I was surprised to see in my bill that Airtel has charged for calls made to numbers beginning with 1860, even when my scheme is all local and STD calls are free in the pacakge I am paying for.
The Airtel call centre tells me that the number begining with 1860, is a 'special voice number'( a term they have coined themselves) and can be charged upto Rs 2 per minute.
When I check with the bank ( whose number is beginning with 1860) on whether this number is toll free or not. The bank tells me it is not a toll free number and are chargeable as local calls. If 1860 calls chargeable as local calls, then the same should be included in the free local and STD offer that I am paying Airtel for and hence cannot charge me extra!
The call centre is not willing to hear my reasoning and continues to charge me. They say TRAI has permitted them to charge for these calls. But what they do not tell me whether they can charge for these calls even when they offered the customer all local and STD calls included in the package.
The additional cost is less than Rs 50 and they believe that no one will take the additional effort to challenge Airtel.
But this leaves me with a sour taste and a feeling of being cheated. I encourage others who have also faced such additional charges from Airtel to comment below so that the same can be taken up with the regulator TRAI. As customers we should be able to communicate to Airtel that such overcharging is not permitted.