Sep 01, 2008 06:25 PM
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I am a prepaid Vodafone subscriber. This weekend, I discovered how Vodafone is using its Caller Tunes feature to rob its subscribers.
Many times, I get a call from a number 9833915869 which turns out to be an automated advertisement of Vodafone caller tunes.
I got the same call yesterday which I heard for about 15 seconds before disconnecting the call. To my surprise, within some minutes, I got an SMS from Vodafone that Caller Tunes have been activated on my number and Rs.30 have been deducted. I checked my balance and found indeed my balance was reduced by Rs.30.
I was really upset and so I was contemplating calling their customer service. By then, I received a call from my residence landline and my folks at home informed me they heard a religious song when they called me instead of the usual phone ring. Just then, I received another SMS stating I had selected the caller tune "Shrinathji" and it has been set as my caller tune. I checked my balance again and found another Rs.15 had been deducted from my balance (i.e. Rs.45 in all for something I did not request.)
As I was travelling during that time, I went to the nearest Vodafone Care center I knew and narrated this incident to the Vodafone representative "Ms.S" there. She said she will deactivate the caller tune service on my number right away. Knowing these rogues all through these years.
I had guessed she would provide that answer. So I asked her immediately whether deactivating this service would also mean Vodafone will credit the money to my account that they had deducted from my balance. Ms.S promptly answered "No Sir." I asked her why and she said that since her system showed I had activated the service by sending an SMS from my cell phone, I could not get the money refunded.
I tried explaining that I did not send any SMS, but in vain. Finally, I asked to see her manager. Her manager, Mr.V, promptly attended me but was of no help either. He reiterated that their records showed I had sent SMSes to not only activate the service but also select the particular religious caller tune. (which, dear friends, I had not.)
Through this debate, however, Mr.V disclosed a very important piece of information to me which is "Caller tune service is automatically activated if, while you are calling someone who has set a caller tune, you press just the * on your phone's keypad." I was shocked to hear of such a feature and clarified further as to what if someone who is unaware of this feature presses the * key (called "star" or "asterisk" key) by accident while the phone is ringing. Mr.V replied that even then the service will be automatically activated on the caller's phone and he/she will be charged for the service instantly. **I had not called anybody or heard his/her calling tune and pressed the * key either.
*Now, my friends, in my opinion, this is what I term as Vodafone's streetsmart way to rob its customers who are unaware of this rogue method of Vodafone to get us started with caller tunes. What effort is Vodafone putting into make its customers aware of this feature and how is it taking care of its customers who are prone to be charged erroneously by this silly feature? Well, I found it's written in fine print on their website, but how many of Vodafone's subscribers visit their website? Does Vodafone send any intimation of updates to their website to its subscribers?
By now, I had lost my cool on hearing these reps and knowing their appalling, or rather street-smart, methods in their system. Finally, I asked these Vodafone representatives to provide me with a reference or acknowledgment of my complaint to them about this episode, but, they did not provide itand said they do not have such a procedure. I asked them how I could escalate it to their Customer Care dept higher up and the answer was that they cannot help me there either. I told them that I would then be forced to go to court for my money; to this, they promptly said it will be at my discretion to go to court.
On returning home, I went to Vodafone's website and read that the customer care should provide us with a Complaint Docket ID which we should use for any further reference for pursuing such cases. Also, the website has information that the process to escalate our complaint is to write to their Nodal Manager, and if not satisfied there, we can write to their Appellate Authority. Why wasn't all this information provided to me by Vodafone's representatives? Because, rogues will always be rogues after all and are trained to behave like rogues. **Happy to Help is their official motto...but Happier to Cheat must be their hidden motto.
*Because of this attitude of unwillingness to help its customers, I have decided to switch over to another provider, ofcourse not before utilizing all the available balance I had charged. I will not be able to retain my number. Hence I feel the treatment meted out by TRAI to such service providers is apt and they deserve it.
