Dear Readers,
HUTCHISON MAX TELECOM PRIVATE LIMITED, this is what the Orange is known as on papers, and have adress at Hutch House, Peninsula, Corporate Park, Ganpatrao Kadam Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai-400 013. This review is regarding mobile no. 98203 33989. I am a practising Advocate. I had on or about 24.10.2003 received a phone call from the office of Orange, and its operator informed me that there was an offer from their Company, whereby the National Roaming facility was available to the customers free of deposit, and the operator further inquired whether I was interested in the said offer and/or willing to accept the same.
She further informed me that the National Roaming facility was to be given by them free of deposit and only an amount of Rs. 99/- (apart from the call charges) will be charged from the customer as and by way of rentals for the National Roaming facility in the monthly bill.
I accepted the said offer and instructed the operator to commence the National Roaming facility with effect from 29.10.2003 as I was scheduled to go to Delhi on 29.10.2003. Once again on 27.10.2003, the operator called me up and confirmed the activation of the National Roaming facility within 48 hrs. therefrom. I re-confirmed the instructions given and asked her to activate the National Roaming facility. But unfortunately, till the date and time of my departure from Mumbai, the National Roaming facility was not activated by Orange.
Even after my departure from Mumbai I regularly kept on following up with the helpline services of Orange, through my father, who constantly kept on requesting them atleast 4-5 times a day between the period 30.10.2003 to 04.11.2003 to activate the National Roaming facility on the said mobile number, but on 04.11.2003 the operator informed my father that the National Roaming Facility was available only on payment of security deposit.
My father then asked the name of the operator who was online, but she refused to reveal her identity and also rejected the requests made by my father to transfer the line to the Superior officials so that the matter could be sorted out. On returning to Mumbai on 10.11.2003, I found that the said mobile no. had been temporarily disconnected by Orange. On making immediate inquiries with the helpline service I was informed that the line is under temporary disconnection due to non-payment of dues.
I was shocked and surprised to learn from the helpline services of Orange that the bill dated 28.10.2003 with respect to the said mobile no. was outstanding and therefore the line was disconnected on 06.11.2003, when till 10.11.2003 I had not even received the said bill and received it only during the course of the day of 10.11.2003.
I have suffered tremendous Professional and financial losses to the tune of Rs. 2, 00, 000/- (Rupees Two Lacs) approx., because of the failure on the part of Orange to activate the National Roaming facility on the said mobile number, as instructed by me. There were a lot of clients and Advocates/Legal Professionals who were trying to get in touch with me and they could not do so as my mobile number was unavailable till 05.11.2003 and was out of service with effect from 06.11.2003. Further, to top it all, the Company has proceeded to disconnect my line with effect from 06.11.2003 in my absence, without even intimating me about the same.
This in all respects amounts to deficiency in the services of Orange. I then sent a notice dtd 14.11.2003 to Orange to which they replied with an apology. Thereafter instead of permanently disconnecting my line and returning the amount of security deposit (Rs.1500/-), as instructed by me in my notice dtd 14.11.2003, they chose to allot the same number to somebody else without even bothering to adjust the amount of my security deposit. Such an unprofessional attitude definitely does not suit the repute of a large organization like theirs.
My constant endeavors to contact their helplinethereafter have proved to be in vain for a long time as their helpline only keeps the subscribers on hold for almost more than half an hour and never answers their calls, which is very unfortunate. Fortunately, once when I got through their helpline, on enquiries, I was told that there is no amount deposited with then and upon my objecting to the same, the concerned operator promised to get back to me on the same after checking the same in detail. Again a very unfortunate thing for a reputed organization like theirs is that the operators in charge of attending to the subscribers? calls have no ready answers to the querries raised by the subscribers and the subscribers have no option but to be held with your helpline on hold and to top it all they get no satisfactory replies to their querries.
Anyway, the concerned operator requested for sometime to check the exact status of my account and asked for my contact nos. so that he could get back to me a little later with an answer to my querry, but he never got back on the same, which again is very unfortunate. On 1st June, 2004 at about 6.00 p.m, after being kept on hold for almost more than 1 hour, their helpline ? operator Mr. Abdul attended to my call and after checking the status of my account, he admitted that there did exist a security deposit of Rs. 1, 500/- in my account.
I was once again assured by their helpline (operator Mr. Abdul) that he will get back to me on the subject within 48 hrs. therefrom, but unfortunately once again, it has proved to be nothing more than a false assurance. I therefore once again by a letter dated 04.06.2004, called upon then to clear my dues and settle my account immediately, which letter I sent them by fax and courier, but have received no response to the same. I also logged on to their website and made a grevience in writing on the subject but the said mail was returned back to me.
I fail to understand how a message sent to Orange through a link (Contact us) on their Own Website be returned and I suspect that they are delliberately tryin to avoid the message and have sent it back on a purpose. I am a responsible citizen of this country and would definitely take all nenessary steps to prevent such big organizations to indulge in such practices of cheating the public in general, but I would like to warn all the readers of this Review to be careful while dealin with such Companies or individuals and request all of you to keep spreading this message.
All the best!
Ms. Punita Khanna, Advocate.