My wife had subscribed to a connection from a leading telecom operator in Sept 2005. During those days one had to maximize their value of money by going for maximum validity scheme. She chose 1 year year validity scheme from this operator. She paid Rs 2700 for one year validity. The talk time tariffs were most competitive with local calls charged at 75 np per minute for cell to cell conversation and landline used to be charged at Rs 1/- per minute and STD at Rs 2.40 per minute, roaming charges were Rs 3.00 per minute and international at Rs 16 to 30 per minute.
The saga began after 3 months when she found that hardly she was making any calls and her balance was dwindling at a faster pace than usual. She thought maybe by mistake some calls are automatically triggered while traveling in a crowded Mumbai suburban train. Her balance came to almost 1500, after further 3 months. Than she decide enough is enough. She called up the customer service and told them that they are deducting call charges without any rhyme or reason. The customer executive informed her that she had subscribed for GPRS services. She was shocked that her Nokia cellphone is not GPRS enabled or compatible and how can she subscribe for the same. It came as a shocker.
She decided to take the matter up with management and she wrote a letter to telecom provider and sent it by reg. post and confirmed the same with e-mail. She had been debited @ Rs 12/- per for 72 days and it amounted to Rs 864. The customer care executive REFUSED to refund the amount charged. She informed the management that she will be forced to approach the consumer forum if they don’t refund the amount to her account.
After a fortnight she was informed that her account will be CREDITED with Rs 864 towards wrong debiting of the charges @ Rs 12 per day. The problem was resolved amicably. The moral of the story when you go for pre-paid connection please ensure the scheme, validity, and call charges. If you find that your amount is getting diminished faster than usual than go for small recharge value, if you trust the provider than you can go for higher re-charge value.
