Tata Docomo gives no information about the increase in few charges when you buy packs which have benefit on other fronts. Not only that, once the pack validity is over, your base Tariff(aka SIM Tariff/ Core Tariff) plan changes to higher charging plan.
For eg. If you buy a special pack to get free SMS, your call charges go up. After the expiry of the SMS pack that you bought, your base tariff changes to the new tariff if the charges are higher.
You get sucked into this cycle where any special recharge will increase your base tariff plan. The biggest shocker is the special recharge packs don’t advise of the increase in other charges.
Here’s what happened to me:
My base Tariff Plan was 1p/sec for calls and 200 free SMS/day(first 2 SMS @ 50p/SMS) since I bought the SIM few YEARS ago.
When I recharged with Full Talktime recharge Rs.250, my Tariff plan changed to 1.2p/sec for calls. - This became a part of my base Tariff plan on subsequent top-ups.
Then,
When I recharged with Rs.49 plan for 1p/2 sec for calls, my free SMS was cancelled. I now, had to pay Rs.1/SMS.
Therefore, I had to put an additional SMS pack Rs.6 for 3p/SMS.
Both the above packs were valid for 30 days. However, my base Tariff plan is now 1.2p/sec for calls and Rs.1/SMS with ZERO free SMS.
Telephone customer service has been of no help. They don’t even know to read what is on their screens. I used to have a view that business of Tata had a lot of integrity. However, this view is fast deteriorating.
My plan has not gone back to the original Core/SIM Tariff Plan. I am really unhappy that my tariff plan has changed to a higher rate plan with no(ZERO) free SMS. I am considering either disconnecting this number or changing to another network carrier using Mobile Number Portability.