Hi,

My prepaid airtel number is 9973857382 and my concern is similar/identical to Mr Akhil B Dave (9860494344) issue. Money is being deducted from my Airtel account balance from an entity 'Nazara.com' without my expressed consent/permission. FYI, I am a computer literate person and I earn my bread working as a Database administrator with a decent enough understanding and work experience of cyber secirity, so please don't give me that 'merry go round'. unless Airtel is

(a) the 'proverbial 'hand in glove' with such dubious firms or
(b) Airtel is completely helpless ( read has no competency) to protect its customer's interest.

1) How can any party (Nazara.com or any x,y z firm) has access to Airtel Customer's Account balance ?

2) How could Airtel (the custodian of customer's money i.e. customer's Account balance) allow 3rd Party to deduct money from Airtel's customer's account balance without prior information/permission/consent ?

3) Airtel cannot deny its complicity in these dubious/deliberate rip off.

4) These malpractices is bound to adversly impact Airtel's customer's trust and ultimately would compel even the most die hard Airtel loyalist like me to switch over to other service. provider

The total sum of money deducted without authorization is Rs. 443/-

The details of unauthorized/fraudulent transaction are as following:
1) Rs. 85/- on 01/02/12, at 02:07 PM
2) Rs. 99/- on 28/01/12, at 10:26 PM
3) Rs. 06/- on 25/01/12, at 8:50 PM
4) Rs. 99/- on 23/01/12, at 5:24 PM
5) Rs. 04/- on 13/01/12, at 9:20 AM
6) Rs. 90/- on 10/12/11, at 5:15 PM
7) Rs. 10/- on 2/12/11, at 10:40 PM
8) Rs. 30/- for ¿downloading GayatriMantraAndChalisa from Airtel¿ on 21/11/11
at 5:32 AM
9) Rs. 20/- for ¿downloading INMOBIGame from Airtel¿ on 13/10/11 at 7:58 PM

As I got a Rs 100/- refund on 31/01/12 (between 12:30 PM-1:30 PM) Please refund my Rs 343 (i.e. Rs. 443-Rs 100).

I have included the transcript of my previous communication with Airtel below for better understanding, incase you guys care.


rajneesh mishra
for Ram Llit Mishra (9973857382)
rajneesh.mishra@yahoo.com

--------------

Hi,

With reference to my previous email, I did get a call from airtel yesterday. The representative advised me to speak to the nodal officer (9934334865). Mr. Sagar answered my call and empathized with my issue and assured me that the issue of illegal balance deduction will not happen. Based on his assurance I accepted only partial reimbursement of Rs. 100/- instead total amount of Rs. 358/-.

Sadly, it has happened again. Rs. 85/- has been deducted today ( i.e 01/02/12 at 2:07 PM). Please refund my money. I will not settle for anything less. I have had enough of this.

Help me if you can,


Rajneesh
+919973857382
-----Original Message-----
From: 121@in.airtel.com
Sent: 29/01/2012, 6:59 PM
To: rajneesh.mishra@yahoo.com
Subject: FW: RE: 9973857382 - DISPUTED TRANSACTION DETAILS


Dear Customer,
We understand from the previous email, expressing concern regarding balance deduction for your airtel mobile number 9973857382.
Thank you for your email to airtel and the opportunity to assist you.
We realize that this situation must have inconvenienced you.
We have ****yzed your account and found that there is a charge of Rs.300/- for the download of java games and Nazara Games Club service till 29/01/2012
We would like to inform you concern regarding balance deduction has been escalated to concern department we will revert to as soon as the concern resolved.
To address your current concern, we have raised a Service Request for the deactivation of the Nazara Games Club service with the relevant team. For your reference, the Unique Service Request number is 0129558554. Our team will be contacting by the 31/01/2012 with an update on the issue.
We request your cooperation until such time.
Service message:
If you wish to stop or disable the service related SMS received on your mobile, we request you to follow the below mentioned path:
Step 1: Go to Menu - Message - Service inbox settings / PUSH SMS - Off status. (This path may vary depending on the handset)
Step 2: Please switch off and switch on your handset. Further to this process of turning off the Push SMS, you will not receive any service SMS.
We hope that we have been able to address your concern suitably.
Please do write in for any further assistance.
Yours Sincerely,
Customer Care
Bharti Airtel Limited


---------Original Message----------
From: rajneesh.mishra@yahoo.com
To: 121@in.airtel.com
Sent: 29/01/2012 18:33:25
Subject: RE: 9973857382 - disputed transaction details

Hi,

May be you missed to read the DATE & TIME of the fraudulent transactions in my
previous email (Just Check it and you¿ll find it), anyways I AM REPEATING THE
DETAILS (READ DATE AND TIME OF TRANSACTION) BASED ON THE SMSes RECEIVED FROM
AD-54321

1) Rs. 99/- on 28/1/12, at 10:26 PM
2) Rs. 6/- on 25/01/12, at 8:50 PM
3) Rs. 99/- on 23/01/12, at 5:24 PM
4) Rs. 4/- on 13/01/12, at 9:20 AM
5) Rs. 90/- on 10/12/11, at 5:15 PM
6) Rs. 10/- on 2/12/11, at 10:40 PM
6) Rs. 30/- for ¿downloading GayatriMantraAndChalisa from Airtel¿ on 21/11/11
at 5:32 AM
7) Rs. 20/- for ¿downloading INMOBIGame from Airtel¿ on 13/10/11 at 7:58 PM

As far as the other two details are concerned sets i.e


1) Before balance deduction ¿ First of all my number is prepaid. Secondly,
Obiviously I had enough money in the account balance so that you guys deducted
the respective amount.

2) After balance deduction ¿ Please check your logs you will get all the
information you need.

Why are you guys being difficult, just read my previous email and check your
logs you will find everything that is required. Just don¿t postpone or drag the
matter by asking some or other information, you guys have more information than
I can imagine.

Bye

Rajneesh

---------Original Message----------
From: 121@in.airtel.com [mailto:121@in.airtel.com]
Sent: 29 January, 2012 10:13 AM
To: rajneesh.mishra@yahoo.com
Subject: FW: 9973857382 - BALANCE DEDUCTION FROM AD-54321

Dear Customer,
Ref: Email dated 29/01/2012, expressed concern regarding balance deduction for
your airtel mobile number 9973857382.
Thank you for your email to airtel and the opportunity to assist you.
We regret to inform you that, we are unable to process your concern as the
details are insufficient.
Hence, we request you to revert with the fallowing details to initiate further
action in this regard :
. Date and Time of deduction
. Before balance deduction
. After balance deduction
You may dial *121*2# (Toll free) to know about the balance and validity.
We hope that we have been able to address your concern suitably.
Please do write in for any further assistance.
Yours Sincerely,
Customer Care
Bharti Airtel Limited

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hi, it's a great relief that airtel took the matter seriously and actually refunded Rs 85/-. Additionally airtel escalated the matter to Nazara.com, which as a matter of fact contacted me. Mr. Rajesh from Nazara.com heard my complaint and infact Recharged Rs. 402.54 (actual recharge of Rs 444.00/-). Honestly, I still cannot believe that airtel and Nazara.com treated this matter gracefully and accepted as well as took corrective action. Thanks a lot guys at airtel, Nazara, apart from this forum.- Rajneesh for R. L Mishra

Hi,
My name is prajnith, And i faced this same problem with nazara services being activated without my permission so i dropped an email to 121@in.airtel.com and within 2 hours a Customer Care executive named Srikanth K contacted me and my balance was refunded. I'm really impressed with airtel service and its even sunday . Good to know airtel understands customers problems.

Hi,
Airtel has ripped me again. Just when I started to feel that the days of arbitrary deductions from my airtel balance were over, it happen again. Unlike past, when total sum of Rs.443/- was deducted (in parts) from my airtel main balance, this time they have deducted Rs. 200/- straight away.

I had Rs. 577/- in my account as on 10/02/12 at 01:07:18 AM. At 01:25 AM. I received a message "Thanking you for "downloading java games, you have been charged Rs. 99/-'' . Incidently I was rushing a accident victim to hospital and happen to read the message in time. As soon as I found myself free for a while, i checked my balance. To my horror my account balance Rs. 377/-, implying that Rs 200/- (i.e. 577 - 377) was debited only after 01:07:18 AM on 10/02/12.
Please refund my Money and stop harassing and mentally torturing me (as well as hoards of other customer).



Does Airtel believe that the cheap trick of deducting balance from customer's account balance will go unnoticed?

Does Airtel believe that UNFAIR TRADE PRACTICE of deducting balance fron account without explicit approval from its customer is going to be good for its own existence ?

Does Airtel has the ability to command & control its system such that airtel is able to deliver its promise made to its customer ?

Hii..

Even I had similar kind of an experience a few days ago & believe me, nothing can be more frustrating n annoying than this. It's not about the money being deducted; it's about the relationship that we have been sharing with our service provider for several years (in my case, i'm using airtel since the time it was launched). Upon visiting this forum, I found so many other people who fell victims to the malpractices being followed by the service providers & if the service provider happens to be a reputed one like 'airtel', it hurts even more. My balance was deducted when I, inadvertently, clicked on one of the downloading links while browsing the net on my touchscreen phone. The moment I clicked on the link, a balance of Rs. 32/- was deducted immediately without any confirmation or my consent. I contacted the customer care & they gave me all kinds of silly excuses thinking that they are the only literate people around. I decided to absorb this loss realizing that there was no point arguing with the airtel guys and continued browsing. But after a while, it happened again and this time a balance of Rs. 99/- was deducted. This was enough for me to lose pateince and I immediately contacted the customer care & they again gave me all kinds of bullshits. The clarification they gave was ridiculous. They held me respnsible for the balance deduction stating that I downloaded some java content from internet and that they don't have any control over such deductions & it was not possible to refund the amount. Now the question arises that how could airtel authorise any entity (hungama, nazara, etc) to deduct any amount directly from someone's pre-paid balance without the consumer's
consent. It's hard to believe that airtel is not having any involvement in such unjustified deductions. I'm sure, they must be having a handsome share in the amount being deducted & this is why, they dont take any action to prevent/ban such deductions. The same thing happened with my mother also a couple of days ago. She just opened
some 'service message' in her inbox & was immediately subscribed to some 'talk to me'(hungama) pack thus losing an amount of Rs. 15/-. I really wonder why a 65 year old lady would subscribe for such a service that is not at all significant to her. Moreover, apart from these unjustified deductions, we are also being fooled in many other ways
by the service providers. For instance, many times I've noticed that if someone calls me up, he/she hears some advertisement from airtel instead of the hello tune that I'm subscribed to. This again is quite annoying because I'm paying Rs. 30/month for my callers to hear the hello tune & not their promotional advertisements. As a matter
of fact, if airtel is using my number for their own promotion, I should get paid for that...isn't it?
Well, regarding the amount deducted from my account, I would thank Mr. Rajneesh Mishra who shared his experience thru this forum & encouraged me to talk to the nodal officer directly. Following his advise, I contacted the nodal officer & had a long argument with him & eventually he agreed to refund the amount but only partially,i.e., I got
a refund of Rs. 99/- while the total deduction made was of Rs. 131/-. But what if this happens again?? The nodal officer clearly told me that he is not going to entertain any such refund request ever again. In my opinion, the only solution to these problems lies in the hands of TRAI(Telecom Regulatory Authority of India). It must take some serious action against such service providers & put a complete ban over such practices.

Regards,

Kirti...

Originally Posted by kirtisoni

Hii..

Even I had similar kind of an experience a few days ago & believe me, nothing can be more frustrating n annoying than this. It's not about the money being deducted; it's about the relationship that we have been sharing with our service provider for several years (in my case, i'm using airtel since the time it was launched). Upon visiting this forum, I found so many other people who fell victims to the malpractices being followed by the service providers & if the service provider happens to be a reputed one like 'airtel', it hurts even more. My balance was deducted when I, inadvertently, clicked on one of the downloading links while browsing the net on my touchscreen phone. The moment I clicked on the link, a balance of Rs. 32/- was deducted immediately without any confirmation or my consent. I contacted the customer care & they gave me all kinds of silly excuses thinking that they are the only literate people around. I decided to absorb this loss realizing that there was no point arguing with the airtel guys and continued browsing. But after a while, it happened again and this time a balance of Rs. 99/- was deducted. This was enough for me to lose pateince and I immediately contacted the customer care & they again gave me all kinds of bullshits. The clarification they gave was ridiculous. They held me respnsible for the balance deduction stating that I downloaded some java content from internet and that they don't have any control over such deductions & it was not possible to refund the amount. Now the question arises that how could airtel authorise any entity (hungama, nazara, etc) to deduct any amount directly from someone's pre-paid balance without the consumer's
consent. It's hard to believe that airtel is not having any involvement in such unjustified deductions. I'm sure, they must be having a handsome share in the amount being deducted & this is why, they dont take any action to prevent/ban such deductions. The same thing happened with my mother also a couple of days ago. She just opened
some 'service message' in her inbox & was immediately subscribed to some 'talk to me'(hungama) pack thus losing an amount of Rs. 15/-. I really wonder why a 65 year old lady would subscribe for such a service that is not at all significant to her. Moreover, apart from these unjustified deductions, we are also being fooled in many other ways
by the service providers. For instance, many times I've noticed that if someone calls me up, he/she hears some advertisement from airtel instead of the hello tune that I'm subscribed to. This again is quite annoying because I'm paying Rs. 30/month for my callers to hear the hello tune & not their promotional advertisements. As a matter
of fact, if airtel is using my number for their own promotion, I should get paid for that...isn't it?
Well, regarding the amount deducted from my account, I would thank Mr. Rajneesh Mishra who shared his experience thru this forum & encouraged me to talk to the nodal officer directly. Following his advise, I contacted the nodal officer & had a long argument with him & eventually he agreed to refund the amount but only partially,i.e., I got
a refund of Rs. 99/- while the total deduction made was of Rs. 131/-. But what if this happens again?? The nodal officer clearly told me that he is not going to entertain any such refund request ever again. In my opinion, the only solution to these problems lies in the hands of TRAI(Telecom Regulatory Authority of India). It must take some serious action against such service providers & put a complete ban over such practices.

Regards,

Kirti...

@ kirtisoni, Mr. Kirti, I understand your pain and agree with opinion. Sure, TRAI & any other competant body should look into this menace of 'unauthorized balance deduction' and all areas where Consumers Rights are being violated. However I must add that there is an opportunity for Airtel or any other service providers to demonstrate transparency and provide real and fair service. Their current practice isn't going to endear them to the consumers as it damages their trust for 'essential services'. Why do they take half-hearted measures when this issue is easily preventable ? Shareholders, Why don't you fire such rude customer 'care' executives along with all those rogue employees who are directly or indirectly responsible for poor quality of service as well as illegal unfair trade practice. As far as we consumers are concerned we need to be constantly be on watch as well as be persistant and fight for our rights. Don't settle for anything less than our due. Thank you for your time. - Mishra

hi
my no. Is :8446120146
airtel has deducted my rs.30 4 days ago. For the service airtel talkies which was activated without my permission. When i talked with representative he refuse to give me my refund.
I thought airtel is a good service provider so i portable my sim from docomo to airtel. but i was wrong. Now if u can please give me my refund.
-avinash.

hi,
my no. Is :8446120146
airtel has deducted my rs.30 4 days ago. For the service airtel talkies which was activated without my permission. When i talked with representative he refuse to give me my refund.
I thought airtel is a good service provider so i portable my sim from docomo to airtel. but i was wrong. Now if u can please give me my refund.
-avinash.