No this is not a note against #Airtel. It's a note to myself that I need to be cautious with the mobile bills.
Airtel is probably the most popular telecom service provider in India. I use their broad band services, I have a portable device for internet (dongle), the same mobile number from them since 2013. All of my family members use airtel.
So when we had an option of opting for a family plan the Rs 999+ plan we did that. It had my son's and my dad and moms number in the same pack. It was fine. I added my number also after a couple of months they charged me another 299 + taxes. That was fine.
The original group Rs 999 plan had a free data only sim, which never got used. I discovered it only this month that they had been charging me Rs 99+ taxes for this sim that was supposed to be free.
I was surprised with the bill mount of Rs 2200+. So I and my son went on a browse the bill session. We saw that the bill amount had been rising since March. We never paid attention because its a busy day and there is so much to do. Last month there was a data booster worth Rs 500+ taxes added to the bill. None of us had any clue who requested for the service. My parents just dial and talk and they do not have any use of the data. So how or who increased the amount.
Next we go back a step to discover that an amount of 1400 had been charged for Prime (Amazon). We were stunned and we did not have an annual prime connection. The customer service was helpful and clarified that there was a request placed to reverse the prime connection and it got adjusted in the next months bill.
All of it was a lot of work and stress and loss of time.
The lesson I learnt is stay away from postpaid connections if you can. I am getting everyone switched to prepaid plans.
If you have a postpaid connection, comb the bill with a fine-tooth every month.
Spend that extra half an hour with Customer care if you feel something is missing or is off. Be relentless till you are convinced that you have been charged fairly. Raise complaints and requests to reverse something that you feel was not requested from your side.
Do not get tempted with the offers and coupons that are offered.
What is disheartening is in this era of customer centricity and data analytics, Airtel did not care to analyze, if the services I opted for are getting used completely and if they could customize an offer in a way that would best suit my needs.
Once again its a note to myself and nothing against Airtel.
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