I changed my house on 26th May 2013. So I made an advance change of address request to Airtel Broadband on 21st May 2013. They sent me an SMS saying that my connection will be shifted in the next 5 days. After 3 days when nobody called me or asked me when I will be available in my new address, I checked the status of my request. I was shocked to find out that "this request is already closed". In the next 1 week, I made total 4 REQUESTS for address change and all of them were closed automatically without any action or any phone call from anyone on Airtel.
So, now I became certain that there is something seriously wrong with this company and I lodged a "TERMINATE MY ACCOUNT PERMANENTLY" request. Now, people from Airtel started calling me with honey and creme in their voices: "Why are you closing the connection sir?, Give us a chance, we have some technical limitations that will be corrected in the next few days, and we will shift your connection." So, they were aware that I wanted to shift my connection in the first place. I told them that it’s already 2 weeks now and I have already spent money to take internet from another company, so I wont be needing them anymore. They still insisted like leeches. The sales team, the service team, their boss, their "top boss" and a lot of pretending polite people called me "sir" and kept calling me day and night. I told them: "you should have called me when I made the first request on 21st May". They avoided the topic, and I did not budge.
As I sat relaxed that I have closed my relations with Airtel, I just got a gut feeling to check the status of my termination request. Again shocking surprise! They said "this request is closed". which means I am still a customer of Airtel and I will still get my bills. So I made my second "TERMINATE MY ACCOUNT PERMANENTLY" request. Once again, at least 6-7 people called me and promised me things like 3 months waiver of my next bills if I allow them to shift my connection, etc. etc. And again after a few days, I found that my request was closed by Airtel staff, without disconnecting my services.
And more surprise: this time suddenly an SMS came to my mobile, saying "Thank you for your request for changing the address. Your connection will be shifted in next 5 days". And this request was NOT made by me. A fake request made by Airtel staff in my name showing that I made a change of address request(to justify why they have not closed my account yet).
In the meantime, a bill has arrived showing full rental fee and Smartbytes(Murga-bytes**) fee for the month during which I never used the internet(because I shifted to a new address). And I am sure, next month another bill will arrive too. I am not paying both. So, before they lodge a court case against me, I will lodge one against them in consumer forum.
And from now on, no Airtel TV, no Airtel mobile, I will stop each and every Airtel services that are linked to my life. A company which closes complaint-dockets/requests without resolving the issues and lodge fake dockets in the name of customers are champion fraudsters and should not be trusted.
*Murga-Bytes(or Smartbytes as Airtel calls it) is extra data that can be ordered by clicking on an icon while using the computer. It is horribly expensive, and it has no password protection so a 6 year old child using the computer can order it too. In their base package, Airtel gives only 10GB for Rs1, 100/- which makes it the MOST expensive wired internet in the market. Tata Indicom gives 80GB and Tikona gives 50GB at the same price. There are smaller companies like Wishnet and Alliance who give True-Unlimited packages at the same price.