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Fraud alert from RCom

By Sachin Kamaladharan on 20 Comments / 4930 views

Hello Fellow Rodinhooder’s,

As a fellow member, I’m looking for help from anyone. The whole story is like this:

I was a customer of Rcom using their internet services with a monthly rental bill of Rs.800. All was good for a good year or so, however suddenly in Nov 2010 I got a bill for Rs. 11000. This obviously isnt legitimate and I asked Rcom for a clarification. They didn’t and suggested to cancel the connection, which they did by collecting their stuff. All of a sudden, mid of last month from some person stating he is a lawyer from the Delhi Court and said I have to make the out-standing since I didnt respond to their court case. He only gave me 1 hr and said if you dont make the payment, he’ll file the case and I wud have to b arrested and presented in Delhi. honestly, this shocked me and i made the payment.

What i wanted to find out was, is this doable by reliance. Can they extort money like that? there was no justification of the cost, no proof whether i used that content but was sickening to be at the receiving end like that. Really appreciate if any fellow rodinhooder could help me through this situation.

Thanks,
Sachin
Your Fellow Rodinhooder

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20 Comments

  1. Hi Sachin, I have gone through the same 2 years back……….. Called up that We are calling from a Lawyers office and if you dont pay in an hour, then we would file a court case wherein you would have to hire a lawyer who would charge atleast Rs 1800 and could even ask for more…………..

    Though, I was right, but still paid up as the amount was Rs 2000 and if that was true then, it would be a headache for me and ultimately I would have to cough out more money.

    I believe it is external agencies who do this and take a commission for the amount thus generated.

    I think it’s false front and the pay or else face a court case is to instill fear so that we pay immediately, just to settle this.

  2. Generally such calls are made by telecom operators.I received a similar call from Airtel asking me to be present in delhi court.I asked them to send me a notice and talk to my lawyer.The tone changed and now they began talking about out of court settlement.

    The guy who must have called you is actually a collection agent.Theey use legal as a way to threaten people.Their threats have no value.

  3. I had similar experience with Tata Photon. I had requested for disconnection of service, which they didn’t and I kept getting bill of 1350 INR per month. After three months, since I had not paid the bill they sent a lawyer. I followed up with Tata providing proof about request for disconnect but I got fed up following the lawyers and customer service and made the payment and got rid of their shitty service.

  4. I also faced the same thing, got a legal notice for a mobile that I disconnected, after hazaar mails and follow up I managed to sort it out by a helpful Reliance employee – Sanjay – 9323331333

    After that I have cancelled everything Reliance – Reliance Mobile, Reliance Broadband, Reliance Demat, Reliance Power, Life has been smooth since then. 

    cheers,

    Satish

  5. Hi Sachin Not to worry about these.I have the similar experience.These are only collection agents posing as lawyers.Just cut off the phone and save their numbers so that you don’t answer their calls.ADAG is the biggest curse on this country.

  6. I had an issue with Airtel a year back. I had settled with them and have a letter from them stating same. I received an sms on 23rd feb 2012 that a case registered and FIR filed against me in Delhi court. This simple statment was ridden with spelling errors. I called back and was told to pay within an hour. I informed that I have a NOC from Airtel. Still he was adamant and threaten me that I will be arrested and blah blah. I simply asked him to go ahead. I spoke to a lawyer friend, she told me if he calls back askem them to talk to her. I have not recieved any call since then. Name of Advocate from Delhi Tees Hazari court was Rohan Khanna.Cell no was 7891231179

     

  7. I have faced similar issues with Tata Indicom and Tikona. Have written about it on my blog. They did not mention anything about a court case though. The problem is that there is very little to no communications within departments. Also, lot of processes are outsourced so no one has a clue of what’s going on. 

    thedotcomblog.com/internet/tikona-broadband-connection-review-stay-far-away-from-tikona

    thedotcomblog.com/general/tata-indicom-most-horrible-company-deal

    I am still using Tata Indicom as I have no choice as of now. Got an ongoing issue where they have charged me double for last 4 months. I discovered this when a local tata indicom operator told me that I am paying high while others are getting same plans at lower price.

  8. Friends,

    All these telecom operators hire Collection agencies follow these tactics to threaten people and extort money. Ideally you should have waited for the notice he was taking about and responded.

    Actually it is just a tactic used to threaten people used by collection agencies of credit card, bank and telecom companies to fullfill their targets.

    You could also have used https://www.delhipolice.nic.in/home/helpline/helpline.aspx

    Or dialed 1090 to report any such case which acts very strongly in these cases

  9. These calls are definitely by the Collection agencies to whom these companies(actually all company including Airtel & also credit card companies) hire them, & I know a few people in my area who are actually gunda kind of people having no work, Thanks to MNC’s & other Indian companies that they have now turned to part-time gunda’s & part-time collection agents. They get very good cut of the money collected(extorted). I had read somewhere that there is a law amended that no one can force to give money & also as customers we have better chance & rights in the law & court.

    I feel you should file a suit against the company for harassment & also damages caused to you by these people, I think seeing at the info you have given, You will be on the winning side & you should get your money & also the damages back. Hope you have given the money to them in form of Cheque or if cash then you have accepted proper receipt to prove you have paid them.

  10. There are  some companies which buy outstandings from companies like banks, mob operators etc.., they pay a share and buy the right to collect the amount outstanding, I have recd a call long time back for a credit card payment from HSBC which did not complete and I had recd such a call as well, I told the idiot(so called lawyer) to go jump in ocean,never recd a call back..

  11.  Pls go this website :-https://www.ccccore.co.in/ – as this website is supported by, DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AFFAIRS (Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution, Govt. of India) 

    Go to Complaint registration and I am 150% sure, your issues will be resolved in 10-15 days. and you can also give the reference number of the Complaint to anyone calling from Rcom oOR on RCOM’s bhalf

  12. Hi Sachin,

    It is indeed true that when these companies call for the 1st time, it is normally their own employees posing as lawyers. Don’t panic. But in the long run if you dont take any action, they can go to court for bill settlement. Obviously they cant get you arrested, but yes they can create lot many problems and frustrations. Our IT act is strong in dealing with these kind of problems but the problem is that we dont know how to approach. For all telecom companies, there are different levels of grievance mechanism. 

    1st level – Talk to customer care executive and register a complain from your side that the bill is high and you have not used it. Ask them to tell you the details of calls / data usage, etc, etc. Do remember to take a complaint number, and jot down the name of CC executive and date & time of call.

    2nd level – If they dont listen then go to nodal office. Its number, email id and everything is mentioned in all service providers website. Again take ultimate care in taking a complaint number. 

    3rd level – If still the problem remains unresolved, then you can approach Appellate authority. Again you will find his details in website of RCOM itself. 

    It is mandatory from TRAI to mention this complete procedure of grievance handling on each and every service provider’s website. I have personally faced problems from many service providers in past. Normally when the CC exec is unable to resolve your complaint, ask him to connect to his senior. At this point nearly all the complaints get resolved. Maximum I have gone to nodal office of Airtel, and I got the resolution whitin 2-3 days. 

    Hope you get your resolution soon. 

  13. Awesome replies Rodinhooders… love this place for this reason. I can’t think all of you’ll enough and above all Alok for building this forum. Kudos!!

    I think its time we need to have something in place that can prevent more people from getting scammed the way I got. Lets get creative to understand ways in which we could circulate this information outside to the world and f**k these telecom companies who are trying to swindle us for their losses.

    Its now become my priority to ensure no one else goes thru this trouble. Any ideas?

  14. I’ve heard exactly the same twice before. Only the amount was bigger.

  15. I faced a similar issue with Vodafone. Problem is most of us get ‘phat’ at the sound of legal notice and think we do not have the resources to fight it out in the court and submit. Idea is not to show you are weak and going to get bullied around easily. When I received a legal notice (though the amount was really less I refused to give in on moral grounds), following is the mail I shot back to them. Post that we had a constant exchange of mails but they knew I wouldn’t let them bully me around. Finally I got the matter settled on my terms.

    My only advice to user would be the following:
    >> In case of dispute,simply switching your service provider is not the solution. It is postponing a problem. Call the customer care, bring your problem to their notice and record the details like date, time and complaint number.  

    >> If the amount is very small, be rest assured even the service provider would not be keen on dragging you to court. End of the day they have bigger ‘bakras’ to hunt on. So even they are looking for a settlement but this is just a tactic.

    >> Be very clear in your communication and as far as possible have your communication over mails as it serves as a permanent record. In case you have had a phone conversation, take the concerned person’s email id and shoot a mail across summarizing your conversation. This would help you furnish records of your conversation for future reference.

    >> DO NOT PANIC WHEN YOU RECEIVE A NOTICE. IF YOU HAVE ANY LAWYER FRIENDS CONSULT THEM ELSE YOU HAVE A GREAT FORUM LIKE THIS WHERE YOU CAN ADDRESS YOUR PROBLEM AND ENOUGH PPL ARE THERE TO GUIDE YOU AROUND (provided you are on the right side of the court). Cheers
      
    >> Very important. Unless it is a settlement in real settlement sense, insist on taking a letter stating that the outstanding dues have been cleared. Make sure they do not write “towards settlement” or something similar as this might effect your CIBIL (credit) score.


    MAIL 1:
    Dear Thakur B Singh,

    For the reasons mentioned below,  I’d like to believe the client you represent is extremely incompetent and am extremely dismayed to receive such a notice.


    1) Since June, Vodafone has been unnecessarily charging me a monthly fees of Rs 150 against some download charges that I have not subscribed for. When I noticed the extra charge, I very promptly called the customer care and bought the issue to their notice and after a constantly following up with them for over a month, they agreed there was an error on their end and decided to waive off Rs 550/- (Rs 150 per month for download charges for the month of June, July and August and Rs 100 for late payment for the month of August since there was a delay on their end to clear my dispute). On September 26, 2011, I was given  an assurance from the customer care that Rs 550/- was waived off and requested me to make the payment of balance amount which I did (receipt number 1312975, dated 27/9/2011 for amount Rs 2448/-).

    However in my next bill, I noticed that an amount of Rs 550/- stood outstanding against arrears. When I bought the issue to the notice of the customer care, the concerned representative expressed ignorance and was extremely rude. When I asked him to check the complaint logs against my number, he refused to do so. In spite of the uncooperative behavior, I still took my chance and called the customer care again the next day. This time representative was cooperating and told me she had registered my complaint and promised a call from the concerned department within 24 hours. However I did not receive any such call and within a few days my phone was disconnected. Angered by the insensitivity expressed and incapability of the customer care, I decided to not pay my bill till the disputed amount was cleared. However there was no follow-up from Vodafone’s end.

    2) On December 13, 2011, my father, Mr Rakesh Gupta sent  a mail to the nodal officer of Vodafone, Mr. Anirudh Joshi, explaining him the entire matter. He assigned Mr. Venkatesh to look into the matter and after understanding our problem, he said he would revert back within 2 days with details from the company’s end. However the same has not been done yet from his end.

    So if you see, in the entire matter there has been absolute callous behavior on the end of your client, Vodafone Hyderabad and its incompetent customer care and not the customer. I had been subscribing to the number 998****** since the last 5 years and over the years considering my usage and and payment, my credit limit has been increased to Rs 8300 from Rs 1000 that was allowed when I first subscribed to the number.

    I have been facing a lot of problem due to the switch of numbers as many people who are not aware of the change in number and have not been able to get through me. I have cooperated enough with your client but if the matter is not resolved by your client within next 3 days along with an apology letter for all the trouble caused to me, I would be moving to consumer tribunal and filing for damages of Rs 1,00,000 at the same time to can resort to a suitable measure to resolve to take.

    Thanks,

    Aditya Gupta

    MAIL 2 (sent 4 days later):
    Dear Thakur B Singh,


    As you would notice, in spite of having replied to your mail in time, there has been no follow-up from Vodafone’s end. Hence the customer cannot be blamed for the callous attitude.


    I request you to ask your client to follow up more promptly.


    Thanks

    Aditya Gupta

  16. Hi Sachin,

    This is to inform you that your concern has been noted. Please share your contact number with us so that we are able reach you. Our team is eager to help you.

    Cheers,

    RCOMcare

  17. Haha… Why don’t you guys share your numbers as well as the fraud lawyer??

  18. Jai Ho Rodinhood

  19. Very true Satish. RCom want us to share our numbers but you can’t share yours as well as the “fake” lawyer who called up threatening arrest. I wonder is this the eagerness you’ll are extending to help. Anyways, my contact details are: 91 98807 20640.

    Sachin

  20. I think you missed the context.

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