I have had an Airtel Broadband plan for almost 2 years. At the time of signing up, I also opted for a Night top up plan that offers unlimited download between 8 PM and 8 AM.
3 months ago I received a bill around Rs. 2500 which is almost 5 times my monthly average. However, I didn’t notice and paid it. The month before I again received a similar high bill and decided to look deep into it. This is how this fraud works:
If I connect my system at 7:55 PM and start downloading at 8:30 PM which continues till 7 AM in the morning; they will charge me entire period because I connected before 8:00 PM. Their customer service executive tells that their system is unable to reset the status to "Free download" if the user connects before 8 PM.
Using the same logic you can connect at 7:55 AM in the morning and start downloading. What do you expect? That your download will continue free even after 8 AM. But no, here comes the twist. Somehow their smart system is able to reset the status to "Paid" in the morning!
What the hell is this? If they can safegaurd their own interests in the morning? Why can’t they do something good for their customer and do the same in the evening?
I have spent several hours arguing with their stupid customer service guys who think just because it is a customer policy, I should pay up. But I believe, it is unfair and their policy should be changed. At the least they should very clearly mention their double standards before asking someone to take up a top up plan.
Their customer service people used all sorts of tricks to convince me. First of all they wanted me to believe that I didn’t have any top up plan at all! Later they told me that these conditions are specifically mentioned on my bills. I didn’t find it anywhere. Then they asked me to go look at the promotional material somewhere. I suspect next they will tell me it’s mentioned on a napkin inside Mr. Mittal’s personal drawer.
I am going to take this up with the consumer court. I believe this is a case of mass level fraud.