I have an Airtel broadband connection at home with the 1 Mbps unlimited plan for which I pay Rs 2222 (plus taxes) per month and I was pretty happy with it. Today while taking to a friend I discovered that Airtel had reduced the price for the 1 Mbps plan to 1699 4 months ago but have still continued to charge me at the same cost. <\/p>\n
So I called up the Airtel support center, got their billing department and the conversation went something like this:<\/p>\n
Me: Looking at your plans online I see that the cost for a 1 Mbps connection is Rs 1699, is that true? Me: Who approves the refund? The stuff that irritated be about the call above was:<\/p>\n 1. He lied to me about my plan to keep me on the same plan So now I am going to wait for 4 days, if I don’t get a refund from them I will be lodging a complaint with the consumer court. <\/p>\n I think I will also email this to the customer care department. Lets see what they have to say. <\/p>\n – Suramya<\/then><\/on><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I have an Airtel broadband connection at home with the 1 Mbps unlimited plan for which I pay Rs 2222 (plus taxes) per month and I was pretty happy with it. Today while taking to a friend I discovered that Airtel had reduced the price for the 1 Mbps plan to 1699 4 months ago […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":3,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"","activitypub_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-life","category-my-thoughts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suramya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suramya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suramya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suramya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suramya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=992"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.suramya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":993,"href":"https:\/\/www.suramya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/992\/revisions\/993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.suramya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suramya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.suramya.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nRep: Yes
\nMe: Ok, then how come I am being charged Rs 2222 for the same plan?
\nRep: Hold on. (About 30 secs later) you are being charged for the Freedom 2999 plan which gives you 2 Mbps speed
\nMe: I know I don’t get 2 Mbps speed.
\nRep: Let em check your plan again. Yes you are on the Unlimited 2222 plan which gives you 1Mbps connection
\nMe: Ok, so why have you been charging me 2222 when the plan is 1699?
\nRep: Your plan was set a while ago thats why…
\nMe: I know my plan was set a while ago, about 2 years ago. Whats your point?
\nRep: You didn’t give us any notification that you wanted to switch to a new plan.
\nMe: How am I supposed to know that the costs have changed?
\nRep: The new plans were listed on the Airtel website.
\nMe: So your customers are supposed to check your site every few days to make sure that they are not being over charged?
\nRep: The plans were also advertised via phone and email.
\nMe: I haven’t received any calls\/emails from you regarding the change.
\nRep: You must be on the Do not Call list, hence you didn’t get the call
\nMe: Ok, so why do I keep getting calls from you on my landline to buy ringtones but didn’t get a call about this?
\nRep: Some random explanation…
\nMe: Ok, switch me to the new plan.
\nRep: Can’t do that you will have to go for the 2 Mbps plan at Rs. 2999.
\nMe: What nonsense? I don’t want a 2 Mbps connection. I want a 1 Mbps connection. Why can’t you switch me to the new plan?
\nRep: Let me check if thats possible. Can I put you on hold?
\n
\nRep: Ok, I will put in a request for your plan to be migrated to the new plan. Will be done in 3-4 days.
\nMe: Ok, now when was this new plan launched?
\nRep: About 4 months ago.
\nMe: Fine, I need a refund for the extra amount that you have been charging me for the past 4 months.
\nRep: Sorry that won’t be possible as you didn’t change your plan.
\nMe: Ok, explain to me the difference between the plan I have and the new plan you launched?
\nRep: There is no difference.
\nMe: So why would I pay Rs 700 more for the same plan?
\nRep: This plan gives you 100 Rs free calls also…
\nMe: Ok, so you still need to refund me 600 Rs..
\nRep: Can’t commit that the amount will be refund.
\nMe: Why?
\nRep: Because you didn’t change your plan.<\/p>\n
\nRep: The Billing department
\nMe: And you are in the Billing department correct?
\nRep: Yes.
\nMe: So whats the problem approving the refund?
\nRep: Because you didn’t change your plan.
\nMe: Please put in a request to change my plan and another request to refund my money.
\nRep: Ok, here’s your request no: xxxxxxx
\nMe: What about the refund?
\nRep: Thats also in the same request, but I can’t commit that the refund will be given.
\nMe: Ok, how will I know that the plan is changed?
\nRep: You will get a confirmation call when its changed
\nMe: What about the refund?
\nRep: If the request is approved then you will see the refund in your next bill otherwise you won’t.
\nMe: Fine. By when can I expect a response?
\nRep: 3-4 business days
\nMe: Ok. Thanks.
\n———-<\/p>\n
\n2. He tried to tell me that I couldn’t switch to a lower cost plan with the same data transfer rate
\n3. They are refusing to refund the amount that they over charged.<\/p>\n