I am sure many of you out there have heard numerous real life accounts of customers getting duped by Mobile Phone carriers. The bills are tricky and filled with so many technical jargons that it’s really difficult for the lay-man to understand what there are actually being charged for.
Now it seems the land-line service providers are also cashing in on the same trend.
Check these two stories out.
Mid-Day Reports :
Dhiren Shah (46), received a bill of Rs 1,76,661 from MTNL – 600 times more than his regular Rs 300 bill! Shah, who owns a pharmacy, fell ill after he saw the bill and his blood pressure shot up.
Shah said MTNL was not prepared to listen to his story. “They told me, ‘first pay the bill, then we will give you a hearing’,” said Shah. The bill is for the period 1984 to 2006, and includes MTNL’s Internet connection charges. But Shah said he had no pending bill with MTNL.
He said, “MTNL should realize that it offered Internet connectivity only three years ago, not 19 years back, which is what the bill states!” The bill is divided into Rs 1,57,494.70 and a service tax of Rs 18,885.64. Added Shah, “I fail to understand how they have computed the service tax.
Mumbai Mirror Reports :
A radio jockey (RJ) refused to pay up when slapped with a Rs 13,000 bill by a hotel in Mumbai for some STD calls that totalled about 50 minutes. The hotel refused to explain the bill or let her leave till she settled the bill. The stand-off ended only when Mehak Ankar went to the police to lodge a complaint.
“Mehak’s flight to Delhi was scheduled to leave at 7.30 pm. But even at 5 pm, she was frantically trying to settle this issue. The hotel authorities showed no consideration at all. Instead, they were only making it difficult for us,” said Mohan (Mehak’s friend), who works with ICICI bank. “Finally, we decided to go to the police station and file a complaint. Mehak went alone to the police station while Snigdha and I waited at the hotel.”
“When I was in the police station, the concerned officer received a call from Ramee Guestline. The officer politely told them to come in person and have a word with him.”
After the police intervened, the hotel offered to settle the bill as per the rate (Rs 3.50) laid down by Telephone Regulatory Authority of India. Ankar finally paid Rs 1,000 (including taxes).
So the lesson to be learnt here is, Always check your phone bill and never trust blindly the figures indicated.
Comments
3 comments | Add your comment »
shadows
May 29th, 2006 at 10:08 am | #
Hell… really disturbing
I use an Idea prepaid card here, instead of billing. It works out costlier, but I can always keep track of my calls and balance, plus it helps me stop forwarding and sending SMSs (also doesnt harm my spelling. Less SMS, less SMS lingo). But then, idea subtracts Rs 49 every month for a long distance package, which I find difficult to track.
symphoney
May 29th, 2006 at 11:41 am | #
Prime example of this is Hutch. The billing in Hutch post-paid is as pathetic as their network ! Most of the reps there are idiots ! Dont know a thing about cellular services
Kishore
May 30th, 2006 at 4:22 am | #
Last Sunday, at the BSNL office to enquire about a Broadband issue I was having. First, I was asked to come in person when I called up customer support(support?). Second, I was forwarded to an “officer” after passing through 5 different people..
Me: Hello. I have an issue with my Broadband..
The 50 “officer”: (Writing something, not even looking at my face) What is ur phone number?
Me: ###
Officer: Name of the phone- holder
Me: (I told my mom’s name)
Officer: Who is that?
Me: Thats my mom. The phone is in my mom’s name
Officer: Then why are YOU here.. can’t SHE come and ask us?
Me: Does that mean you won’t give ME an answer?
Officer: Then you change the phone to your name
Me: Thats none of your concern. And well, a customer is here with some trouble and instead of asking what the issue is, you are asking some meaningless crap..
Well, after some heated exchanges, he finally gave some irritating replies to my questions. And he didnt even look at my face for most part! And he’s a “Senior” officer at BSNL.