Consumer complaint against #Vodafone Mumbai

You won’t believe this. Vodafone Mumbai has threatened legal action against me for not paying for a number that I had already asked them to deactivate, after having cleared its dues and writing to them, and not having used it for a single day thereafter! And this to a customer who’s been with them for many years now, with three post-paid direct debit payment numbers.

Any consumer guidance forums want to help?  Here’s the background:

I had bought a number, 9619191204, from the 4 Bungalows Vodafone store in Mumbai some time back last year, but wasn’t really using it, so I went back to the same Vodafone Store on Saturday, 06 August, 2011, and paid off all the outstanding amounts on it vide invoice no 5167 and TID no 17038020 at 12:05:21 hrs at the same centre.

I asked the customer service exec there to deactivate the card as I did  not want to avail of the services any longer.  I was told to send  a mail to vodafonecare.mum@vodafone.com, which I sent from my blackberry (at 12:14 — only 8 minutes after I had paid all the dues for the number) (See grab of my mail to Vodafone from my gmail account).

I did not use the card thereafter.

But to my surprise, every month, a hapless, ill-informed bill payments follow up executive would call me, very sincerely, very earnestly, and ask me to pay the outstanding bill.  I told them I had (a)Paid all the dues, and had immediately written to Vodafone to deactivate the card on the suggestion of the customer care person at the Vodafone Store at 4 Bungalows Mumbai.

The caller would say, “Sorry sir, I will check with the concerned department,” but each month, I would have another caller calling me up with the same request and the same apologetic closing line.

And then, in end-December 2011, I received a legal notice from a High Court Advocate, initials Mr HSG, saying I had been “intentionally delaying and defaulting in making the payments” for the said number, and threatening me with legal action unless I pay the amount (some Rs 879-odd) with interest at 18%.

I have actually a Vodafone customer for several years, even before it was rechristened to Vodafone, and have had three post-paid numbers of Vodafone active since a few years now, for which I pay by automatic debit from my bank account.

But now, I will kick my relationship with Vodafone in the teeth, port out all three of my post-paid numbers (plus a fourth pre-paid one for little daughter uses), and also approach the relevant consumer forum to sue them for mental anguish and more. They have defamed me by adding my name to a list – however private — of defaulters liable to be sued.

I am also writing to the Vodafone MD and Head of Corp Comm, plus the consumer forum, of course, with an attachment of the email grab you see here.

I had always thought the cute little pug of Vodafone campaigns was supposed to personify care and attention and not that one has to behave like a dog.

If Vodafone has a web services team — and only if it is a million times more capable than their inept customer service folks — if will see this post and get back to me. Let’s see. I will consider my options.

And if you have any similar customer complaint and how you resolved it, share your experience here. To help others who might just decide, busy or not, it is time to eke out some time to set things right.

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Pls note that all the views and comments  I post here are my own, in my personal capacity, and do not at any point in time or in any way reflect the views or beliefs of the company I am working for.

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