121 has been programmed to make it impossible to reach a real person. You cannot change your plan on 121. The company sends you a link to Airtel Thanks app through SMS. If you do not have a smartphone, you are on your own. Their website also does not allow plan change at the moment. They have been running a huge promo showcasing how you can ask them any question through the Airtel Thanks app, and they would respond. Try finding any place in the app where you can post an actual question. The app's help section is useless. It keeps sending you to random parts of the app to get things done which doesn't work. You can't post a complaint. You can't raise an issue. I don't think this company has had such a shitty support system in the 20+ years I have been using them. What a turd this company has become.
A mobile app should not be mandatory to be able to get support from the company. Especially with the kind of malware Airtel has pushed through the app in the past. It has pushed full screen ads. It has pushed a dialer app. It has pushed backup services. The app lets you do everything but get support from the company. And not sure who is thanking who here. We are thanking Airtel for the privilege of being allowed to be their customer? Because that's how this app is behaving right now and same goes for the company itself.
It is also now clear that Airtel customer support helpline 121 behaves differently for different customers. Airtel One plan users get direct access to real person almost instantly. People on premium plans get access through categorized options as well. But if you are on one of the base plans, company does not seem you worthy of talking to a real person on 121. You have to jump through multiple menus and get lucky to be able to talk to a real person. For me, all the mobile numbers connected to my Airtel Thanks account are marked as low priority support customer so it is a massive headache to get a person on the line.
The only form of support I have received in the last couple of years is mostly through Twitter. Even today, I was only able to get my plan changed when their Twitter support team finally responded to a tweet. This is not a good thing. Twitter should not be their only mode of functional support. Not everyone is on Twitter. You should not be required to have a Twitter account to get support. These alternative platforms were supposed to compliment the support network. Shift some of the load. As it did wonderfully. People who were comfortable with calling 121 had that. People who were comfortable with sending a tweet did that. But now, it is a complete shit show.
PS: Folks who also believe that Airtel Thanks app is
, feel free to use the share this thread on social media. Use the blue colored icon at top right of this post or the share button at the bottom of the thread.
A mobile app should not be mandatory to be able to get support from the company. Especially with the kind of malware Airtel has pushed through the app in the past. It has pushed full screen ads. It has pushed a dialer app. It has pushed backup services. The app lets you do everything but get support from the company. And not sure who is thanking who here. We are thanking Airtel for the privilege of being allowed to be their customer? Because that's how this app is behaving right now and same goes for the company itself.
It is also now clear that Airtel customer support helpline 121 behaves differently for different customers. Airtel One plan users get direct access to real person almost instantly. People on premium plans get access through categorized options as well. But if you are on one of the base plans, company does not seem you worthy of talking to a real person on 121. You have to jump through multiple menus and get lucky to be able to talk to a real person. For me, all the mobile numbers connected to my Airtel Thanks account are marked as low priority support customer so it is a massive headache to get a person on the line.
The only form of support I have received in the last couple of years is mostly through Twitter. Even today, I was only able to get my plan changed when their Twitter support team finally responded to a tweet. This is not a good thing. Twitter should not be their only mode of functional support. Not everyone is on Twitter. You should not be required to have a Twitter account to get support. These alternative platforms were supposed to compliment the support network. Shift some of the load. As it did wonderfully. People who were comfortable with calling 121 had that. People who were comfortable with sending a tweet did that. But now, it is a complete shit show.
PS: Folks who also believe that Airtel Thanks app is
, feel free to use the share this thread on social media. Use the blue colored icon at top right of this post or the share button at the bottom of the thread.
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Increase mobile tariffs, less customer support and try as much as possible to lock in people into their plans/ecosystem.
