After watching all the "happy to help" promotions, I just had to bring to your notice my recent experience with Vodafone.
I recently moved to Hyderabad from Delhi. Having been a loyal customer of vodafone (/hutch/essar) for almost 10 years, it was a no-brainer for me which cellphone service provider to choose.
I got myself a new connection with a special plan extended to my corporate, namely AMD India Ltd. One day later I got a call from one vodafone representative at 11:30 a.m. that he wanted to visit my residence for verification and that he needed directions. I told him that I’m not expected at residence at that time of the day and am available in my office.
I also gave him directions to my residence. He called me again a couple of times, and despite me being in important office meetings I attended him and cleared his doubts about directions to my residence. I gave him the same directions that enabled me to reach that residence the very first time I ever visited the city of hyderabad without any problems at all, and this despite me being a purely hindi-speaking north indian. Apparently the vodafone representative couldn’t reach my residence and the very next day my outgoing calls were barred. I called up vodafone care and asked for the reason.
I was told by customer care executive that my credit limit had been reduced to Rs.300/- and since my usage had exceeded the limit, outgoing calls were barred. I was told that in order to start making calls again I’ll have to make an interim payment. I replied that I will do the same, however can he tell me how can I get my credit limit increased, so that I do not face this inconvenience of call debarring in future. He tried to avoid this question by replying that I need to make interim payment to get calls debarred. I continued to insist on knowing what is the way to have my credit limit increased.
At this the cust care executive raised his voice and in a not-so-pleasant tone repeated that "you make the interim payment and then only your calls will be debarred!!" At this I kept the phone down and calmed myself with pleasant images of the now so famous hutch dog running around that cute little boy. I was about to get myself a new airtel connection but then this hutch dog reminded me of my 10 year old loyalty to vodafone and managed to reach the nearest vodafone store, despite being under relocation and without my car. I duly made the interim payment and sure enough my outgoing call service was re-instated the next day.
To cut the story short, this interim payment that I made has now turned into a bi-weekly rigmarole for me, as I exhaust my credit limit soon. I do thank God, though, for small mercies. My credit limit has been increased to 600/- and I firmly believe that its only a miracle.
I have sent several mails, requesting increase in credit limit, to one Mr. Ranjan, who is supposed to be the account manager for our corporate account at the following address:ranjan.dash@vodafone.com . Needless to say I havent received any response. I have sent email to customercare.ap@vodafone.com too, requesting increase in credit limit. In all these communications, I have mentioned my delhi vodafone account (still active), where-in my usage once touched bills ammounting to Rs.9900/- but I have never had delhi vodafone debarr my outgoing calls ( I dont even know what my credit limit on that account is ).
The credit limit hasnt been increased still and these days I get warning calls from vodafone customer care execctives before they debar my outgoing calls. To be frank, I’m now immune to this outgoing call barring and I have given up on Vodafone to fix this issue and found alternate ways (namely an airtel connection with a default credit limit of Rs.1200) to stay connected when I need to (I dont have anything to lose here, right?!)
Here’s the reply I got from customer care to my request of credit limit increase:
We are sorry to inform you, that we are unable to enhance the credit limit on your Vodafone number as would require a deposit. However, being a privilege corporate subscriber, we can enhance the credit limit, against your Standing Instructions.
Following are the three options available to you for the increase in credit limit:
As your Vodafone account would be reviewed after three months; if an on time payment history is maintained which would take into consideration the payments made on your account for the next three months.
You can opt for a Standing Instruction (Credit Card) mode of payment to avoid inconvenience.If you are providing us the Credit Card details, kindly submit us the front/back photocopy of your credit card at our nearest Vodafone store.
You can walk in to the nearest Vodafone store to provide a written request along with a cancelled cheque to be submitted for the activation of ECS facility (every month outstanding bill amount will be debited from your bank account or credit card).