Milk the Cow! And if milk is over, then blood will also do. That seems to be the operating motto of this company.
I got a connection in Bangalore around mid 2011. Paperwork was quick and connection got set up in a couple of days. I got a 30GB unlimited connection initially, but I saw my quota expiring in no time. So I increased my plan to a 75GB. Still the usage shown in the Airtel usage monitoring tool was too much, not at all in sync with actual usage. Anyway, I didn’t have time to raise a hue and cry, so I let it be.
In Aug 2012, I called up customer care to cancel the connection as I was leaving town for good. The guy on the other end said that it will be cancelled in 7 days or so. I made a final payment and assumed that would be the end of that, and moved on with my life.
But no! Little did I know that the fun was just getting started. Airtel doesn’t leave u so easily. It’s like the gates of Hades(Greek mythology) - U can go in, but u can’t leave.
So, Airtel sent me a bill next month. A customer care guy also called to asking me to make the payment. I told him I got the connection disconnected.He said the system doesn’t reflect that. I told him to check it up internally and make the system reflect it. He said he will look into it and get back to me. He never got back to me.
The cycle repeated till December. Airtel sends me bill, customer care dude calls, I tell my story, he says the system doesn’t reflect, I tell him to check and correct the system, he says he will check and(the cycle repeats). Btw, the bill amount keeps accumulating.
So one fine day, I decided to shoot an email(which I should have done long ago.) to the customer care guys, requesting them to stop this merry-go-round game. After a couple of exchanges, they told me that my connection was wrongly retained and they will’resolve’ this in a few days.
So like an idiot, I assumed that by’resolve’ they meant that the connection will be terminated and the bills will be cancelled. But no! Apparently that’s not how Airtel rolls. What does it do? It sends me a email from collection department saying that legal action would be taken if I don’t pay up. Great job guys! So I mailed Airtel again. Apparently they were suffering from Ghajini syndrome, so they said I need to pay up since they have been following up for so long. They conveniently forgot their mistake.
That’s my story till now! Kahani abhi baaki hai.
Let me know if any of you guys are having fun with Airtel too.
Btw, does anyone have the number of Arshad Warsi of Jolly LLB fame? He did a brilliant job with that hit and run case in Delhi. I guess I need to call him.