| Name of Complainant | |
| Date of Complaint | July 22, 2020 |
| Name(s) of companies complained against | Airtel DTH |
| Category of complaint | Electronic Appliances |
| Permanent link of complaint | Right click to copy link |
| Share your complaint on social media for wider reach | |
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We have been a customer of Airtel Digital TV for the past 11 years . As we were reasonably satisfied with Airtel’s service , we retained the connection even after our retirement.
However, since May 2020 we have been subjected to enormous frustration, harassment, suspension of service , extortion of additional fees and total ignoring of our request for clarifications and failure of Airtel to fulfil to refund the extra amount charged by them ( as per their commitment
. The details are as follows:
1. We have always taken care to make scheduled payments to Airtel in time and we made payment of Rs. 600 for May 2020 on 1st May 2020 and received confirmatory SMS from Airtel informing us that the date of next payment was 1st June 2020.
2. To our dismay, on Sunday 17th May morning, while watching the news, services to our TV were suddenly stopped and a message was displayed that services were stopped due to low balance and we should immediately recharge with Rs.200 to resume services .Being a Sunday and at the height of the lockdown period, Customer Care could not be reached by mobile, so we transferred additional Rs.200 into our account and waited for services to resume. This did not happen and we were deprived of the services for 2 more days as Customer service executives were not available on mobile or on mail. We only received a SMS stating that our balance was (–)Rs 68.46 and “other rent “was Rs.603.30. As we have no other Airtel Digital TV account , we again sent repeated mails to Airtel asking them to clarify and also to resume the service.
3. After sending several mails to Airtel Digital TV and Airtel Customer Care attaching screen shots of SMS’s received from Airtel, we finally received a mail on 18th May asking us to deposit further amount of Rs 268 for resumption of services which we were forced to do under protest as we are both retired senior citizens and we depend on the TV for news and entertainment in the lockdown. We were given the Reference No 1419605888 for further communication. (This was to be the first of many such reference nos assigned to us by Airtel without solving the issues) Services to our TV were finally resumed on 19th May ie after 2 days.
4. After further mail to Airtel pointing out that the amount paid by us including the original subscription of Rs600, amounted to a total of Rs,. 1068 and asking for clarifications about my subscription details, I received a mail from Airtel giving me a fresh correspondence reference No 1419618156 and stating that action had been taken to return the amount of Rs. 600 paid by me originally on 1st May to my account.
I regret to say that this amount has not been received by us so far. Nor has any action been taken by Airtel to resolve/ clarify given the other queries related to this account /incident.
The complete list of issues which need to be resolved by Airtel are given below:
a) Clarification on why services to my TV were stopped for 2 days (from 17th May morning to 19th May morning when my subscription of Rs. 600 was paid up to 1st June.
b) Why did Airtel send me a SMS saying that the amount of Rs. 600 was for” Other subscription” and despite my declaration that I HAVE NO OTHER SUBSCRIPTION why is Airtel not confirming this point specifically. UNLESS THIS IS DONE, THERE IS A DANGER OF SUCH A CLAIM ARISING AGAIN IN THE FUTURE.
c) Why was I asked to pay Rs. 468 for resumption of services and then informed that the subscription amount of Rs. 600 already paid by me would be returned to my account. THIS SAID AMOUNT OF RS 600 HAS NOT YET BEEN RECEIVED BY ME.
d) Since Airtel did not provide me services for 2 days (17th May mid-morning to 19th May mid-morning) in spite of my subscription having been paid on time, Airtel should compensate me my providing 2 days services now.
During the past two months we have tried to get the refund as well as replies to queries by regularly contacting Airtel by mail. They now have a standard reply, by email, that their executives have tried to contact us several times by phone but were unable to do so. They also give a fresh Correspondence Reference number. Nowadays they also delay giving replies and just copy and paste their earlier mails
For your ready reference, attached please find the list of emails and phone calls made by us in this regard.
We would be extremely grateful if the matter can be taken up from your end for early resolution of the above points
Please find below a summary listing details of all communications between us and Airtel for your kind reference
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Sl. No |
Mails sent to Airtel by us |
Replies from Airtel |
Custome Service executive/ correspondence no |
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1 |
My email dated 17th May ‘ 20 at 10:29am informing Airtel that services to my TV had suddenly been discontinued citing low balance although Airtel had confirmed by smas on 1st May that my subscription amount of Rs. 600 had been received and next recharge was due on 1st June ’20.
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No reply from Airtel. Unable to contact Airtel by mobile |
No response |
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2. |
My next e mail on 17th May ’20 at 3:35pm that even though I had paid additional Rs. 200 as per message appearing on the TV screen,Services had not been restored. |
No reply from Airtel. Unable to contact on mobile |
No response |
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3 |
Mon 18th May ’20 8:27 am, further reminder to Airtel to restore services to my TV enclosing screen shot of SMS confirming that my subscription was paid up to 1st June ’20. |
SMS from Airtel sating that Rs.603 was for” other subscription” |
No response |
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4 |
18th May 11:27 am, mail to Airtel stating very clearly that I had no “ other subscription “ and reiterating that services to my TV should be restored immediately. |
18th May 1:55pm mail from Madhumita asking me to deposit a further amount of Rs.268 to my account without giving any reason for the demand. |
Madhumita |
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5 |
18th May 8:35 pm mail to Madhumita, informing that I had paid the amount of Rs.468/- demanded in her mail UNDER PROTEST and asking why I was forced to pay this amount when my payment for the subscription (Rs.600) was valid up to 1st JUNE. I asked Airtel to refund the extra amount of Rs.468 and also to RESUME SERVICES immediately. |
19th May mid morning : TV SERVICES FINALLY RESTORED AFTER 48 HOURS (SUSPENSION PERIOD 17th May morning to 19th May morning) 19th May 8:15 pm, mail received from Azar Md. Who informed me that the amount of Rs,468 has been credited to my account and the amount of Rs. 600 had been had been credited back to my account. |
Azar Md. |
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6 |
20th May 4:53pm, Mail sent to Azar Mohd, requesting to know the reasons for the following WHY I WAS SUBJECTED TO harassment AND DEPRIVED OF SERVICES PAID FOR BY ME FOR 48 HOURS. WHY WERE WE ASKED TO SUBMIT ADDITIONAL PAYMENT FOR Rs 468 WHEN OUR MONTHLY SUBSCRIPTION PAYMENT OF RS. 600 HAD BEEN PAID BY US AND WAS VALID UP TO IST JUNE. ALSO AIRTEL WAS REQUESTED TO CONFIRM THAT I HAD ONLY ONE TV SUBSCRIPTION AND THERE WAS NO OTHER SUBSCRIPTION IN OUR NAME. IT IS INTERESTING TO NOTE THAT WE HAVE YET TO RECEIVE THE REFUND OF RS 600 PROMISED BY AIRTEL |
A telephone call was received on 21st May evening from Amit, assuring that all the matters were under examination and would be settled personally by him very soon. |
Amit |
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7 |
25th May,8:17pm, As no further action was taken by Airtel on the pending issues, reminder was sent by us to Airtel to expedite the replies |
No reply was received from Airtel. |
No response |
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8 |
June 2 , 11:11 am, As no response was received from Airtel, mail was sent to CEO, Airtel requesting his intervention in the matter. |
No reply fro Airtel |
No response |
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9 |
June 10,7:02 pm a further mail was sent to CEO once again soliciting his intervention |
12 June,4:09pm , mail received from Kavitha, that stating Airtel had made attempt to contact us by phone. We were asked to provide convenient time for contacting us by phone and also requested to contact Airtel by phone. |
Kavitha New Correspondence No. 1420686630 |
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10 |
13 June 10:11 am, all the points requested by Kavitha were replied viz. A list of pending points, convenient time of contact and a request to settle the pending points including refunding of Rs.600 quickly. |
No reply from Airtel although 10 days have passed. Nor has anyone contacted me by phone . |
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11 |
21June morning . I tried to contact Airtel Eastern Hub phone several times by mobile but only got a recorded message saying that due to COVID Customer Care executives were not available. |
No Airtel Customer service executives available on mobile. On 26th June a mail was received from Raju Customer Experience Executive which was a “copy paste” of Kavitha’s mail dated 12th June and took no cognisance of the replies given in our reply to Kavitha dated 13th June. Amazingly, a fresh correspondence number was assigned to us without replying to any of the issues raised in our mails over the past months |
Raju New correspondence reference No 1421337815 |
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12 |
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Reply sent to Raju on 2nd July by email asking Airtel to expedite solution to the long pendig problems . |
No Reply yet from Airtel |
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