Is Airtel charging you for unwanted services?

Gaming subscriptions, astrology services, gyan services and caller tunes are some of the features activated on Airtel customers' mobiles without their consent. Have you been a victim anytime? Let us know how

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BANGALORE, INDIA: ''The day brings you good fortune. Goddess Lakshmi will knock on your doors,'' said an astrology message from Airtel, which Ramesh M, a retired bank manager, received on his mobile last week. What happened instead was he had become poorer by Rs. 2. Airtel had activated the astrology service on his mobile without his permission.

Airtel Even though he was furious, he ignored it thinking it was a mistake. But to his horror, the service continued for a week despite him complaining to Airtel's customer service. Only when he decided to go to consumer court was his money refunded and the service stopped.

It's not just Ramesh who has had this problem. Raksha, an engineering student, faced a unique problem with Airtel. ''Even though I had free messages, Rs. 5 was being cut for every local SMS I sent. I was shocked when customer service told me that I was sending messages to international numbers. I lost a total of Rs. 200,'' she said.

What was happening was four zeros were being added by default to her messages due to some technical flaw. ''Finally, after days of mental trauma and visiting Airtel office, my money was refunded. But there I learnt that many people faced the same problem. How was it justified for me to go through so much when the fault was not mine?'' asks Raksha.

Let us take into consideration the fact that Airtel has obliged to consumer complaints and refunded the money in the above mentioned cases. But what about people who do not complain thinking it's just a meager amount that is being deducted? Does the fact that they refund the money justify them activating services without customers' consent?

An Airtel customer, who recently opted for MNP to Idea Cellular, on the condition of anonymity gave us a list of issues he was facing. This could even be a warning list for many Airtel customers:

Hike in call and SMS rates without any warning
Automatic subscription to cricket, music and devotional services (He was charged Rs. 150 for it)
Customer care does not handle the matters in a responsible manner and deactivation of services takes more than 24 hours
Too many unwanted promotional calls
Caller tunes activated without request

CIOL has contacted the Airtel authorities, who are yet to comment on this issue.

Are customers facing similar problems from other service providers or are these problems faced only by Airtel consumers? If you have faced any problem from your mobile service providers do let us know.

10 Comment

Dr. Monika Sat Dec 29 at 10:55 AM

I am also facing the same problems. Airtel has activated around a dozen unwanted services and every time deducted Rs. 30/- sometime when I called to Airtel Costumer care I was told that I have clicked some link on my mobile or pressed some number. I have net connection on my mobile but I just check only facebook updates and don't use it for net serfing. now i am too much upset due to this type of fraud being done by Airtel. Dr. Monika 9993179889

Dr. Monika Sat Dec 29 at 10:54 AM

Dr. Monika Sat Dec 29 at 10:53 AM

Arup ghosh Wed Nov 7 at 01:56 AM

yes airtel start unwanted servicess in my mobile phone with out my permission..since last three month..and they are not allow me to call there customer care as they donot catch my phone call..in between time i think it is over and they do not disturb me again but i wrong..they started it again