My first ever mobile connection was with BPL. After a horrendous experience with them, where their automated system cut off my connection thrice in one week, I shifted to Vodafone.
Vodafone hit me with an incorrect 9K bill two years ago. Details here (https://www.therodinhoods.com/forum/topics/vodafone-and-the-death-of-common-sense). The main issue was this – If you have a special plan that gives you 1GB data free, Vodafone does not take this into account until they generate your bill! This means that your ‘outstanding’ amount will also include the cost of any data you use. In my case, Vodafone was also incorrectly charging me 10 paise instead of 2 paise. This led to many phone calls warning me that ‘You have crossed your limit’. At one point, I was told that I needed to have my credit limit increased…for which I would have to mail them 3 month’s salary slips! Again, this was due to a fault in THEIR billing system.
I left for Sri Lanka on the 31st of August. My wife and I both turned on International Roaming. I was quite surprised to see that Vodafone charges 5.5 rupees per 10KB in Sri Lanka (!) while Airtel only charged 10 paisa per 10 KB! Vodafone was charging a WHOPPING 55 times more than Airtel!
Naturally, I decided to only use 3G on my phone in absolute emergencies. I did make a fatal mistake though! While sitting at a cafe in Galle Fort, I used What’s App to send a few pics to my family, using the cafe’s Wi-Fi connection. I didn’t realise that they had suddenly lost electricity, until the pics were sent. Their Wi-Fi died without electricity, so my phone switched over to 3G! BOOM! 5.5 Rupees per 10 KB, baby!
This made no sense. If this was the cost of data usage in Sri Lanka, then I should have got this message last week. Clearly, something was wrong. I called up the Vodafone Customer Care number. I was informed that Yes, my outstanding was 38K and No, they cannot give me ANY details at all….until the bill is generated! Again, this makes no sense. What kind of system do they have, where the system is able to know the outstanding amount, but no one in the company is able to know the break up?
I also had several other questions!
1) Why was my credit limit increased to 24K? I didn’t ask for it!
2) When my ‘outstanding’ reached my old credit limit, why was my connection not disconnected then? At the very least, why did they not call me and ASK if I wanted my credit limit increased?
I received answers that confused me even more! I was told ‘You have not set your credit limit, so we can increase it when we need to’. WTF? When I apply for a Credit Card, can I tell the bank to give me a 50 lakh credit limit? The company that provides the service sets a credit limit based on what they feel I can pay!
For my second question, I was told that the Credit Limit only takes into account voice calls. So if your data usage is high, you will not be called. It’s only when your voice call costs cross the credit limit, that you will be called. I think this is an outright lie. First, if this was the case, they would not need to increase my credit limit to 24K! Second, the bill is generated as a whole, pay as a whole. You don’t pay separately for voice and data, it’s one bill. When I mentioned this, the customer “CARE” executive had no answer. I asked to speak to a manager, and was told that they will call me back. Within 24 hours! Lovely!
At this point, I am both angry and disappointed. I am willing to pay the 15K in bills that I was responsible for. I find it reprehensible that Vodafone can charge 55 times what Airtel charges, but I was informed of this, I chose to take it. My fault, which I will pay for. However, I don’t understand why I have to be hit with 38K outstanding, and why no one in the company seems to be able to explain the break up of these costs. I do not want to continue being a customer of Vodafone, but what are my choices? I’ve heard similar stories about Airtel as well. When will we reach the point when we are treated as valuable customers and not just walking bank accounts, ready to be bled of money?
It was the Rodinhoods that helped sort out my issues the last time with Vodafone. If there is any Rodinhooder (Do gooder!) who can help me sort this out, would be super grateful!
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UPDATE NOV 4, 2013 (added by Asha – based on Angelo’s latest comment)
SUCCESS! The matter with Vodafone is finally resolved! They have agree to waive 20K of the bill, asking me to pay only the amount that is related to my current credit limit (24K)!
So what did I learn from this? How will this help other people? Here are my notes!
1) FIXED Credit Limit! If you have a post-paid connection, then call Vodafone RIGHT NOW and set a ‘fixed’ credit limit! A dynamic credit limit works only in Vodafone’s favour. Set an amount that is way past your normal usage. So, if your normal usage is an average of 1K, set a fixed limit of 3-5K. This will ensure that you will never get inflated bills that you then have to fight!
2) Pick your battles. I was angry at Vodafone for several reasons. First, the way the initially botched my original credit limit, raised it to 11,300. That was an old issue. Next, the way the increased it to 24K, without consulting me. Next, the way they informed me of my ‘excess’ usage, over 2 weeks AFTER the actual usage! Next, the way they allowed the outstanding usage to cross the credit limit (By over 18K) without once informing or warning me. The way that they kept calling me, after assuring me that a ‘note’ had been added to my account, specifically warning their employees NOT to call me. The way I had to explain time and again what the issues were. The way that I was lied to, time and again.
However, I realised that trying to fight a battle on so many fronts only meant that Vodafone could pick and choose the complaints they wanted to deal with, while ignoring the ones with meat. I picked one single front. I had proof that when I crossed my earlier credit limit of 11,300 by EIGHT rupees, they had immediately warned me. Why did they not do this when my usage crossed my new credit limit of 24K? Simple. Easy to argue.
3) Compromise. If I had said, “I’m not paying a single rupee“, they would not have budged. If I had said “I didn’t ask for this new 24K limit, I will only pay the amount equal to my older credit limit of 11,300“, they would not have budged. I made them a simple offer. I will not question the 24K limit YOU have set. In return, You should not expect me to pay above this limit. Simple point, easy to back up and shows a willingness to meet them halfway.
As I said earlier, they have met me halfway. I now have to pay a bill of about 24K. This is something I’m not 100% happy with, but am more than willing to accept.
I’d like to thank everyone who chimed in with ideas, stories of their own and support. I hope that none of you face issues like this with your providers. If you do, I hope you also manage to sort things out! Much love to everyone!
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