I recently had the need to apply for an Airtel Post Paid Connection at Bangalore and made the mistake of doing so through one of their DSAs.
It was sheer co-incidence that I got a call from one of their DSAs at a time when I was seriously contemplating a connection with them. When they learnt that I had been a customer with Reliance for the past 3 Years with a monthly billing greater than 1000, they made an offer which required me to just submit the latest copy of my Reliance Bill, one passport size photograph and a copy of my Pan Card for ID proof. (Now I am not a native of Bangalore and I could not have produced documents like BSNL Bill, Ration Card, and Passport with the address of current residence etc., and I was excited about this offer for the sheer convenience of procuring it)
Though this offer sounded great, my only concern was that I did not have a GSM handset and I kept putting it off for almost a month. However, the Sales Rep was very persistent in his follow up and would call me religiously.
I finally decided to go for it and requested him to come over to my office to complete the formalities. I submitted all the required docs and also paid the guy Rs. 250 towards activation. He handed me a SIM with a pre- allotted mo. However, I wasn’t happy with the no. and requested him for some more options, to which he said he would give me a call by evening and tell me some more Nos. to choose from. I consented. I took his mobile no. just in case I needed to call him.
This guy never called me back with the no. I waited till late evening and then tried calling him on the no. that he provided and heard the message that the mobile no. is either out of service area of switched off.
The next morning, it was the same. Finally when I managed to hear the phone ring sometime late afternoon that day, someone else answered and said that the person I intended talking to was not available and offered to help me instead. I explained everything to him and also provided him all the required details like the SIM No. and the Pre-allotted mobile no. He promised to call back with the no. choices.
Never did.
It was more than 24 hours and I did not even know what my no. was going to be.
The next day, it was a different guy requesting me to explain what I wanted all over again and promising me again that this time he would call back with the nos.
When the SIM was handed over to me it was informed that it would get activated in 48 hours and I am not exaggerating when I say that after 5 days, I had spoken to almost 10 different people and still not got a no., leave alone seeing it activated.
A week had passed by when I got the no. and the assurance that my application form has already been logged in and that this time the 48 hour promise is for real.
10 days passed, and my SIM was not yet active. By this time, I was beginning to loose my patience and decided to speak to Airtel Customer Care. They registered a complaint and promised a call back within 24 hours. Till date I have not received the call. (It’s been 2 months since this episode started)
Meanwhile, another person whom I had never spoken to before called me from the DSAs office and said that they required proof of address document, preferably a BSNL Bill. I obviously did not have that and informed them that I already had an Airtel Landline at the same address and could produce a copy of that. They said that would do. Just to be doubly sure, I gave them a copy of my latest Airtel Landline Bill and my HDFC Bank statement. This time, despite all my prior experience, I was hopeful that my connection would finally get activated. And this time the promise was it would get activated by midnight the same day.
It didn’t.
I try all the mobile nos. I had. Either they are out of service area, or switched off or there’s no response. I call on the DSAs landline and after trying for almost one whole day, I manage to get the lady who’d promised me that my connection would be active the previous midnight. She expresses surprise at the fact that my connection is still not active and informs me that she had personally logged in my application the previous day. She says she’ll check and revert. I refuse to hang up and say I need an answer and that I would hold. I am hold for a little more than 15 minutes and she comes back to inform me that application is already logged in and that because of the month end volumes there has been a delay in activation and that it would most certainly get activated that night.
I have had enough and I call the Airtel Customer Care to check on the status of my complaint and am informed that they are investigating and that I would get a call back soon. (No 24 hours, no nothing.) (Just soon!)
I just check if my application has been logged in as confirmed by the DSA and I am informed that they are not able to view my application as logged in.
The next day when I call the DSA, the lady again keeps me on hold for good 20 minutes and tells me that my application has been declined because they do not accept Airtel Landline Bill or HDFC Bank Statement as address proof and that they need a BSNL Telephone Bill as address proof.
You can guess my reaction. I am stoned...
When I inform her that if I had a BSNL Bill I would have provided it earlier, she re-assures me not to worry about it and they would take care of it and that I just have to sign on the bill copy. Isn’t this amazing????
(Post Scriptum: I just ditched the entire thing. Lost the Rs. 250 that I had paid for activation (for which again I never got a receipt from the DSA)
My dozen calls to Airtel Customer Care didn’t either. I had almost forgotten about the entire thing when I had a man at my door at 07.00 am one day almost a month later informing me that he had come for address verification and wanted me to sign on a blank verification document which he was supposed to complete before asking me sign. If I had a dog, I would have loved letting it loose on him.
I applied for another connection with Airtel through the corporate sales executive who was responsible for all Airtel Connections at my office and I got my SIM activated in 48 hours without paying a penny of activation or deposit. I am on Airtel now. And I decided to go with them only despite all this only because most of the people in my workgroup are on Airtel and it works out economically sensible. If I had the choice... You know what!!!)