Airtel is a firm that earns it profit by cheating its own customer. Below is my experience in dealing with Airtel to make you aware what can happen with you if you choose Airtel subscription.
Cheating #1 Airtel customer care don’t give written confirmation of what they agreed with customer over phone.
Cheating #2 I find discrepancy in my bills so I lodge the complaint to Airtel and did not make the payment. Airtel barred my services and I was not able to use broadband. They charged me for the months for which my connection was barred and not able to use the broadband. I don’t understand for what reasons I’ve been charged for when I’ve not used any of their services. If they had to charge me in any case then why bared me from using the services for which I’m paying.
Cheating #3 Airtel customer care promises waivers to you if you try to un-subscribe their services. They never commit the waver in written. It happened with me that I made the payment based on their commitment over phone. They even wrote on payment receipt "No payment due" when I did the cash payment. Later I’ve been informed that waiver has not granted to me. I complaint to nodal office of Airtel and they refused by saying that the payment receipt is not a valid document. Let me clarify that according to consumer court of India the payment receipt is the most valid document a customer can have. Therefore - Whatever is written on it is valid and can not be denied. The person who wrote it on receipt is an airtel representative and his commitment is Airtel’s commitment. Airtel customer care believes otherwise and I’m still suffering due to this without any resolution.
Cheating #4 Airtel don’t share the complete information of broadband usage plans. It happened to me that when I tried to unsubscribe the Airtel broadband they come up with a better plan with lower cost. They kept these plans hidden from customer. I’ve been over-charged for using broadband which was available in lower cost in another plan. They claim that they provide best optimized plan depending upon customer’s need and this claim is proved false not. In-fact this is there way of cheating customer to earn profit.
Cheating #5 The download and upload speed they promised is not actually the one you would get.
Cheating #6 Airtel broadband restricts access to internet. I find out that they don’t allow access of torrents. When I asked them to unsubscribe me they provided me access to torrent. So Airtel is miss using people awareness in its benefit. If I’m allowed to use torrent then why restrict other subscriber who are not aware of it.
Cheating #7 If you made any complaint to Airtel customer care, i.e. 121 - they charged for it. They keep you on long holds and switch their unwanted promotional offers to you during waiting time. Once connected they waste time in asking your details for confirmations + opening the account information etc. Once complaint is registered then they seldom call back you. Their interest is in you following up your complaint and make chargeable calls to 121 which is Airtel’s profit these days. I remember I followed up a long pending complaint with Airtel and they keep on forwarding my call from one representative to another for almost 25 mins and then the last representative told me that I’m checking the status and put me on never ending hold. I waited for another 10 mins for him to comeback but he doesn’t. SO I disconnected and tried against. Went through same non-sense time wasting procedure from another 20 mins and got the status that "we are still working on it and would comeback in 2 days" I wasted my 65 mins of time, plus call charges for this duration. Horrible experience!!!
My suggestion: #1 Don’t go for Airtel broadband or even any prepaid/postpaid services - even if it they claim that they provide lowest charges and best services. In a short run you would be end up paying higher what committed to you, plus pathetic service.
#2 If unfortunately you are Airtel customer then make all communication through mails. Even if they call you over phone ask them to send in mail for whatever information they need and disconnect the phone.
#3 Ask Airtel customer care to send you written confirmation of your agreement with then either on mail or on Airtel’s letter head via post. I doubt they would do either of these so never agree/commit on only voice communication alone.
Please write your experience of Airtel also. If you need my assistance on anything then do write to me. I would be more than happy to save you from unfortunates of dealing with Fraudulent Airtel.