Humongous 11,648 rupees mobile bill received from Airtel
I had travelled to Maldives last month where I received a SMS from Airtel regarding activation of international roaming. Upon activation I received sms that "Dear customer we have activated international roaming at zero rental on your mobile". It didn't mention call or data charges. I had received a call and made one call to India, at the end of call also I didn't receive any SMS about call charges. When I was returning back then only I received 2 SMS at a gap of 5 hours that I have used roaming of 5825 and 8945 rupees. Through out the trip I was kept in dark about what charges are getting added against my number. At the time of roaming activation I was not notified about call charges. Now since I have received bill of 11,648 because of no fault of mine. Please reverse the amount of 11,000/- which was falsely charged. I had set an upper limit of 1500/- per month when I had taken airtel connection then why it was not prevented under 1500/- ? Why did I receive a bill of 11,648 when my liability was only 1500/-. more
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your data communication roaming must have been active. This will incur lot of charges without you knowing it. You should always deactivate data roaming in foreign countries. more
Dec 15
Airtel, nay, other mobile companies also are known to cheat likewise. Must fight it out with Airtel - they first offer free roaming & then send hugely inflated bill. more
Dec 14
Its best not to keep your mobile online. First thing you should do, is to disable roaming just before leaving India. That will void the question of roaming charges. Unfortunately we, or most of us, do not check the fine print about international roaming/calls made to and from elsewhere. Hence disable your mobile with the SIM of Airtel or anyone else for that matter, and do not switch it on till you are back in India. In most countries, you can buy a sim from Vodafone or others who give you this facility, but ou have to pay in US dollars. You will find it to be reasonable charges. Do it. more
Dec 14
That's why M/s Airtel is so interested to motivate their pre-paid subscribers to post-paid services! more
Dec 13
International Roaming Data is the most expensive data services you can ever use - there's a checklist of things you need to do on your phone before you travel overseas - from your last airport in India .... If you haven't done that, or were unaware of them, don't blame Airtel .... the mistake is entirely yours. more
Dec 13
David - maybe my tone was a bit too abrupt ... my apologies ...
My own experience with airtel has been quite different - of course I don't take up 'Offers', prefer to deal in depth with Customer Care on their helpdesk.
But - I've always had 2 levels of confirmation - specific re-iteration of potential charges before my international roaming activation is confirmed.
More important, I believe if you do dispute the charge, they will provide a recording of their call which will show that you were to told that:
Free data was xxx KB per day
Data beyond that would be charged at yyy per kb.
They did NOT tell you how to prevent your phone from accessing that data - not sure if that's their responsibility or yours as a user. more
My own experience with airtel has been quite different - of course I don't take up 'Offers', prefer to deal in depth with Customer Care on their helpdesk.
But - I've always had 2 levels of confirmation - specific re-iteration of potential charges before my international roaming activation is confirmed.
More important, I believe if you do dispute the charge, they will provide a recording of their call which will show that you were to told that:
Free data was xxx KB per day
Data beyond that would be charged at yyy per kb.
They did NOT tell you how to prevent your phone from accessing that data - not sure if that's their responsibility or yours as a user. more
Dec 14
Jayant, that's a bit unfair!
If I desire to buy a car and go to a dealers showroom, reps there explain most of the details clearly before purchase and also say what is included or not included. Though they too hide some, which come as a surprise later!
Sure car purchase and intl roaming purchase may be different.
But isn't it basic courtesy for a Company like Airtel or anyone for that matter, anyone, who, on one hand, eagerly and promptly advises Customer to activate intl roaming (carefully watching his movements), and on the other hand do not care to warn customer of the steep costs involved in activating intl roaming!
They may be well within the ambit of law but poor show of business ethics!
You may differ but let not such differences in opinion spoil the friendly and calm atmosphere prevailing in the Circle. more
If I desire to buy a car and go to a dealers showroom, reps there explain most of the details clearly before purchase and also say what is included or not included. Though they too hide some, which come as a surprise later!
Sure car purchase and intl roaming purchase may be different.
But isn't it basic courtesy for a Company like Airtel or anyone for that matter, anyone, who, on one hand, eagerly and promptly advises Customer to activate intl roaming (carefully watching his movements), and on the other hand do not care to warn customer of the steep costs involved in activating intl roaming!
They may be well within the ambit of law but poor show of business ethics!
You may differ but let not such differences in opinion spoil the friendly and calm atmosphere prevailing in the Circle. more
Dec 13
