which stated that a conductor of a bus sued airtel as they have reduced 10paise from his prepaid account and won. The next mail requested me to call nodal officer. This happend after nearly a month. Now talking to the nodal offcier was totally different. Within one minute he understood the problem went through the details and told me that on 2nd of december i had browsed before my gprs pack was installed and gave me the details to convince me. I had to aggree and he agreed that on nov 29th the amount debited was not right and he said he can grant 100 rupees back to my account within 4 hours. And in the next 4 hours 100 rupees was granted back to my account.
So guys like any other office cutting through the red tape takes time but atleast at airtel you can sort it out at some point if you donot get frustrated.

[akhilesh]

I had an incredibly bad experience with Airtel and although I am very lazy when it comes to writing down my experience, I just couldn't let this go!

So here goes. I have an Airtel number on which I activated Rs 98 GPRS plan on my iPhone. First things first the speed is no match even when compared to Vodafone live which I was using earlier. Coming back, my GPRS plan were to expire on 22nd Jan 2011.

I got up in the morning yesterday and checked my balance which I normally don't do (but I am glad I did) and from 90 something the balance went down to 30 something! Shocked I got down to calling the 'great' Airtel customer support service and here is the sequence of events.

First Call

Million menu options.... after 5 minutes of trying I finally got the hang of it. For the benefit of the fellow BCM mates, press 2 and then 9 to get to customer service executive if you have an Airtel prepaid.

Airtel: How can I help you?
Me: I have a pre-paid connection and my balance went down by 60 something rs overnight. Can you tell me how and why?
Airtel: Sure sir.

Puts me on hold without asking with that stupid Airtel jingle on!

It goes on and on for like 15 minutes and all this while I am being charged 50 paise for every 3 minutes! I cut the call and call them back again!

Second Call

Airtel: How can I help you?
Me: I have a pre-paid connection and my balance went down by 60 something rs overnight. Can you tell me how and why? And please dont put me on.......
He put me on hold AGAIN without even asking and the same thing, 15 minutes no answer! I cut and call back again!

Third Call

Airtel: How can I help?
Me: DO NOT PUT ME ON HOLD!
Airtel: .......................
Me: I have a pre-paid connection and my balance went down by 60 something rs overnight. Can you tell me how and why?
Airtel: Can I put you on hold while I see the information?
Me: Yes but be online, I don't want to hear that stupid music.
Quiet...... no one speaks for around 2 minutes
Me: Hello............ Hello.............. Is anyone there?
Airtel: Yes Sir (Went to slumber I guess). Sir we activated the GPRS Rs 60 1GB 14 day validity pack on your Airtel connection.
Me: WHAT!
Airtel: Sir, the GPRS renewal is automatic.
Me: I was never told it is Automatic and even if it is automatic, I activated the Rs 98 2GB plan. How can you activate another plan on the name of Automatic renewal? And because I dont have enough funds in my pre-paid account, you activated the one that suits you than me!
Airtel: mmmm.... mmmmmmmm.... Can I transfer your call to my supervisor?
Me: How can he help?
Airtel: mmmmmmm..... mmmmmm...... Quiet............
Me: Can you register a complaint so that the balance can be reversed?
Airtel: Yes sir, Can I put you on hold?
Me: Yes but make sure you dont play that.......

The stupid jingle starts playing again and the same 15 minute thing repeats! I cut the down the phone in frustration!

So the end result is that to find out where my 60 Rs went overnight, I had to spend 30 minutes and talk to these so called customer executive jokers and spend close to 7 Rs in knowing so. There was no call back, no response at all from Airtel.
The worst part is that I got no intimation for internet pack renewal, no calls or even a solitary SMS.

I guess I am going to switch back to Vodafone but not before I make sure that I hurt their business in someway or the other. The jokers deserve that.

[mjothi]

One of the worst (or best for Airtel!!!) thing they did was to charge for the customer care. Personally I feel that you should drop a complaint to the MoT or TRAI.

OT: I saw so many complaints about the BIG TV logo in the screen and finally its been paid off. he big logo is gone now.

So, as many people start to complain, action will be taken for sure.

[basilmabraham]

Sad to know your experience. With the number portability the competition should tighten up, bringing more benefits for the customers. You can ask for the refund and then switch to another operatior, retaining the number. All the best.

I didnt know Airtel customer care was charged, shouldnt this be a toll free number.

[Cesc]

^^ Even Vodafone customer care is charged at 50p/3mins.

Switching you to a GPRS plan of the company's choice - how convenient. On a serious note - this is outrageous. That's daylight robbery. I am on Vodafone postpaid and even though I have had my fair share of bizzare experiences with their customer care they pale in comparison to what you experienced with Airtel. Somebody stuff sense into their heads.

Edit: Boy the Airtel CC is really horrendous. I was going through some posts on the MNP thread and came across more such experiences. And they tom-tom their CC no end. Guess it's all show and no go.

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadget...rators-12.html

[Digital Vampire]

First of all, why should anyone pay to call customer care? I don't think anyone would like to call these stupid customer care centers if there was no issue with the service. We are calling to rectify problems in their service or add/delete VAS and not for some paid erotic chat services?

And even if the above is justified, if the Customer Care staff puts the customer on hold for long periods, why should we pay for their inefficiencies and delays? I think this is just another way of milking customers.

[speedmiester]

I also had a very bad experience with Airtel recently. Without my consent they activated one of their many value added service. After blasting their brains out, I got the charges reverted.

[dkhatau]

My problem with airtel goes on like this, i have been an airtel subscriber for last 6 years and now ten days back some tower failed near my residence and since the i am not having any reach at my home. They sent a man to check at my residence and found out the error and have told me that it will take 3 months to rectify this error. Ofcourse number portability has arrived so am planning to shift, but can you beat that 3 months to repair a tower just doesn't make any sense. But to choose a new service provider is also another headache.

[musicmanaman]

Airtel customer service especially the pre-paid one is really really bad, they actaully don't have any idea about anything, it takes ages to talk to someone, after which they put you on hold for ages. I'm hoping after the mobile number portability has come in, at least the customer service experience will improve with all providers.

[akj53]

1. All mobile companies are equally bad in customer care. I have had very very
Bad experiences with Vodafone and now with Idea custimer care also. The name of the "Customer Care" should be changed to "Customer Tormentor"

2. All mobile companies work as a cartel to fleece customers while the Government (TRAI, DOT or the Ministry) conveniently looks the other way as receive bags of bribes from these rascals.

3. I changed my Vodafone Postpaid to Prepaid after 10 years because they don't offer per second billing to postpaid customers. I also have another Idea prepaid connection. Both continue to activate various services themselves on my numbers without any request from me and even me being aware of activation. Result I loose 200-300 Rs. Every month. This is cheating of lowest grade by so called respected businessmen like Sunil Mittal and Kumarmanglam Birla. They should be ashamed, but that is wishful thinking on my part.

[2500cc]

Hey guys this topic is being in the following thread, please continue your discussions there. Mods please merge the threads.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadget...omer-care.html

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by speedmiester

I also had a very bad experience with Airtel recently. Without my consent they activated one of their many value added service. After blasting their brains out, I got the charges reverted.

I've experienced just the opposite. I took a new post paid connection, and while filling up the form, I tick marked many VAS like Airtel Live, CLIP, MMS, browsing pack, SMS pack etc. To my horror, none of these things were active, even after many hours after my connection got activated. I had to place a request for each of these things. And I had to fire left and right at the customer care exec the next day to get everything right. Then it took them only an hour or so