Airtel — ARBITRARY BILLING PLAN CHANGE, WRONG BILLING, DEDUCTING MONEY FROM ACCOUNT WITHOUT CUSTOMERS REQUEST

I, the complainant Sheela Devi T.V. daughter of D.Kesavan residing at above address. I have been having your landline from about 5 years or so. My number being[protected] and my alternate number [protected] (also of Airtel). I have been on your 349 or so plan all along and suddenly my 27th Feb to 26th March (my billing cycle) I received a bill numbered[protected] showing that my base plan is Rs.585/- (monthly). I was shocked as this has been done arbitrarily without my consent, I did not agree for plan change as I was perfectly happy with my old plan, and I also futher state that I shall not change my plan in the future for a very long time as this plan is economical and beneficial to me. It was actually an introductory offer by the company to attract customers and as usual after they reach the target. They try to update the customers to a plan which is least beneficial to the customers and profitable to the company which is a marketing trick played by these companies on gullible customers this used to be done even without informing the customers till the customers appealed may be to consumer forums or TRAI and I think a rule was passed where customers were given relief and such unscrupless telecom companies were not allowed to change introductory plans and introduce new plans to the said customers without their explicit consent. This shameless updating to the higher plan without an explicit request preferably mailed and signed by the customer is an attempt to hoodwink the customer and lure him into a profitable deal for the company. This old trick is always being played by most telecom companies except the government entity BSNL and Airtel is a proven serial offender in such practices. This causes much harassment and waste of much valuable time to the customer in trying to set right the matter. I had to call customer care[protected] and gave a complaint I am also delivering this complaint letter through my representative my husband Mr.T.V.Venkata Krishna Prasad in person to your head office in situated in Santhome. Also I am sending a complaint to your office by mail and to TRAI and other media sources. As was suggested by your REC dealers one Mr.Inbakumar is supposed to be the incharge of this section and I hope he will do the needful. This includes wasting one or two days on typing, travelling (40 kms or so) to your offices. The P…..e that run an own Aritel organization using this type of harassment time and again as consumer courts are very not in our country and do not avoid heavy penalties as in developed countries ie., US. These un scruples telecom companies, multinational and Indian business men get away with such acts and are emboldened in keep repeating this wayward ways they also do the same by disturbing with phone calls when you are busy and without your consent they deduct their money from your phone (prepaid) for offers which does not interest you and for which you never apply. There is also in postpaid a matter of Perennial wrong billing. Repeated again and again creating much harassment and waste of time for a customer in which Airtel seems to be leading the lot. Please note that today Wednesday 16th April 2015 morning 4.59 am to 5.04 am I made three calls to your customer care number[protected] I received good response from your representative and my complaint was registered under complaint no. 54998964 but as usual I have no faith that the concerned department will act upon it as in many such former cases I have had a dismal response that is why I am continuing with a personal appearance. Please change my bill plan to my former plan and rectify the wrong billing plan for the billing cycles that have wrongly been built. Also I want a waiver on the penalties that accrue due to your fault and my non payment of my bill due to delay in addressing the problem. Please note hereinafter without my explicit and written and duly signed request please do not change my plan I am also not interested in any offers over phone. I do not want to be disturbed through any of your offers on phone by you or your subsidiaries. If Airtel again indulges in such shameless arbitrary malpractices I shall be forced to go to the media and consumer courts sue you for damages due to mental stress, waste of precious time and harassment. Please mend your ways and do not repeat such acts on your esteemed customers. Also please do not again send a bill with a wrong plan in your next billing cycle other than the plan I used to be in and stop leaving it on computer mistakes. Hope you will speedily act upon the matter and also not repeat such harassment again.