This complaint against Matrix cellular comes with a warning towards the services provided by them which undoubtedly includes their faulty billing procedures.
To sum up the situation:
I took a card from Matrix cellular services at the airport before I left for US. I was told the rental is 30 dollar plan ( I see 31 dollars cut in the bill - the matter is not about the single dollar, it is about the accuracy of their T&C.). Later another employee from Matrix (Mr. Shivam Verma), confirms that ‘since my trip was for 31 days hence the rental has been charged of 31 Dollars’ – To this I wanted to add that I My trip was for 31 days but it took a couple of days and reminder mails for their service to get activated. I hope they considered this before they counted on the rental.
I also informed the service provider during my stay in US, that I have got a number from my office in US and will not be using their number, reassuring that the bill I expect will not cross my estimate and - When I am back - I receive a bill of 16417.03 INR, after reiterating to any agent I talk that - please provide me the bill and then you can collect the sim card.
Now when the bill came up, it was with many blunders – to mention a few:
a) There are discrepancies in the column ’International Text’ – I have been charged 4 times for a single message that went on the same time. I wonder which skill made me send a single message four times at the same time. I rechecked in my mobile – it shows a single outgoing message at that time! – I still have this on my mobile for any reference.
b) I have not used any data services and have been charged 9473.76 INR
c) I needed clarification on their terminology of using the term ’Local’ for international calls and none of their representatives could respond to my queries - to name them- Mr. Abhishek, Mr Ranjit, Ms. Yogita, Mr. Siddharth...and of course later an encounter with Ms. Sangita from Allahabad office followed by Mr. Shivam.
I have therefore been pestering in very polite terms that ’I NEED CLARIFICATION AND ONLY THEN WILL I PAY THE AMOUNT!’ I do not know which language their service operates with, that none of their employees could understand my query. And I see that an amount of 10000 INR, transferred for my requirement for some other purpose has been swiped by Matrix without even bothering to respond/clarify my questions. Then I receive a message on my mobile saying that I can destroy the card and no one would collect it from me. OK!! post this I get a call from Ms. Sangita for the remaining amount and she mentioned that - ’PLEASE PAY THE REMAINING AMOUNT OF 6, 417 INR AND THE 10000 INR DEDUCTED FROM YOUR CARD WILL BE PUT BACK IN THE ACCOUNT’. Which they point blank deny of even talking to me. Then some Mr. Shivam mails saying ‘Amount of Rs 10000/- can only be refunded, once we receive the full payment of Rs16417.03/- Kindly provide us with the suitable date and time-frame so that we can call you on your mobile in order to resolve your billing queries’. Now does this mean another 16417.03?? No one clarifies! I provided my number and a convenient time to call..its been a month now and I am still waiting for a resolution…please do not be the next one and be wary of the name ‘MATRIX CELLULAR INTERNATIONAL SERVICES PVT. LTD.’