Complaint Details

Status	:	Closed
Complaint No	:	0002648/2012
Category	:	Telecom
Date	:	09-12-2012
Subject Line	:	Incorrect international roaming charges Airtel Service Req No.47378749
Complainant	:	neha
Address	:	sec 6 vaishali ghaziabad
Complainee	:	bhartli airtel
Address	:

Complaint Details
Sir/Madam

This is regarding the complaint I have made to airtel as per the email mentioned below for which I believe i am not going to get any resolution from airtel and airtel might disconnect my phone connection without any notice due to non payment of incorrect international roaming charges as per the mail below. I need your help in resolving the matter. Please go through the mails below which I have sent to airtel for their help but in vain.

Mail in Dec 2

Hi,

Subject: Dispute against latest bill for 9871610303

Sir/Madam,

This is regarding the latest bill generated for the postpaid mobile number 9871610303 for >INR 11,000/-.

I would like to inform you as below:

1. I am a regular customer of airtel using this postpaid number for >6 years with an average monthly bill of ~INR 1,000 in last 12 months.

2. I was on a short trip to the U.S.A. for which i requested for activation of international roaming.

3. I reached U.S.A on 27th Oct 2012,
a.for the first few days (~4/5 days) the phone was working with the roaming facility activated.

b.after the above mentioned few days, the roaming facility was deactivated 'WITHOUT ANY COMMUNICATION/INTIMATION - no sms/no email/no phone call'

c.i didn't receive any sms on the unbilled usage while in the U.S.A which i get in India on a daily basis, (and the India customer care executive told me recently that sometimes these Messages get delayed BY 1 WEEK!!)

4. After returning to India on 10th Nov 2012, i got a message that the unbilled usage has reached to the huge amount of ~INR 9500/-.

5. I contacted the customer care to enquire about the reason for such high bill and didn't get any clear response and was asked to wait till the final bill is generated.

6. After analysing the final bill generated recently i assume that the charges pertains to international raoming facility only.

7. For your information, i never used any internet facilities, nor did i use the roaming for any calling , the instrument was used to dial India numbers through "reliance global call' which i had subscribed only for the purpose of calling India numbers from U.S.A - this is a toll free number. The intention was never to use 'Airtel' international calling as i knew the charges are very high and not affordable for long duration calls.

8. I had conversations with Airtel India customer care executives who told me very clearly that such calls while in US from my instrument with international roaming activated are not at all chargeable.

Considering all the above mentioned points (specially point 8,7,3c) I have decided not to pay these charges and hence raising this dispute with you.

Please let me know:
a. whom to contact to discuss this matter in Airtel.
b. do i need to route this through consumer forum
c. who is responsible, accountable and liable for the inconveniences i had to face while in a foreign country after the roaming facility was disconnnected without any intimation (point 3b)
d. is this my fault if i was not sent the message for unbilled usage while in the U.S.A, i would have contacted you and stopped any further usage from the very next day.
e. should i assume all these as malpractices by Airtel to cheat its customers!!??

Please suggest the answers of these queries and help me in deciding if i should still continue with my airtel relationships like broadband connection, satellite tv and all family mobile phone connections.

Looking for an early response, Thanks.

Neha Gupta
(Chartered Accountant)
9871610303

Mail on Dec 4 , 2012

Hi,

This is to inform you that regarding my complaint I got a call today and response was "we have checked from the technical team, the charges are legitimate" and the call was disconnected.

Sorry to say but such vanilla response was not expected, it appears that instead of solving the issue you are more interested in updating your records that the complaint has been answered within your SLAs.

Could you please provide me a written response against my original queries asap, failing which I would be forced to take the matter to consumer forum.

Hope you value the customer relations, waiting for an early response. Thanks.

Neha
(Chartered Accountant)
9871610303

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