Airtel- international roaming
I have had a very bad experience with Airtel which I felt necessary to share with the members, so that they are aware about their illogical and undisclosed fine print , and the very poor quality of customer service and complaint addressal.
I had recently activated my Blackberry for international roaming. Knowing that the usage charges are very high, I used it sparingly and mainly where there was free WIFI access. I was shocked to receive a bill ( no listing details were given ) of Rs 12,000/- for internet usage.
After a lot of follow-up and escalation, today I was told that even if you log on to a hotel or personal WIFI LAN, you are billed unless you disable the Airtel internet mobile facility every time from the smart phone.
This sounds crazy. On questioning them as to why this was not pointed out on their web site or when subscribing to the plan, the customer care person was rude enough to say that I should have asked this question specifically before taking on the connection.
One specific item of usage was for 3500/-, in the middle of the night. They said that I must have forgotten to close the browser and it would have operated all night- I wonder what it was being downloaded on auto for 3-4 hours.
In summary, purely from customer service perspective, Airtel is to be strictly avoided. From perspective of international roaming, it probably makes much better sense to take a matrix SIM. I do not know whether Vodafone or Idea are better. Any comments? more
I had recently activated my Blackberry for international roaming. Knowing that the usage charges are very high, I used it sparingly and mainly where there was free WIFI access. I was shocked to receive a bill ( no listing details were given ) of Rs 12,000/- for internet usage.
After a lot of follow-up and escalation, today I was told that even if you log on to a hotel or personal WIFI LAN, you are billed unless you disable the Airtel internet mobile facility every time from the smart phone.
This sounds crazy. On questioning them as to why this was not pointed out on their web site or when subscribing to the plan, the customer care person was rude enough to say that I should have asked this question specifically before taking on the connection.
One specific item of usage was for 3500/-, in the middle of the night. They said that I must have forgotten to close the browser and it would have operated all night- I wonder what it was being downloaded on auto for 3-4 hours.
In summary, purely from customer service perspective, Airtel is to be strictly avoided. From perspective of international roaming, it probably makes much better sense to take a matrix SIM. I do not know whether Vodafone or Idea are better. Any comments? more
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i think highlighting the black- listed cos. will work!! i have also had a very bad experience with airtel about 2.5 yrs back where i was billed 70,000rs for 20 days of roaming to US. i had kept my data roaming off and 3G off during my travel and was using only wifi which was available 90% of the time. Upon questioning, they said that I should have discontinued the 3G service by either calling/writing the customer care. when I disagreed to pay, the recovery agent was appointted and the lawers letters started coming. I got so frustrated that I had to clear the amount and moved on with a very bad feeling!! more
Sep 24
I have seen people rating businesses terrible on LocalCircles. Best way because people associated with you get to see it. more
Sep 24
With all sympathy what happened to u, unfortunately Airtel is still the best choice over other telephone operators. I too had bad experience dealing with them on Airtel money but I was satisfied when I escalated matter to grievance cell by mail. Found them excellent for voice service so far. more
Sep 24
I think this kind of behaviour is endemic ... these guys just won't change. One of the reasons is that the customer service function, like most other functions, have been outsourced. I doubt switching providers would help either. One option is to do an online campaign demanding better service. more
Sep 23
