May 11
28
Repeated Harassment by Vodafone for over a month w.r.t Porting Request
I am reaching out to you to bring to your attention the harassment I have been facing from Vodafone Mumbai since 25th April in my repeated attempts to port out my post paid number +91 9819539349
Here’s a summary of efforts I have made between 25th April to 27th May:
1. Generated two UPC codes: 25th April: VM 272416 ; 13th May: VM289616
2. Registered three complaints: 17 May – 201222676, 21 May -1052057646, 27 May -205144087. Prior to 17th May, I was not allowed to even register a complaint.
3. Written to Nodal officer Zillah V on 18th May – No response received till date except for automated response. Promised turn around time of 48 hours.
4. Spoken to over 15 junior customer care executives at Vodafone (Karan, Shoaib, Keyur, Zahid etc.) and 2 supervisors (Farooq, Prasanna) – Each one has assured that there is no problem and I should get my service provider to resubmit the request. Each time request has been rejected.
5. Requested my new service provider, Tata Docomo, to submit requests 10 times – Each time the request has been rejected despite the assurance from Vodafone helpline stating “this time the request will certainly be approved”
Here are some of the common excuses I have received from my interactions with the helpline:
1. Billed outstanding not cleared – Has been cleared as of 06th May 2011
2. Value added services not deactivated – Have been deactivated as of 06th May
3. Due to system/technical problem, you don’t seem to have received a call from our customer retention department. Till you get such a call, request cant move forward as it needs to be closed from the retention department – I have received only two calls from this dept., one on 25th April and the other on 26th May. On both occassions, the representatives have confirmed that request is now closed from their side and that port out request will be processed. Vodafone has rejected my request 10 times now, including 2 times after such calls.
4. Please visit Vodafone Store for further assistance – For what ???
5. “Contractual Agreement” needs to be “deactivated” – No information provided on how this contract can be deactivated
6. All outstandings are cleared on your account. Please request your service provider to re-submit the request and THIS time it’ll be done. Tata Docomo has resubmitted 9 times after such reassurances only to be rejected each time.
7. Insufficient balance in your account to cover unbilled outstanding – Despite my repeated queries to the helpline executives as well as seniors, I was never once informed that my unbilled outstanding also needs to be cleared in order for approval to be processed. Of my own initiative, I have transferred credits of Rs. 470, Rs. 1200 and Rs. 500 during this period to cover my unbilled amount. However, each time Vodafone finds new excuses for rejection as a result of which my unbilled amount keeps rising and exceeds the credit I have deposited in my account.
The latest request was submitted by Tata Docomo on 23rd May evening after receiving multiple confirmations from supervisor Prasanna on 21st (complaint reference: 1052057646) and another executive on 23rd that my request is completely ready to port out. It has again been rejected. After a hold time of over 20 minutes, the reason provided by the same supervisor Prasanna for this rejection is “Rs. 200 insufficient balance in account to cover unbilled outstanding”. He also admitted his mistake in not informing me about this condition when we spoke on 21st May.
I have now transferred additional funds to cover my unbilled outstanding. As of now, my unbilled outstanding is Rs. 1868.72 and credit in account is Rs. 2173.15/-. Subsequently, Tata Docomo has logged in a request for the 11th time into the sysrem for porting out my number.
I now await Vodafone to either process this request or reject it once again with another creative excuse. I would be surprised if it’s the former.
Having been a loyal and high value Hutch/Vodafone customer for past 5 years, I am not thoroughly disgusted with the company. Regardless of whether they port out my number, I will never take my business to them and will caution everybody against the same.
However, I write to you to seek your help in understanding -
a) what else I can do get my number ported out from Vodafone ?
b) what is the penalty mechanism on telecom operators for such blatant customer harassment and violation of TRAI norms w.r.t portability ?
Hope to find a solution.
Customer Name : Megha Jinda
Complaint Against Company : Vodafone
Customer Contact Number : 9819539349
Name of Person You Contacted in Customer Support : Farooq, Prasanna, Shoaib, Zaheed, Keyur, Karan
Customer Postal Address : 297 RPS FLATS, SHEIKH SARAI-1, NEW DELHI- 110017
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