Name of Complainant	Shabir Rahim
Date of Complaint	March 9, 2020
Name(s) of companies complained against	Airtel
Category of complaint	Mobile Phone
Permanent link of complaint	Right click to copy link
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I have been Airtel customer for several years using the mobile number : 96770 30183. I have activated Airtel ISD umbrella pack on 5th or 6th of November 2019 to make ISD calls to Australia. I requested for ISD package to make calls to Australia, and understood from the customer service explanation that the charges would be Rs.3/- per minute under the ISD pack, but it was shocking to note in my bill that the charges were not levied as per the umbrella pack tariff.  On Nov 8th I made several calls to Australia and the number got barred suddenly, when called the customer care they told me to make interim payment due to high usage of ISD calls and activated my number. And also to my shock they said the unbilled outstanding amount was Rs.9000/- approx to be paid. I was confused of the charges and asked for detailed billing, and they did not explain the Tariffs even then and informed me of Rs. 3/- per Minute as Australia charges, and high billing could be with some issue from Airtel billing and needs to be escalated,  and informed to wait until Nov 12 for the bill to get generated. My mobile was unbarred again and made few more minutes call and flew to Australia for urgent matter after couple of days. When I returned back, I received a shocking  bill amount of Rs.37781/-.by email. After demanding explanation, they sent detailed bill in with a slab rates of Rs.12/- & Rs.180/- per minute (Bill copy attached for your ready reference). I also noticed that none of the calls were charged at Rs.3/- per minute as per the pack tariff, as explained & informed by Airtel’s customer service during pack activation, and in couple of customer care calls made to clarify the rate before the actual Australian ISD call were made. By noticing the same, I have visited Airtel, Santhome Branch and made a complaint and received complaint token number: 31-2665841974019 DT.19.11.2019 and they also informed us to write to nodal team to get a proper solution for the same.

The nodal team was claiming the charges are correct as per pack tariff they have. When I explained that the calls were made based on Airtel suggestion rates and never Airtel even hinted of any other Slab rates during several customer care call made, and demanded to play the recorded conversation to prove that the rates were explained, they have been neglecting and denying playing the recorded conversation. Airtel customer care also once said, if customer need to get call rate details for Australia, customer should not ask for +61 (ISD code for Australia) but should have asked rates for +611, +612, +613, +614 and so on for all possible permutations and combination of +61 numbers and Airtel is not obliged to provide complete call rates of Australia when asked for call rates of Australia. Airtel will only provide base rate of +61, and any rate for addition of numbers to  +61 such as +61(1), +61(2), and 3 and so on will be charged and customer has to pay it. They have been barring my outgoing services and demanding me to pay the charges forcefully. But, I have forwarded and escalated the complaint to next level with the appellate team on 25/01/2020 @ 7:04 pm, where I haven’t been getting any response from appellate team. The nodal team and the collections team are forcing me to pay the incorrect charges by barring my services frequently; they denied providing recorded call conversation or transcripts of how I was misguided. The customer care call recording if provided will clearly state, I had be asking all possible rates for Australia several times and Airtel kept insisting on Rs. 3 per minute and nothing else, and gave different billing rates. I’m stuck helpless with this unethical customer service/nodal team.

Appellate team from Airtel never responded for any of my mails for more than months, and while I waited for their response, collection team kept calling me several times a day troubling me to pay in spite of me explaining them of waiting for appellate respond of call recording or solution. Collection team blocked my incoming and outgoing and asked me to wait forever for appellate team to respond and they won’t check with appellate on their own regarding Appellate communications and solutions. Only after blocking my Incoming and Outgoing service permanently, appellate mailed on Sunday, as they don’t want to provide solution or give Audio recording or give any waivers.  It looked like a deliberate attempt to block my number while I waited, and to force me to pay without giving solution or audio recording of how I was misguided and how the billing is justified.  My number has been blocked since Feb 22nd 2020 and this has been creating too many inconvenience as the number is shared with banks, Employers in India and Australia, My friends and family and several online services.  I have asked Airtel customer support to direct my call to Appellate to speak when the number was blocked, but they have denied it stating I can wait for Appellate to respond in email forever and they won’t unblock until I pay the bill.

I plead your good-self to get me justice for this unethical demanding and solve the issue to save my hard earned money from the team of Unprofessional team of Airtel. For your kind reference, I also paid an approximate bill amount of Rs.2000/- on 12th February 2020 towards undisputed billing cycles of December 2019, January and February 2020.

I sincerely hope that I would get support to solve my billing dispute in AIRTEL and relieve me from all the hassles.

I await your supportive response and action in this regard to proceed further.

Thanking you in advance.

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