I’ve been hounded by the Vodafone billing department for the last few months. My outstanding is an impressive 8,500…which I’m not actually responsible for!
A few months ago, I bought a Samsung Galaxy S2. I was sent an SMS informing me that I now had a 1GB 3G data plan free, for 6 months. About 3 months ago, I got an SMS telling me that my outstanding was 4000, and that I should make a payment immediately, or lose my connection.
My normal bill is in the range of 700-800, and I make sure to control 3G usage, so I had no idea why the outstanding was so high. When I called Vodafone, I was told that any discount is only applied when the bill is generated. My outstanding was reflecting the actual cost of my 3G usage. When I got the final bill, it was about 600.
My credit limit was increased to 4,500. A month later, it was increased to 6,500. I was then contacted several times and told that my outstanding was now 7K! When I got in touch with actual Vodafone employees (as opposed to the outsourced billing department, who kept calling me), I was told that this was ‘normal’ and that my bill would be much less, when it was generated. My last bill was 710, paid it on October 25th.
My credit limit was then raised to 8,800 and now 9,000. My current outstanding is a massive 8,600! I have been called several times, with people demanding I make some kind of payment to prevent losing my number.
Despite several calls to the Vodafone helpline, no one was able to help me. I finally worked things out myself. They charge 2 paise for 10KB of data, which is 2 Rs. per MB, or about 2,500 for 1 GB. Counting my normal usage, my outstanding should never have crossed 3,000, even if I made use of the FULL 1 GB! Clearly, this is something THEY should have realized months ago! It’s their billing, their system. Surely they know what ‘normal’ bills are like!
When I pointed this issue out, one of their employees was able to find out that I’m being charged 10 paise instead of 2 paise. This makes no difference to the actual bill, as all data under 1GB is free. However, it makes a massive difference to my outstanding. If I use the full 1 GB, my outstanding will show as 12K instead of the actual 2.5K, right until the bill is actually generated.
There are two ways for them to solve this. First, change the billing back to 2 paise, instead of 10 paise. I was told this can’t be done now, only after my next bill is generated. The second option is to raise my credit limit. I was asked to send an SMS requesting this. I did so, on Sunday.
Nothing was done. I was called again yesterday and twice today. After I explained this entire sordid story and requested that my credit limit be increased, I was asked to email one of their managers, who would do this for me.
The catch? I had to include 3 months worth of salary slips! I am extremely appalled by this. I am not requesting more credit from Vodafone. I was merely asking that they fix an issue that they were responsible for in the first place! Why should I have to prove anything?
This entire episode has been very disturbing and has been a complete waste of my time. I truly cannot believe what they have put me through, due to blind adherence to fixed rules. All of this could have been solved months ago, if only someone had shown some common sense.
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
Angelo – hang in there
Bhavesh Radadiya
These smartass companies are trying to adapt the technology. I am having similar experience with ICICI.
This has happened several times now. They have this “high security” website that would ask OTP (one time password) when you enter username and password. This OTP is valid only for current session which would expire in few minutes.
What happens is that their website tells me that an OTP has been sent but I receive that OTP minimum after 2 hours. By that time, the session is expired and that code is of no use to me. This means, I am not able to log into my account whenever I am prompted for this thing.
Why bother with this stupid “technologies” when you can’t do even the basic same?
Amit Thaker
these airtel & vodafone are the new “telecom Rajas” , best deal is prepaid, keep recharging, more convinient…
Daksh Sharma
Hi Angelo,
I 100% agree with you. It has been 72 hours since I switched to Vodafone from Idea using MNP but it seems like a decision I am regretting already.
Here are the problems I am facing:
I thought I deserved a better experience considering the fact that is the first week of Vodafone after the switch using MNP.
Bhavesh Radadiya
Nope. I get instant SMS from google and other web services such as Way2SMS etc.
Angelo Lobo
Well, it appears the magic of Rodinhood works again! I posted this yesterday evening. This MORNING, I got a call from Vodafone. They’ve promised to fix this in my next bill cycle (which is in 5 days.)
More importantly, they’ve promised I won’t be hounded any more by their billing department. I only hope that the bill that is generated is done properly. Don’t want to be hit with a multi-K bill!
I’ll post any future updates on my bill here. For now, I’d just like to say that posting here helped me to fix in half a day, what I’ve been trying to fix for 3 months. Kudos!
Jonathan Lin
Now that’s getting something done!
Surya Prakash Soni
Bhavesh, OTP delivery is instant…amx 2-3min.
1. Jyoti is correct
else what you could is..If you don’t get OTP don’t close the Bank page….session will not expire UNLESS you press REFRESH OR CLOSE the page. 🙂 painful waiting.
2. Check IF you have two diff ICICI a/c and given same mobile number for both then it would be problem to get OTP fast.
Surya Prakash Soni
hi Angelo,
your problem is Postpaid subscriber problem PAN INDIA for Vodafone.
Their current system charges you at your PLAN rate/Base rate for the month then RUNs the DISCOUNT when bills are generated. In between these poor morons – call center guys lloks at your bills gives you shockers……Hi-Tech company but yet real time discount is not given to customer. A system called AMDOCS is coming soon which will allow lot of flexibility but till then WAIT…………how soon NO ONE knows.
charging is something should have been taken care by co while launching the offer. 🙂
Abey John
I recently switched to 3G and then saw my bill ballooning by Rs. 1000 every day. Quickly cancelled it and switched back to 2g. Now the bill has come and the billing seems within the normal range. Vodafone is definitely got some fixing to do.
Anand
Bhavesh, please call me on this if it is not fixed yet. My number is 9833379502.