Dear Sunil Mittal,
Following my letter detailing my experience at our offices in Koramangala, I earnestly believed that you have taken necessary action make lives of my kind better. For the past 7 months, there was almost no calls from our offices which strengthened my belief. But, yesterday at around 10 am, my life became more chaotic after a phone call from one of our family members.
The purpose of my visit to the office at Koramangala was to disconnect my Gurgaon number. At that time, I was informed the process would take one month. As I do my payments online, I logged on the following two months to pay the dues for a number I have ceased to use! On the third month, I was denied access to the account online! I attributed this to the closure of the account and moved on. With this regards, yesterday’s call was an eye opener.
The caller was Mr Yadav from Delhi. He was a lawyer representing you. Since I have not paid my dues for a number I have disconnected 7 months back, you had decided to pursue me in the court. As a result, you were filing the charges in the Delhi court at around 3 pm on the same day. Once the charges are filed, I will have to appear before the court in 3 days!
Before I could react, Mr Yadav continued. The court summons have already been forwarded to my Gurgaon address! The fact that I live in Bangalore and I have not received the summons yet did not make any difference to this well mannered, soft spoken and calm lawyer.
Mr Yadav was also very resourceful. Sensing my predicament, he also suggested the way out! I rush to the nearest Airtel office, pay the outstanding dues and fax the receipt to him. He will treat the matter to be settled out of court. He probably will move to the next defaulter while I continue my inconsequential existence.Overjoyed by this readymade solution, I went to our offices in Koramangala and settled the dues. I faxed the receipt to Mr Yadav who was happy to receive it.
The matter is settled now. But, there are so many unanswered questions! Why should I pay for a number that I have not used for 7 months and whose bill till March was settled? Why should I pay since I have denied access to my online account, my preferred mode of payment? Why should I pay you when you have not sent me the bills to me after March? Please don’t tell me that you continued to sent bills to my address in Gurgaon for I have opted electronic delivery of the bills!
Anxiously waiting for your reply,
Your truly,
N
Picture Courtesy: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com
Tags: Musings,Sunil Mittal,Airtel
It is just a matter of time for a competitor with better customer service to trounce Mr. Mittal and his malpractices
ReplyDeleteI just cannot believe this... we recently shifted our no from BSNL to airtel.. and i had tough time while closing the BSNL... These guys are all same.. when u buy connection they will do everything possible on this earth to say your yes.. and after that no one even recognize you..
ReplyDeleteNice post.. I hope he hears you..
I can not believe this.
ReplyDeleteHow can an established company behave like this?
We had a similar experience with our Tata Indicom number.
ReplyDeleteThis is disgusting. I think you should sue back for harassment.
If you have the time and money, file a case in consumer court.
ReplyDeleteYea.. actually. If there is an OMBUDSMAN sort of a thing for telecom companies, i feel you should approach them.
ReplyDelete@Scribbler - Right now, all the players in this field are bad! When you disconnect a line, you are subjected these kinds of torture. When I wrote the first post, a friend of mine had warned me about the court summons! He had a similar experience
ReplyDelete@Swatantra - Thanks for sharing your experience. Everyone has a bad experience to relate.
@BKC - Yes, they do!
@Aparna - Ordinary mortal here! Neither have the energy nor the courage!
@Laks - :) Thanks
@Sanju - Thanks. I think the consumer court is the best option.
Really there is a dearth of propriety here. Suing should be made easy. These people really need to learn a lesson
ReplyDeleteAs per the latest advt carried out by TRAI, Airtel has the dubious distinction for the highest call drop rate..... my Uncle swears that their service is equally bad. I can tell you Vodofone (my service provider) is no better
ReplyDelete@Sujata - :) No such hope! Switching providers or disconnecting a number is always painful!
ReplyDelete@Vaz - I used to have the same problem of call dropping 7-8 months back. Of late, it has been stable!