

Airtel fail (world's 3rd largest carrier) - shubhamgoel
http://kshdeo.blogspot.in/2013/04/airtel-what-you-should-expect-from.html

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crazydiamond
We all have many horror stories but still I hesitate to change. All these
ISP's are cheats who make glowing promises but don't deliver. I remember how I
was being charged daily for some service I never used and never subscribed to.
This went on for years and I wondered how my balance was depleting even when I
hardly use the phone.

Finally, one day i began getting SMS's that I was being re-subscribed to some
Hindi tunes or poetry. When i called up I was told they had been charging me a
rupee a day for 2 years for this service.

Funny thing is that even if I had subscribed, I never got anything. So they
charged me everyday for something they were supposed to send me, but never
sent me.

They do the same thing on the internet, where they promise you some bandwidth
(speed) but never deliver. After the allotted 10 GB my speed is supposed to
half. But it comes down to a crawl. After i touch 80% of my bandwidth, every
time I open a URL i am taken to airtel's page to buy more bandwidth. This goes
on an on. (To be fair , this harassment has reduced recently, but they cheat
you on bandwidth to get you to go to a higher scheme).

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AxisOfEval
I have had many horror stories with Airtel. I blogged about one here:
[http://hatwar.org/epilogue/2010/06/why-buying-an-iphone-
in-i...](http://hatwar.org/epilogue/2010/06/why-buying-an-iphone-in-india-
sucks/)

Soon, I had to stop paying my bills because they couldn't resolve my issues
and kept logging the tickets as solved. But they didn't want to end it
there...

They leaked my call details to their recovery agents - and soon my friends and
customers were getting calls asking about my whereabouts, while I was always
accessible via email. Total breach of trust and privacy.

They prefer to speak rather than write because what is spoken on the phone
can't become evidence while mails can. Besides, India doesn't have a semblance
of tort law.

India's largest and the world's third-largest telecom company runs on
marketing. That is all they do. They do not own or operate their network. It
is outsourced, just like their stores. Don't touch Airtel with a barge pole.

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fakeer
I can commiserate with you, especially the part where you are asked to repeat
the problem the nth number of time. What I usually do is call/email the
appellant authority inside Airtel(usually Bangalore nodal officer). Usually
works, but not always.

What's the solution? Certainly not changing operators. They all will show you
similar trait, worse or so. I think drag them to a court of law. But most
probably you won't. You don't have time, neither do you have enthusiasm for
it. It seems to be a very very huge investment of time, effort and headache
for such a small return and neither the government and the law of our country
are exactly consumer friendly. And they(Airtel and elk) know this.

There's a misconception in the air that whatever costly and erratic
they(Airtel) are their services are best. That is simply not true. It's just a
successful marketing ploy they were able to pull. And it worked. Even being
the costliest and having worst customer service(I can confirm that) they enjoy
sort of a status that they are better ones.

About the rest, as someone else has commented on your site -

\- _Don't ever take a postpaid connection_. Never ever. Well, of course until
you are a millionaire and you don't give a damn how much you are charged all.
Postpaid connection is a lot costlier than prepaid for the mid and low tier
usage segment.

\- You might not like this one - but do not blame them for misinformation,
everything is given on Internet and are provided to when asked for that.
Research your own shit. Like cost and all. I had learned it hard way too, just
like you but I d not rely on them now. I wrote 4 emails to them when I changed
one 3G voucher to another. Wanted to make sure. When they said they will call
I told them you can call but in that case _I will record that call as I won't
have a email record of your promises and assurances and if you f_ _k up I'll
sue the shit out of you". It worked and they immediately replied to my
queries.

\- When in problem. Visit an Airtel store and lodge a complaint there and get
a receipt and threaten to file a complaint with law if not resolved soon. Mean
it. It they don't fix it, file the complaint. We usually feal the heat when we
face the problem but leave it someone more crusading than us and everybody
thinks the same. I had them once pay me my INR 500+ prepaid balance back they
deducted unlawfully and INR 3500 in damages just using
<http://www.core.nic.in>. It works, you have to try.

\- People who show up at home in Bangalore to take your docs do not (almost
always) know anything other than Kannada. That is because that job is very low
paying and they can't hire a person who commands a higher salary to that job.
Same story with Citibank or any bank or broadband provider et al. You can't do
anything about that other than, again, visiting a store.

-Their customer care executives are plain evil. Earlier I thought even they have a tough job. Hell, if it is change it. They are simply incompetent lazy ba_ __ _ds. Play with them. Don't loose your head make them loose it. When I get a credit card or loan call I make them explain everything to me for about 10-20 minutes while I am coffee machine in office or reviewing some code or so and then in the end when they ask when to send_ the bank person* I tell them I am not interested at all and I just liked their voice and felt like taking. Believe me my number of those calls dwindled. DND registration didn't work.

\- Calculate the amount you might have saved(if at all) while on roaming on an
Indian connection prepaid or postpaid. You can't. You are better off with
those international SIMs and VoIP providers. Use your prepaid number just to
receive missed calls(don't pick) and SMS(don't reply). Doesn't cost a thing.
And then reply from other sources according to number priority. Or reply
anyway, doesn't cost more than 1-2 INR per minute. Done this in Korea for long
and plan to do the same on my Euro trip.

