Beware - Hands Off Reliance. Review on Reliance Webworld

I got a reliance netconnect card a couple of weeks back. The first shock was the extremely horrible speeds, no where near to the much touted 144 kbps. Well!! I decided to live with it, as I need wireless connectivity in any case, and no alternative seems to be available.

The biggest shocks started a couple of days back, when my netconnect connection was de-activated by Reliance for no reason whatsoever. I have paid a deposit of 1,500, and have paid the first month's flat rate amount of 1,500 in advance so it definitely cannot be a pending bill. And even if that were the case, I would have been surprised to get my phone disconnected without any advance notice. Well! I tried the call center, and gave up after 45 minutes of "All operators are busy" announcements. Then, leaving all my work behind, I went to the Reliance Web World Office, where they were unable to tell me why the card has been deactivated. They then asked me to leave my contact number behind, so that they can get the error rectified, and give me a call in the course of the day. Come evening,no call, no re-activation. I went to the web world a second time, this time I was told that the service will be back the next morning. Come next morning - no call, no reactivation (forget an apology). I called the web world, and was told that the activation will be done by the afternoon. Afternoon - No activation. I have been trying to call them since then, but they have apparently decided not to answer it.

All throughout, this process, I have been very polite to the Reliance people. And to their credit, the web world guys at least gave no cause to complain in this regard. But apart from that I have only been facing anxiety and harassment. Given the fact that I have already paid Rs. 5,000 for the net card, and the 3,000 for the deposit+fees, and Reliance simply does not give me the option to return the card, and get back my money, my financial losses are immense. Additionally, I am more or less certain that I would not get a solution to this case of a "breech of contract" and daily harassment through the dilly-dallying without resorting to the legal course.

I can only advice the reader's of this forum to keep my experience in mind before becoming an easy prey for the cheating ways of- and complete disregard for your respect, & time by reliance infocomm.

Current Status:

Day 8:

After writing to chairman, another blow out of the blue:

Reliance wants me to pay up another 1700 Rs. because according to them, I have exceeded my volume limit. Interestingly, I have paid for a flat rate, for the entire month. Thanks for nothing, Mr. Ambani!!!!

Can anyone guide me, how to approach the Consumer court/forum.

Latest update:

This is the sms, I just received on my netconnect card:

"Dear Reliance Customer your account usage is high. Please pay Rs.1768.9 to continue enjoying uninterrupted services. Thank you."

high usage on an unlimited account. Interesting.

And how come, this high usage has been discovered only after a week of de-activation, and 10s of rounds to the webworld, with the entire reliance mechanism unable to know, why in the whole world has the connection been de-activated.

Further, how comes, this sms comes after I write to Mr. Ambani requesting assistance. (Thanks, Mahatma Ambani, you are doing wonders dismanteling Gandhiji's country. You say,of course - nothing against "Bura mat karo" :-). And atleast you are following "Bura mat Suno" - No valid complaint is entertained, " Bura mat Dekno" - No body whose palms Reliance can grease, ever sees anything wrong, and "Bura mat Bolo" - everybody who compains against the exploitation, is harresed even further.

And yes, the sms is dated 31st December 2000. Very interesting.

Two months later:

This is incredible!!!! Reliance never started my connections, and I being busy with my PhD almost 16 hours a day have no chance to go to court. Harrased upto the end, I paid up Rs 1,700 extra for the month's bill, and the strange amount they asked me to pay (conversion of a pre-paid mobile to post-paid mobile donemore than a year back) another almost 2000 Rs. The post-paid to pre-paid conversion was done in Reliance WebWorld, with all dues paid, and was functioning normally for a year. There were no dues associated with it. Reliance cooked up a story to loot more money. I had to pay, having no choice. But after more than a week of payment, they did not start the netconnect connection. This evening, I have been sent another bill by SMS asking me to pay up another 1700 Rs., towards the usage charges for the non-functional netconnect card. I don't know what to do. One thing, I am sure of - One cannot fight against the corrupting power of ADA and cronies. Tomorrow, I will go and pay up the 1700 rs., and somehow get the conenction closed. I want to concentrate on my work, and even if they take the money, and close the connection for ever, I will have to otherwise I can forget my PhD. This is my story. The reader can make up her or his mind to take up the connection or not. Maybe they are in a better position to fight back if such a thing happens. I cannot, and I tired of being abused, and cheated by Reliance.

Reliance SMS for a surprisingly diconnected connection - not being used for almost two months now: