Suresh T.B.

6, 1st Floor, Kalyan Complex,

Lakshmana Mudaliar Street,

Commercial Street, 2nd Cross,

Bangalore – 560 001.

…. Complainant.

V/s



The Chairman,

M/s Bharti Airtel Ltd.,

Circle Office, No.55,

Divyasree Towers,

Bannerghatta Main Road,

Bangalore – 560 029.

…. Opposite Party

-: ORDER:-

This complaint is filed claiming compensation of Rs.75,000/- from the Opposite Party on the following grounds:-



2. The complainant is a subscriber of Airtel Post Paid Mobile service with Mobile No.9845016602 for a number of years. On receipt of the bill, the payment used to be made within the due date and no late payment has been made till the date nor payment is refused at any point of time. The bill for the period from 26/04/2007 to 25/05/2007 was not received by the complainant. It is mandatory for any service provider to issue the bill for the concerned period. The Opposite Party not only issued the bill even after repeated requests but also refused the same as per the letter dated 27/07/2007. A request for copy of the bill for the said period was made on 07/06/2007, but the same was not provided. Again, on 11/06/2007 request for the bill was made and complaint No.12875325 was recorded. The Opposite Party sent message on 14/06/2007 informing that they will get back to the complainant on 22/06/2007, but the reply is still awaited.

There was no response to the letter dated:05/07/2007 sent to the Nodal Officer of the Opposite Party. By the letter dated 01/08/2007 the Customer Service of the Opposite Party informed that they would not be able to send the bill. A complaint was also made to the Chairman of the Opposite Party at New Delhi. The service to the Mobile of the complainant was disrupted on 30/07/2007 and again from 05/08/2007, the service has been barred. The complainant sent legal notice dated 16/08/2007 and also lodged a complaint with TRAI on 29/08/2007. The said Authority sent the letter dated 27/09/2007 regarding the procedure to be followed. The disruption of the Mobile service has caused immense hardship, mental and physical agony to the complainant apart from business and financial loss. Hence, the complaint.



3. In the version, the contention of the Opposite Party is as under:-

The complainant was a subscriber of the Opposite Party in respect of the Mobile Number referred to in the complaint and he was regularly issued the bills as per the usage. It was the policy adopted by the Opposite Party till 2008 that whenever the Customer is having a credit balance in his account more than the bill amount of a particular period, the bill amount would be deducted from the available credit balance and the Customer would not be issued the bill for the particular month.

However, the Customer would be intimated about the bill amount by sending SMS and the subscriber can also get the details of the bill through Internet by surfing the Website of the Opposite Party. Therefore, the non issuance of the bill will not put the subscriber to any hardship. When the complainant contacted the Customer Care Cell of the Opposite Party, he was specifically apprised of the procedure adopted. The complainant failed to pay the subsequent bills and therefore the Opposite Party was compelled to deactivate the service. Keeping quiet for two years, the complainant has come up with the present complaint.

Therefore, the complainant was not a subscriber of the Opposite Party as on the date of the complaint. The complaint is also barred by time. Disconnection of the Mobile facility was not due to non-payment of the bill dated 28/05/2007, but for non-payment of the subsequent bills which were issued to the complainant. There was no reason for the complainant not to pay the subsequent bills. In view of the law laid-down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No.7687/2004, the present complaint is not maintainable By the Judgment in the said case, the jurisdiction of the Consumer Forums is excluded in view of the remedy provided U/s 7-B of the Indian Telegraphic Act. On these grounds, the Opposite Party has prayed for dismissal of the complaint.



4. In support of the respective contentions both parties have filed affidavits. The learned counsel for the Opposite Party has filed written arguments. We have heard the arguments of the complainant.



5. The points for consideration are:-

1. Whether in view of the decision of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No.7687/2004, the present complaint is maintainable?



2. Whether the complainant has proved deficiency in service on the part of the Opposite Party?



3. Whether the complainant entitled to the relief prayed for in the complaint?



6. Our findings are:-

Point No.1 : In the Negative



Point Nos. 2 & 3: Does not survive


-:REASONS:-

Point No.1:-

7. Among other grounds, the Opposite Party has specifically contended in the version that in view of the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No.7687/2004, the complaint itself is not maintainable before the Consumer Forum. Along with the version, the Opposite Party has also produced the copy of the judgment downloaded from the Website of the Hon’ble Supreme Court. In the Judgment in Civil Appeal No.7687/2004, the Hon’ble Supreme Court has held that when there is a special remedy provided in Section 7-B of the Indian Telegraph Act regarding the disputes in respect of telephone bills, then the remedy under the Consumer Protection Act is by implication barred. Referring to Section 7-B of the Telegraph act regarding arbitration of disputes, it is held that in case of any disputes concerning any telegraph line appliance or apparatus between the telegraph authority and the person or whose benefit the line, appliance or apparatus is or has been provided, shall be determined by arbitration.

The present dispute is also with regard to the telephone facility availed by the complainant from the Opposite Party. Of-course, the complainant had availed Mobile connection service from the Opposite Party which is also a Telephone service. In that case, the remedy available to the complainant with regard to the dispute raised by him is by way of arbitration as provided in Section 7-B of the Telegraph Act. As has been held by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, in respect of such disputes the jurisdiction of the Consumer Forums is barred by implication. As such, the complainant is not entitled to maintain the present complaint under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act. Accordingly, we answer the point No.1 in the Negative holding that the present complaint is not maintainable in view of law laid-down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court in Civil Appeal No.7687/2004.

Point Nos.(2) & (3):-

8. In view of our finding on point No.1 these two points will not survive for consideration. If any finding is given under these points, it will amount to a decision given by the Authority, having no jurisdiction.



9. In view of our finding on point No.1, we hold that the complaint is liable to be dismissed as not maintainable. In the result, we pass the following:-



-:ORDER:-



1. The complaint is DISMISSED as not maintainable.

2. The complainant is at liberty to seek remedy under section 7-B of the Indian Telegraph Act. There is no order as to costs.

Dear Customer,


This is to inform you that your concern has been noted and our team is eager to resolve it. In order to get to the resolution, we need to get in touch with you and gather more details about the concern. We are restricted by the absence of your contact details. Please write to us at airtelpresence@airtel.in with your contact details (address and landline or mobile phone number).

We assure you that we are committed to resolve the issue to your satisfaction.


Regards,

Mohsin Khan
Airtel Customer Service Team

Dear Sir, Submitting for your consideration and subsequent action: 1. I got the sim cardn.8991540909066658916,PUK No.53981919 and the mobile No.8009058810 on 1.11.09 for our Samsung handset and immediately got it activated with required fee and a top recharge of Rs.255/-. The documents(photo and the voters identity card copy of my wife Mrs.Kumud Sharma)were submitted with the nearby agent. 2. After four days the outgoing calls were banned; soon I enquired the agent to find out the problem,however, another copy of the documents were subsequently submitted. The outgoing response was still missing. 3.I went to the Airtel office at the jahangirabad palace,Lucknow to find the problem but was told that the custom care has been shifted elsewhere.However on making a special request to a senior officer Mr.Raichowdhary, I was able to submit the 3rd copy of the documents .I was assured that the ban on the out going calls will soon be lifted. The day following the functions were resumed. 4.On 1.12.09, there was a complete silence with no signals at all. 5. This time I went to the custom care office at Alambagh and I was told that the Sim card is defective and I will have to go for another sim card therefore loosing the card value and the top recharge amount. 5. This is the stage of utter humiliation and harassment by your very esteemed organization. The people sitting in the highly sophisticated buildings are most uncourtious and unconcerned.I,72 years old person is running after this problem for the last one month for no fault of mine and in the end loosing the initial amount and as well as the recharge of Rs.255/-.Pl.get me the sim.no and recharge value.You may please let your young people know that excellent connectivity should not ride over frustration and humiliation of aged shoulders of consumers. 6.My contact no.9935007859 Dr.S.N.Sharma, 96, Uphar, Udyan-2, Raibarelly road, Lucknow-25

I have an AirTel no. 9779790016.
Whenever i open up a website and close it a message flashes like u have used 20kbs or some nd u have been charged like 30 paisa..
but after that it starts to deduct money from my account rapidly and i am also able to see that by checking my balance at an interval of 5-10 sec...
Then after all this a msg flashes that u have been charged Rs 32.48 for using 2165.65 kbs of data.
whats dis ???
i have tried so many times to register a complaint on airtel but they never listen to me ...
What should i do now ??
this has happened with me 2 times(Rs 32.48 each)

I'm from andhra pradesh..i actiavted mobile office and after three days i activated vt rc 94.. Which acclaimed 100mb free browsing for month and 75mb free at nigth frm 12am to 8am on daily baises.. The starting day it was wholesomely good but frm the next day whenver i browesed it started charging me 30paise per 50 kb..i didnt understand and called to customer care to kno what went on wrong he asked me check my usage balance thru *123*10# whn i dailed it it showed i have more 94 mb free...again when i called to technical support they said to register a compalin to the general department abt it..n v r not concerned abt the deduction of balance frm ur main balance..whn i tried to speak to custmer executive he blocked my number..then i tried frm different mobiles..n here the general department too try skip saying it doesnt come to our department conatct tech support..i was very much frested..n i called again to the customer care aftr 5hours n asked to tel me abt my history of calls..n he told me abt all the calls i made..then i asked when i didnt make many calls y did it charge me so much..he started asying tht it was bcoz of browsing..whn i tld him tht i had activated rc94 n i had subscribed for free browising service they dont come ny reason for getting charged..then he transfered the call to the manger n the manger gave me a dirty solution with was of no use...n started skipping my question tht this offer is valid only for browsing default web broswer u cant browse it with opera mini.. I dnt think this the correct reason since the starting day whn i had activated it went porperly..y at the second it is not working..if they cant give the correct soultion how cud airtel recurit such unskilled executives..
I jst want to appeal airtel either refund back my money or provide the service of free browsing as it is said.. They reconize my name mamata pal n my mobile no:889729952

My name is dinesh kumar yadav, I am from bhopal, my airtel mobile no. is 9893305686, but since 24th Dec. 2009 still this no. is not working,

my sim card is not working from 23rd December, 2009, i was complete to about that matter your local head office at bhopal, on that day they said, they have no sim card in the office, i go to next day for collecting new sim card at your local head office at T.T. Nagar, near Metro Plaza, Bhopal, they issue me new sim card is no. is 8991930609078808339 and they are assuring me before 24 hours this sim card is working, but 11 days is left my mobile no. is not working, i am facing lots of problems becouse my mobile no is showing switch off and my clients, my relatives, my friends not contacting me.

I contact to every your executives and officer of your company at my level (Mr. Rajesh his no. is 9893549330 and your local nodal officer no. is 9893134865) but my problem is not solved.

Dear Sir, if my problem is not solved so i will go to consumer court and there is responsible for your company.

regards

Dinesh Yadav
My tep. no. is 9754828655

can i get a list of incoming & outgoing calls list on net of by prepaid no . plz give me the detail of reason about the issue.....

hiiii........i m rakesh shah from ahmedabad.
my airtel mobile no. 9998244700. i have recharged for 58rs. for scheme of 1paisa per
second call charges...........but when i m disconnecting a call........company's
message will come for last call charge.........but they are charging 1second
extra.............and from last 2-3 days..........they r charging for 2 seconds
extra...........

when i called customer care line.........customer care executive given me
explanation that in company's seconds and mobile phone seconds having a
difference..........and disconnected the phone..........

then i repeat my call to customer care line..........they have disconnected my line
for customer care executives..............

now where should i complaint for my query's???

this company totally cheating customers and didnt expected this kind of service.......

Sir,
I was working in Bangalore and was holding an airtel postpaid connection for
about a year,during which i have paid my bills promptly.Due to unavoidable
circumstances i had to leave the place immediately,before which i informed them to
disconnect my connection. They failed to do so and after many days they disconnected
the connection. Now they call up from the customer care (after almost 6 months) to
one of my relative asking me to pay Rs.11000 as the due amount.They are also
threatening that they would be taking legal action and hold my passport. My relative
have explained them everything but still they stand on thier words. The situation is
really pathetic.I amstaying abroad and am not ina situation to come down and explain
to them about this. Do guide me of what should be done about this.I cant tolerate
any more of thier calls.

Regards,
Vibhina

My mobile no is 9862154576,i m facing a problem from airtel ,they are
charging Rs.5 everyday from last month.even i call to costomer care for more
tat 50 time
,but they assured that they slove my problem.even now when i call them they
disconnet my call .last month when i call them they told me that they can
slove my
problem in one days, but still im facing the same problem.they decuted more
than 300 rs from my account in one month Rs 5x30.So plese slove my
problem im very gladfull to you.




Thank you

Hello Sir,

I am a victim of one of your authorized Airtel executive who has given me
750/- plan with below details in attachment.

local( anywhere) - .50P
STD(anywhere) - 1RS
SMS - .75p

Now when i received my bill, I am charged
local( anywhere) - *.75P*
STD(anywhere) - 1RS
SMS - .75p

I lodged a complaint to customer care executive with complaint no - *29430042
*and nothing has been done yet. The complaint was supposed to be dealt by
24thNov 09.

The matter has to be seriously dealt with as this is a forgery case.
The details of the Airtel executive are as below:

Mr. Rizwan - 9650394596
Mr. Lalit - 9650394599

Also please find the 750/- plan shared by Airtel attached. Please do let me
know for further details required.

NIKHIL KAUSHIK
9650335523

Dear Sir,

My airtel sim had stopped working from last 15 days. It had lifetime
validity with 1000 rs balance
On 15th of nov. it just stopped working and the mobile status shown .the
incoming call facility on this no is not avalable

It is my primary no. for the last 4 years. All my contacts are on it and it
is infect used on 15th afternoon before the registration failed.
I visited the airtel customer care office, sikar, Rajasthan, there was told
to call 121 from their help desk phone. The person who received my call said
your sim card has been reject it will be not start again.due to your id
problem but i submit my id two time in sikar and jaipur office

.i submit my identy again in jaipur airtel office them after filling the
required forms. They told me the card will be activated by evening. It has
not activated till date. I visited the sikar branch the next day and called
999 from there and the receiver told me that my mobile number has been
deleted from their list and they cannot activate the no. as it is not used
for long.
I have also emailed 123 customer care of airtel they also give the same
reason. Then I have written email to the nodal officer (Rajasthan) reply is
still awaited.
What of the loss I had incurred as all my clients have that no?
But I have made and received calls the same day, and also the previous days.
How can the number be deleted?
Please activate my sim.

Your Sincerly

Gulam Nabi

9829077313

dear sir..

i did not want internet for the month of october , november and
december so i opted for cancellation on 2nd of october so that i need not
pay any amount in october as my billing ends on 5th.
on 3rd i was asked to use some safe deposit ,i rejected and on 6th of
october rahman got me an offer saying that that was the last day and it was
a special offer for those who opt for cancellation the offer was 400 mb
download limit at day night 9 to morning 8 unlimited with a charge of rs
450/-. i decided to opt for this as this was covenient for me as i use much
of it at night and also that it was quite cheap enough ..
i was told by him that by 10th the plan will be migrated and i will be
informed regarding this , but what happened is that my plan was migrated and
i was not even informed and by 13th when i called up customer care officials
regarding this they dont even know anything above that they dont even know
which plan i am in.....some say 256 unlimited , some others say 256 limited
and all.....it was their duty to inform they did not do that over that when
i myself asked they dont know which plan i am in...
later on 14th some fellow called me and said that night unlimited was not
available then i asked why did they committed of giving me than plan only
because of which i retained the line..
on the same day retention department fellow called me and said that they
will provide me the same plan....i thought ok fine....later some one is
calling and telling me they will provide and the other guy calls and says
not possible..
this happened thrice....
as i had exams i did this but this affected me a lot daily more than an hour
was wasted by the officials negligence....
customer care officials used to cut the call while i was on line stating
they wil return soon..
i couldnt even study.....
And they continued this till 30th of october..many said that they will
provide me with that plan...but finally they ended up by not giving me that
plan and then they disconnected my connection within 1 day.
and now for the month of october they have charged me Rs 52,000/-
And when i asked what had happened and why they have charged me like
this...they are telling me that 14th you came to know that ..plan was not
available then why have u used. But actually they didnt inform me about this
thing..i came to know only when i called and also that i never asked for
such plan if the plan which i asked is not provided then they should have
charged me as per my old plan which is right instead not charging me as they
wish ...as they were not able to provide me the plan which they had
committed they migrated the plan into limited usage plan without the
approval of mine. And they have charged for my usage. is this correct ???
But they have migrated to some other plan with out my approval...and now
they are telling that you came to know when we called...then why did you use
!! but i used just thinking that they didnt give me the plan..so my plan
will remain as per the last month only...how can they change it to limited
plan ???
what should i do now ????


Please go through the mail conversations also...!!

dear sir / madam,

Sub : Complaint on airtel phone # 42698213

On 2nd of october i asked for cancellation of my airtel connection (
combo 799 ) ie 256 kbps unlimited.
Then on 3rd some miss Anusha called me and said that some safety locker
facility is available but i rejected.
On 5th, Rahman called and just said for Rs.350/- 256 kbps speed, 400 mb
download limit and night 9 to 8 unlimited plan was avalable.
I asked for a better speed he said for Rs.450/- 512 kbps is available
for same features.
I agreed with the 512 kbps speed offer and requested for migration.He
said on 10th it will be migrated and before migration he told me that he wil
call and inform about the migration. but i didnt receive any call for
migration till today.
but now i have been calling from 8th to customer care..no one knows
correctly what plan i am in..in fact sometimes they have told two to three
different plans which i have never heard off ....and even sometimes they are
just cutting the call without answering to me...and many more incidence like
this..which was so bad on airtel.
sometimes they are telling that this kind of plan never existed at all.
i have been wasting my time daily for one to two hours from 8th on this
regard..which is even effecting my studies badly...one simple thing
committed by you guys to me has not been taken care off. And the committed
issue is told to me that the particular plan was never there which is weird.
but finally on 13th i spoke with one of your customer care official
regarding this issue, who was kind enough to take the complaint ( ref #
25381442 ) and he committed to me to do the above said before 15th. but
today some of your official called me and told that he cant give me those
offers which was earlier committed by mr. rahman. and apart from that he is
tellin me for cancellation if i didnt agree for the plan told by him ( The
same plan as above with no night unlimited )...and he is even telling me to
pay for these 12 days...... usage....... which i feel tat i have used it
only because of your commitment earlier
finally i just want to know 1) why should i pay , if i go for cancellation
just because u didnt follow what you commited ?????
2) what about my time wasted regarding this issue which has pissed me off
very badly
3) how come a customer care official cut the call just like that when we ask
them something !!

you just go through the telephonic calls made to me or by me from 2nd of
this month.
my mobile # 9884515468 ( Mr ashwin )
9962101436 ( Mr sandesh )
and calls from my landline to airtel customer care.

i want this to be taken seriously with no DELAY.
finally i just want to say that i want the plan which i had agreed and which
was committed by you guys. And suppose if you wish to cancel my plan then i
ll tell u something " I CANT EVEN PAY A SINGLE RUPEE " as iw was your wrong
commitment . And suppose if the same issue continues then i need to go for
something serious.
hope u understand !!

with regards
sandesh 9962101436

Dear Sir / madam ,

This with reference to my prepaid connection no *9003788243* . I had
purchased this card from coimbatore city and tamilnadu state I dully
completed the all the required documents required by the Airtel retailer . I
had purchased this on 2007 (but not conform this year ). It got activated
on same day . I got an SMS on 11/2009 stating that I need to Re-Verify my
prepaid number. I called up Airtel Customer Care asking service officer to
give details of Airtel and requirement of Re-Verification of the documents.
I called upon my number but I got error "The Number is temporally
disconnected" But I am not able to make outgoing calls. Then I called Airtel
Customer Care service officer told me after realize my connection within 10
minutes and after *I mean 02/10/2009 night 10 p.m with out any information
disconnect my mobile no . and 03/10/2009* I call to airtel customer care
officer I am asking for reasons disconnect my no that officer permentely
can’t use this no and I am explain my position and important this no but not
accepted my reasons so *I am lot loss my business* and 04/10/2009 going
Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia in business visit so cant take any
legal action at this time



*Following reasons told him airtel customer care officer :*



1. Customer care officer told him airtel address verification team verify
my driving license
2. This team going my house address
3. Unfortunately house people no body staying in house because my driving
license in my own house address and now rent from another party this
house .

Its reasons of airtel customer said so how to recovery this problem and any
take legal action .



Note: I had bring two airtel no another one no : 9003788242 same day , same
id proof, same retailer, but this no still working . . Please look into this
matter on urgent basis and resolve the issue as soon as possible

Thank you
Regards
Mohamed ismail .M

Sir,

I would like to invite your kind attention that Airtel customer care Executive whom
I spoke with at 0815hrs on 29112009, transferred the call to supervisor Sandeep
without my consent.
The Supervisor Sandeep resolved the issue of cancelling the subscription of
"wapactress30" and refunded me rs.30/- at my Airtel UP East prepaid number
9559896489. Vide ref. number11290684230 at 0829hrs. on 29112009.

But after half an hour I recieved few more messages from 121(customer care) and
hello tune stating I have been charged rs.30/- for 30days and rs.15/- for the song
Gavanva na karaib ka vide ref num 1129085842 at 0903hrs on 29112009.

Later at 1030hrs on 29112009 I called up customer care and Shyam picked up the call,
I explained him the issue, he said within 12hrs. I would recieve refund however for
the same I just need to reply YES to the message from 876 which I will recieve
shortly. But as till 1135hrs on 29112009 I have not recieved any message.

The airtel customer care executive whom I spoke with at 0815hrs on 29112009 had
placed the song with an intention to trouble me and mentally harrase me.

Please take care that the sort of harrasement done shall not be repeated. And the
executive should be punished properly.

Thankyou
with regards
Adv.Sunny Gupta
+919559896489