On a short trip to China and Singapore I needed a local SIM and my travel agent recommended Matrix. I called them and the representative in Kolkata was helpful and promptly organised the SIMs. When I asked about giving any rental in advance, he said it was not required but they would want some documents like copy of passport and photocopy of credit card. This, he said, were the regulations and I would pay the rental and usage charge on my return after they invoice me.
On my return I returned the SIMs immediately and wanted to make the payment again. I had used the phone only thrice for a minute or two. They said I would have to wait for the bill. Then my credit card statement arrived and I found they had drawn Rs 10, 000 from the card a few weeks earlier without my authorisation and without informing me. When I called up the representative he said that was a mistake. When I asked for the money to be refunded immediately, he said a cheque would be sent. I repeatedly said that since they had drawn the money from the credit card, they should refund it to the credit card directly, to which he agreed. After several days a cheque reached my address where the payee was the credit card number and the cheque amount was far less than the Rs10, 000 they had drawn.
When I called the representative again he feigned ignorance and said this would be settled by them by taking back the cheque immediately as I couldn’t encash it, and sending the refund directly to the credit card. Needless to say nothing of the sort has been done. Someone phoned to say they had deducted the cost of rental and usage from the money to be refunded and sent an invoice. The invoice came by courier but nothing had been mentioned about my not need ing to make a payment now.
The money has not been refunded to my credit card either. It is not human error but corrupt and fraudulent practice by Matrix which all prospective users should be aware of. Matrix Cellular should be banned as an organisation and this should be widely publicised. PLEASE DO NOT MAKE THE MISTAKE OF USING MATRIX CELLULAR.