Lately, there have been increasing number of complaints against Bharti Airtel for unauthorized activation of value added services [Unlimited SMS, Caller Tunes, etc]. Well, I normally don’t resort to writing about pennies, but having had first hand experience myself and two other instances in front of my eyes, I am intrigued to write and expose the fraudulent business practices at Bharti Airtel.
I don’t remember the date [read within the past 30 days] but, I received a SMS [despite subscribing to NDNC –Offense -1] from Bharti Airtel saying that ISD Tariffs have been revised and I could check the revised tariffs by sending a SMS. I did that and bingo, they activated Unlimited SMS 99 pack on my number [Offense -2]. I then had to call their Paid Call Center [yes All Calls to Bharti Airtel 121 are no more Free] and this guy tells me that I activated the service [Offense – 3, Your executives are LIARS], I asked him to go Audit your system, but he wouldn’t understand and upon shouting he took a complaint to deactivate – They generated 4 complaints and REF #s are – 31505446, 31492296, 31486937 and 31469369. Finally, the service was deactivated. [Ofcourse they’ll, because they are guilty of attempting to rob me, but caught]
In another incident, it happened with my brother [some VAS was activated without consent] and him being from the US was totally pissed off the way customer care spoke and refused to credit the amount back [Oho! well I told him, not worth the pain as we had other priority task on hand]
The third instance was with a distant relative, a Man in his 70s with barely Rs 100 in his pocket traveling all the way from his village to visit my mom who is recovering from a surgery. I took his mobile and asked him why had he activated Caller Tune [there was a message in his Inbox] and he cursed them saying they keep ripping him off, but he wants to stay connected. Mr. Mittal and team shame on you guys for robbing an innocent Am Aadmi.
If the Average Fraudulent Activation amount Rs 30 / Subscriber and if they have done it on 10% of their subscribers [on a rotational basis, with a complex algorithm doing the fraudulent scheduling] at any given instance they will be making Rs 360 mn a month.
The act of Fraud at Bharti Airtel goes on – Read the comment at the end of article here by V Ravichnder, Read the List of Complaints against Airtel Prepaid, Airtel Network, Airtel etc] I would like to enlighten Ravichander that TRAI is a laid back with incompetent employees who do not feel the necessity to fix fraudulent business practices, even though they are empowered to. It is a state of pity that TRAI doesn’t even consider opinions and issues raised by subject experts.
airtel is the biggest scammer in mobile field…they deduct the amount themselves and blame us for that deduction…bloody scammer
same thing happened to me.They can beg instead of doing this.
yesterday i was charged 30rs/30days for AL on demand service which i never subscribed i called customer service and everytime i explain the problem they hung up on me and im vexed with that and stopped calling and today i was charged 10rs/10days for the same service.
I tried to call the customer service and i keeps on getting the same answer please dial *121#
Hi, I am using airtel service from last two month and my cell no. is 8800776632. On 10th of October I sent request for activating Internet on my SIM and i got message from 121 that please confirm by sending message ACTGPRS TO 121. I did that. and i got message that I will be charged rs198 for this. But on 14th October i got message that I am reaching my credit limit. So, i called customer care and asked him that about details. He said that I used Internet dat’s why it reached 1000. Then i told him that i activated 198 plan on my sim. He replied that this plan was activated only for 4 days and after that they activated 10 ps per kB plan on my sim. without sending any confirmation message to me nd without my premission. And on 19th of October, again I got mesage that I reached 3000rs so i should make immedate payment of rs 2000 otherwise they will disconnect my service. So, i called customer care again. and the guy Mr. Dinesh told me that this service is actived on my SIM from 14th October. Even i never sent any request on 14th. and if You activated this plan on my SIM then why don’t you send any message so i should aware of this. Now i am contacting many person from Airtel and everytime i got bad response. One person Mr. Anoop kumar he spoke very rudely. Please give me proper solution otherwise I will file complaint against you. As I am having proof that on 10th of October, I got message from you that the plan of 198 has been activated on my system. And if I have credit limit of rs 1200 then how I reached 3000. Why not you disconnect my service at 1200 and informed me regarding that.
guys i am working in airtel since last seven years.. my balance got deducting without my concern.. and didnt got refunded till now from last six months.. sometimes i will blame customers for their vas activations that you are user of your mobile without you got to know.. i am sick of this complaints..
AIRTEL IS A CHEATING FRAUD COMPANY. IT IS LIKE BEGGING CUSTOMERS FORCIBLY,I AM a Prepaid user,and with out my notice , i was subscribed to Airtel Radio , and my amount got deducting automatically,so i called the customer care after a long struggle with IVRS options,press 1,press2…press 0 etc,Eureka i got a link to cutomer care after pressing 9,thank god, when i asked them what is Airtel Radio, they said it is a radio for which you should pay and you subscribed to it. i said why the fcuk should i subscribe to paid radio when i can get a bunch of radio station s for free…I started to argue with them and told to take my complaint,and return my deducted amount.after a long struggle i received my amount balance back. this Scene has repaeated TWO TIMES, and the fcuk the CUSTOMER CARE is a PAID Service charging 50ps/3 minutes, then why dont they give a direct calling customer care number,i have to listen to all the options on voice respnse sytem,patiently waiting for the word PRESS 9 for customer care..oh GOD …Its really good to Cancel my number and Take some IDEA or DOCOMO.. The TRUTH is AIRTEL doesnt like 1ps/1sec,because it is Reducing its profit..AIRTEL IS CRYING with 1ps/1 sec plan and somehow wants to get its profit back,so They are using CHEAP TRICKS like AIRTEL RADIO,CALLER TUNE,50 ps for calling CUSTOMER CARE,RC 27 recharge for getting 1ps/1sec offer for 6 months etc, THis is only for Prepaid users ROBBERY,GOVT or TRAI should take serious action on this issue. 20 crores of Airtel users with only one rupee each day ,brings 29 crore rupees profit/day to AIRTEL.Easy way of White Collar crimes..