Seven months back on January 30, 2006, I took IDEA cellular prepaid connection which is
Lifetime free income scheme at Pune. The initial cost which I spent for opting lifetime free income
scheme is Rs. 1000. Let us discuss what all are the incidents happened to me.
There are some indirect charges applicable for lifetime free income scheme which was not
at all told to me by the shop keeper. The first thing is that all outgoing STD calls are charged Rs. 3
per minute irrespective of the time of call. Secondly all local outgoing calls to mobile / Landline are
charged at Rs. 2 per minute. Even SMS are charged Rs. 1 irrespective of the destination (local or
outside Maharashtra). Three months back, I switched to ICard plan scheme in which daily Rs. 1
was deducted from my balance amount. I felt a bit relaxed, since SMS are charged Rs. 0.25
irrespective of any location within India.
One more facility in ICard plan scheme is that for three STD numbers outgoing call
charges are rated Rs. 1.50 per minute. We need to send these three numbers (within India) along
with their STD codes to the customer care number 4444. Even though I did it for three times, as
per the guidelines given by the customer care executive, at different point of time, I didn’t get any
reply from them. What is still worse is that all the calls which I made to those three numbers are
charged Rs. 3 per minute.
When I tried to reach customer care executive at their specified number 4444, I could not
reach them immediately. Finally I explained my problem to the customer care executive and he
informed me that those three numbers are not registered, and he will do it immediately on his
computer. He added further that activation will come into effect after 48 hours.
I thought I was a bit relaxed at that stage for getting a proper reply from the customer
care. My happiness doesn’t last for more than three days. When I called back to the same three
numbers after the specified time of 48 hours, again I was charged Rs. 3 per minute for all the
calls. At this point of time, I was really frustrated to the maximum extent. Again I tried to reach
customer care for the next two days. When I enquired him regarding this, he informed me that there
was no numbers registered on the computer. He added further that he will do it again on his
computer and it will take two more working days i.e. 48 hours for activation of the same.
This time I am not at all interested in leaving that person without my query. I informed
him the incidents happened to me. I requested him to book my complaint to refund the call charges
back to me, for their faults and untruthfulness. The next day I got the complaint Id in my
mobile through SMS. More than 15 days passed and there is no proper reply given to me. Now I
am really worrying whether the complaint is actually filled (or) it is a mere eye wash.
Again I called the customer care executive for their explanation for the problems
which I faced. The customer care executive on the other end informed me that concerned person
will take care of this issue. When I informed him about my problem of not reaching the customer
care most of the time that person informed me to contact the nearest IDEA office which is in SNDT
Law College Road, Erandawane to check my mobile phone and prepaid card for free, since it was a
rainy season.
I didn’t meet the concerned person in the aforementioned IDEA office. My relative
already had a bitter experience. My present prepaid SIM card was the one used by my uncle son for
a long time. He faced the same problem. He was told to meet the same office for a free checkup
on his prepaid SIM card and mobile phone. Finally Rs. 200 was taken from him for issuing a new
SIM card by informing him that the card is not in proper condition, even though it worked fine when
other numbers are called from his mobile.
Gaining all these experiences, I am in the process of reading so much of information
through the Internet and newspapers regarding the mobile phone service providers. Recently I read
an article in Indian Express regarding the mobile phone service providers. I was on great shock,
since all mobile service providers are given a maximum period of 10 to 15 years to carry out their
service by TRAI (Telephone Regulatory Authority of India). Their period of operation will extend
further based on their quality of service and sustainability in the market.
Here sustainability refers to the capability of the mobile phone service providers to pay
and use other telephone networks such as BSNL, Hutch, Airtel, Aircel, etc where they don’t have
their own network in the long run. This means that wherever a particular mobile service provider
doesn’t have their network to operate should use other service provider’s network such as Hutch,
Airtel, Aircel, etc (or) BSNL to establish the communication for which the service provider who
use the network should have to pay.
For example if IDEA wants to communicate with another mobile at Karnataka
the communication path use other service providers network whereever IDEA don’t have their
own network coverage.