| Name of Complainant | |
| Date of Complaint | October 1, 2020 |
| Name(s) of companies complained against | Airtel |
| Category of complaint | Mobile Phone |
| Permanent link of complaint | Right click to copy link |
| Share your complaint on social media for wider reach | |
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Hi,
On 25th September 2020 I visited the following Airtel express store: Airtel Express, 18 Netaji Colony, BT Rd, Kolkata, West Bengal in Kolkata to port my existing Vodafone Prepaid connection (Karnataka circle) to Airtel Prepaid connection (Kolkata circle)
The representatives working over here misdirected and misinformed me regarding the entire porting process which is why I’m now unable to use my PRIMARY contact number amidst the pandemic.
They cooked up a false story convincing me that my Vodafone prepaid number (which belonged to the Karnataka circle) can ONLY be ported to a postpaid Kolkata Airtel connection (as prepaid to prepaid circle change with porting is apparently NOT possible on Vodafone). Once they transfer it to postpaid, the representatives ASSURED me that it can be immediately converted to a prepaid connection.
I didn’t suspect anything since I was unfamiliar with the porting process and I didn’t expect an outright lie from an Airtel representative himself. Coming to 30th September, 2020 (on the day of my scheduled port-out) one of the representatives called me up enthusiastically to tell me that I should activate my SIM card as soon as possible once the port out is complete so that my billing cycle can start from 1st, October 2020. I was confused and I told him that I would be visiting their store on 1st October to get my postpaid connection converted to a prepaid connection as discussed earlier and then the second wave of lies followed.
He said that I’ll have to wait for at least 4 months to convert my postpaid to a prepaid connection and till then I’ll have to pay a minimum of Rs 399 monthly rental which is the base plan. However, he can be “considerate” and offer me a “leeway” reducing my bill cycle to just 3 months. This made me strongly suspicious of his motives and since I was in Baguihati at that point I visited another Airtel Express store where an honest Airtel executive cleared out my confusions and the lies were immediately apparent.
Now I haven’t activated my sim since that would automatically trigger the billing cycle (whose payment is not affordable to me at the moment) and I have lost connectivity to critical services in the midst of this ongoing chaos. I did post a google review on this store following this incident and similar stories like mine can be found in the review section. I would kindly urge Airtel to take necessary action as soon as possible against this store and restore my prepaid connection.
Also an important addendum : The representatives provided one of their own number as alternate number during the PORT OUT process despite me telling them that I do not have an alternate number with me at that point.
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