Thread: Bad airtel customer service and poor performing bharti systems

Hi all,

I have activated a GPRS connection on my prepaid airtel mobile.
On initial enquiry to customer care centre following was stated by the customer care cntre :
a)It will be charged as 15INR per day from the day of activation till it is active.
b)The deactivation can be done by the user anytime by sending an SMS "GPRSDEACT" to 222.


On 19th Feb 2008, I wanted to deactivate my GPRS and following is the chronological events:

-19th Feb 2008, 10:28 pm :I sent an SMS "GPRSDEACT" to 222. I got an notification saying message delivered, but airtels system fails to process it / deactivate my GPRS.

-19th Feb 2008, 10:29 pm :I sent again an SMS "GPRSDEACT" to 222. I again got an notification saying message delivered, but again airtels system fails to process it / deactivate my GPRS.

-19th Feb 2008, 11:35 pm :Finally I tried it once more before I went to sleep: an SMS "GPRSDEACT" to 222. I again got an notification saying message delivered, but airtels/bhartis unreliable system fails again to process it.

-On 20th Feb , I sent an SMS "GPRSDEACT" to 222 and my GPRS atlast got deactivated.

However I observed that Airtel has billed me 15/-Rs for 20th Feb 2008 too.
I called up the customer care and address my problem against failure of airtel in deactivationg my GPRS on the day I sent the SMS and also for charging me for the additional subsequent day.
There response:
Sorry we cannot help you as the billing was done till 20th FEB 2008 as the GPRS was active till 20th FEB 2008 and doesnt matter if you have sent the SMS on 19th Feb 08.

I went to the Airtel office at Rammaruti Road, THANE,:
but the same response, however I asked them to log a complaint and they said it will be address in 72 hrs, but till date I have not heard from anyone.

Above is the issue and my concern lies with the failure of airtel to compensate or even accept the mistake or even they could have taken a feed back for a technical issue that would have helped the system to be better in future.

I have observed Airtel or Bharti's inefficiency in the following aspects:

1] Customer relationship and marketing : You dont care for your customers, a mere 15 rs refund would have made me to appreciate people to go for Airtel, on the contrary I will rather urge people not too , also I will never activate GPRS again (A potential loss of 450Rs/month for airtel as against 15 rs refund). I am not discontinuing with Airtel since my phone number is of importance, but awaiting for a scheme to switch to another operator keeping the same number.

2] Inefficient Systems : Airtel couldnt even process a simple SMS delivered to there system. There is no failure mechanism to detect which SMS werent processed in the past (As Airtel customer care said confidently that we didnt recieve any request, but I have sent SMS thrice and they are with a delivered status in my Mobile.) . A failure mechanism ensures future stability of the system on basis of past failures. But Airtel is not even concerned about having manual feedback through customers as against automated failure systems.

Earlier also Airtel's systems failed to realise payments made via ICICI bank towards recharging prepaid mobile twice. Upon calling both Airtel and ICICI bank you get the diffrence in attitude.

3] Brand Image and Capability rating : Very poor. My comment above would have given you an idea of me being a professional in the same industry. Even in professional world such incidences shall describe airtel as a very mismanaged and customer unfriendly organisation.

The over all poor performing IT - systems and infrastructure as mentioned above shows Bhartis inability to deliver / serve potential big projects. Even in professional world grape-wine communications are strong enough to make decisions.

The above statements seems harsh and over-spoken considering a mere 15Rs ! overcharge issue, but that is the truth I can decipher at my end.

Looking at series of incidents and failures, the image that Bharti and Airtel has, is now in doubt by me and many of my personal friends as well as professional colleagues. And they shouldnt be eligible to provide a service if they dont have the adequate infrastructure and attitude to support it well.

I would appreciate if Airtel / Bharti ever consider feedbacks positive enough, else every organisation is free to decide its own fate.

Yours Sincerely,

Milind Junagade

Originally Posted by milindj

Hi all,

b)The deactivation can be done by the user anytime by sending an SMS "GPRSDEACT" to 222.


On 19th Feb 2008, I wanted to deactivate my GPRS and following is the chronological events:

-19th Feb 2008, 10:28 pm :I sent an SMS "GPRSDEACT" to 222. I got an notification saying message delivered, but airtels system fails to process it / deactivate my GPRS.

-19th Feb 2008, 10:29 pm :I sent again an SMS "GPRSDEACT" to 222. I again got an notification saying message delivered, but again airtels system fails to process it / deactivate my GPRS.

-19th Feb 2008, 11:35 pm :Finally I tried it once more before I went to sleep: an SMS "GPRSDEACT" to 222. I again got an notification saying message delivered, but airtels/bhartis unreliable system fails again to process it.

Yours Sincerely,

Milind Junagade

Are you sure that the number to activate is 222 as i guess all the premium and short coded numbers should start with "5" do confirm this and clarify this, so that you will know where it went wrong.

All cell phone operators are having similar blood sucking mentality - if you wanted to activate something (for which they would earn money), they will do it immediately. The reverse is never true. I feel that you should have called the helpdesk and specifically talked to the CSE and taken down a request number.

Right now because of number non-portability, many operators are taking customers for a ride because they know that 99% people cannot switch since their numbers are distributed to business partners, colleagues, friends, relatives, etc. When the number portatbility is implemented customers will switch to the best operator.

As regards to Airtel Mobile, it is the worst service in Mumbai & Maharashtra. In Mumbai, Vodaphone is best and in Maharashtra it is iDEA. I have iDEA GPRS (post-paid) which charges me for usage only and there are no monthly fixed charges.

The number is 222 , thing is Airtel / Bharti has grown because of growing indian economy and hence huge demad of cell phones.
As in there capability is worthless, and they dont deserve to serve.
I feel there license should be revoked and all number be transfered to vodafone.

Everytime you call up an Airtel customer care, any mobile-bill related problems wont be resolved, they dont even escalate but rather will answer rudely.

Airtel has a fantastic servie for broadband / fixed line customers , but thats bcos they want to increase there customer base.
Once they make enough money and monopolise, they will harass customers as they are harassing mobile-phone customers.

Y dont they try using the service of Cleave global. IT is Rated amongst India’s Top ITES & BPO Companies-2007 by Dunn & Bradstreet.

Cleave Global services are directed towards telecom sector, financial sector and healthcare sector and it specializes in customer care and collection services

Chk it at

How does this resolve the Airtel GPRS problem? Please clarify.

just4kix he was here to get a link from here.. he probbably didint even read the thread. I have removed his link and banned him.

Thanks

i know this was going to happen , also same happened with me too once