I have been using Aircel’s postpaid service for close to five years. Sometime around May 2009 I got a call from this sweet speaking lady who briefed me about the various schemes they had. As per a scheme the rental was absolutely free and I had a choice of toppings to pick from. They were even generous enough to give me 100 minutes of free calls absolutely free every month for the Rs.25 CLIP charges I had to pay to keep my line active.
The smart cookie I am was thrilled by this plan and immediately opted for it. They had a catch here, I had to cough out Rs.500 to switch to this plan. I mentally made some intelligent calculations and found that I will still be able to save money from the deal and opted for it with a wide grin.
I opted for the toppings of 500 minutes of local call to any mobile within TamilNadu for Rs.199 and also picked up a 300 local sms for additional Rs.25. I had got a good deal for Rs.249 per month. I was happy with the shopping done and went ahead to treat myself not knowing about the bigger treat that was to come.
The bigger treat came to me from Aircel when they sent me the bill for the month. I had totally made around 600 calls during the month which meant all the toppings I had took care of my bill but Aircel expressed its love towards me with a bill for Rs.948 only. or to be more precise the love for my wallet.
I was surprised at the bill and after breaking my heads found that they had charged me for all the calls I had made without deducting the 600 minutes of free call I was eligible for and also as a special gesture of thanks included the charges for the top ups I had opted.
I went to their outlet to set my bills right and they coolly said that it was a billing error and that it will be reversed in the next bill and the excess payment I make will be adjusted against in the future bills. I thought it to be a teething problem in the initial stages and without doubting their credibility I paid the entire money and happily went thinking that I will not have to pay bills for the next two months as the payment I had made now will cover them. Whattey intelligence. \m/
I immediately called up the customer care and they promptly took note of my issue and informed me that they will reverse the amount in the next bill. The next bill came and they did reverse the extra charges made but… in the new bill they again they showed that their love for my wallet has not died. This time again they charged me for the entire minutes without deducting the free minutes I was eligible for and again as a token of love included the toppings that I had ordered.
I again called up the customer care and they promptly promised to revert the excess minutes charged. The next month again a new bill and the cat and mouse game went on. But this time I refused to pay the bill till they set things in order. This went on for months and months.
It became a habit for me by now to call up the customer care every time my bill came to inform them about the fraud they were committing in their billings. The innumerable mails and calls I made just were waste of my time as they had better things to do, like screwing up the life of another customer.
In between they also sent a “FRIENDLY REPRESENTATIVE” to my house to collect my outstanding bills. I believe the mobile operators might have picked up this trick from credit card companies. Well I put a brave face to the “FRIENDLY REPRESENTATIVE” and said him that I was not going to pay till all my bills were set right. I was not in a mood to relent till I got proper bills and explanations.
They now began their next level of torture by barring my outgoing and incoming calls. Every time they do this I had to cough up some money to get my line released or call their support and explain the issue and ask them to come out with clean bills and explanations so that I can pay. This cat and mouse game went on for an year.
Sometime last week they had again barred my outgoing calls and again I took it up with the support centre to explain my problems. The support executive politely listened to all my problems and asked me to send my request to the corporate care and he also promised to release my outgoing calls in two hours time. In the meantime he asked me this seemingly innocuous question, Is your incoming barred too? I replied in the negative.
I thought that I was lucky as at least my incoming was still active and I was still connected to the world. I was scheduled for an telephonic interview in the evening and was doing some ground work for the same but the interview call never came. I was wondering as to why the call did not came.
At the same time my friend who was with me got a call on his mobile from my home enquiring about me as I was not reachable on my mobile and that is when I realized that my incoming has been barred too. Aircel had found a perfect way of screwing up my life.
I was pissed off to the core and immediately called up to the customer care to give a piece of my mind. Luckily the same guy who had spoken to me in the morning picked up the call and it was very sweet of him that he remembered me as well grrr. He said that he had passed my request but they had refused to not only activate my outgoing but also decided to bar all my incoming calls. They didn’t even think it was important to inform me about backtracking on the earlier statement, well as already said they had other important jobs to do.
I had been effectively cut out of the rest of the world only to be welcomed with the special ringtone that Aircel has set for me "This number is temporarily not in use."
Oh forgot to tell you this. I found something more disturbing too… In all the bills I got the minutes usage was inflated. I am yet to get any explanations on the reason for discrepancy in the minute’s usage.
I am not sure how I can fight against these professionally well organized corporate thugs. Any idea when number portability is coming in? Please share these benefits about being anprivileged Aircel customer with you friends and relatives, reduces one more person going through the agony I am going through.
For copy of my bills please check
https://flickr.com/photos/2rams/sets/72157624363546882/show/
Regards
Ram
9841010109 - "No this mobile does not ring"
2rams.posterous.com