Vodafone India charging extra for 'downloads'

NEXT VICTIM-
I am a Vodafone prepaid subscriber from Delhi-NCR and using this number since 2011. Previous I was charged for Value Added Service. But since DND, I was no charged until today.

I will give details:
17th Nov 2014 (late night) - Main balance 260+. (Separate Internet Pack Active)
18h Nov 2014 (noon) - When I made a call I am old I have low balance. (Seperate Dataplan still have data Balance).

Surprised I call 111 and after about 7 minutes of waiting I am able to talk to a customer care. After abou 4 minutes of working he said: I have been charged (99+49+99= 247) for three DOWNLOADs. And He particularly stredded that THERE SHALL NOT BE ANY REFUND. And for this I did not receive any message for Deductions.

He said I downloaded some Chrageable Content/Adds. I asked to register complaint. But he said there is NO OPTION to Register Complaint. (So I do not have Complaint Reference No. )

I asked to talked to Supervisor. He answered He forwarded mail to and I will get a call back in 2 hours. (Its already 3 hours since then). I asked to forward me the same mail- He replied That Mail can only be Forwarded to Supervisor and not to any Gmail.

So, about 4 hours after caling Customer Support - I do not have a Refernce No. to Lodge Complaint anywhere.

As it appears- When I recharged I deposited money with Vodafone. Now they have transfered my 250 to some third party on my behalf without My Consent and not even informed me after Payment. Yes, I asked for details of agency to which money is Transferred. I was told to avail that detail I must apply for Item wise Prepaid Bill (paying 49) at end of November and I should get that bill somewhere after Dec 15.

Anyone like me Please Suggest way ou of this.
 
Just, so we're clear, Vodafone randomly deducted 250 bucks from your balance and is refusing to lodge a complaint.

As long as you're absolutely certain that you didn't activate any VAS from your side, complain here

pgportal.gov.in

And select department of telecom.
 
They pulled the same on me - Seven downloads with charges of Rs.550+. Customer Care refused to take complaint (raised this as a complaint with the www.pgportal.gov.in). I sent an email complaint to [email protected], they gave a prompt response that I may have clicked on some advertisements leading to paid downloads. They gave me a docket number. I now sent a note to [email protected]. Don't know what to expect from them.

As "Digital_Carver" said who are they to pay on my behalf and what authorization do they have? A small Rs.10 transaction on credit card or debit card requires passwords. How come these people indulge in such day light robbery. I think Vodafone colluded with these third parties to fleece money from customers.
 
So after reading this thread, I think Vodafone is now fully Indian company like Airtel, and it is also looting like Airtel.
We faced such issue on Airtel where in random services were activated (like daily jokes, horo, etc) and CC use to say that we may have activated while browsing their WAP portal. Even thought we said that our mobile does not support such browsing (old Nokia phones), still they remain adamant. Only after forcing they refund amount. Then one fine day we ported from Airtel to Vodafone...
 
SVK said:
So after reading this thread, I think Vodafone is now fully Indian company like Airtel, and it is also looting like Airtel.
We faced such issue on Airtel where in random services were activated (like daily jokes, horo, etc) and CC use to say that we may have activated while browsing their WAP portal. Even thought we said that our mobile does not support such browsing (old Nokia phones), still they remain adamant. Only after forcing they refund amount. Then one fine day we ported from Airtel to Vodafone...
Click to expand...

No point in blaming Airtel/Vodafone. Just understand the population in this country and see the no. of transaction happening every second on their network in a place like delhi. The issue mentioned above are all system errors and speriodic issues, any best reputed billing system can fail with so much of customers cluttered in a given service area. On the other hand CC executive do not have enough patience/ time bandwidth to deep dive in these system errors and give you solution right away. Result they skip or try to dodge you folks(they are not outsiders but people among us). Consider a country like Malaysia or new zealand where total population is 30 million and you have 12 million in a small place like delhi and NCR. while networks in those countries will never have these issues but place like India there will be constant issues.
DOes this mean that airtel/vodafone should stop doing business in india, if they will not do who else can do. You have already seen companies like docomo/ aircel/Rcom stumbling down bec they didnt had stong balance sheet to withhold 2G license cancellation etc.
 
If it happens 1 time, we can consider it mistake, if it happens 2nd time, we can say bad luck, but if it keeps happening 3-4-5 times on same number, how can we say its system error? It might be some scam from operator's side to get money from customers on basis of useless VAS which customer is not interested or will never use.
I don't think population is issue, because a robust backend can very well handle huge number of traffic, and I can say this because I have seen mechanism of backend for US operators who handles millions of data generated in minutes without any errors.
 
This is nothing but pure greed by the unscrupulous telecom service providers. Vodafone is not doing social service in India, they are here to make money. They have no love for India or its masses. I don't think these wrong billing charges are due to billing servers errors, it is by design. You can note the systemic indifference exhibited by the customer care and the nodal officers to the customers complaints.

This is their way of exploiting the consumers. My guess is that for every reported case, at least 10 cases go unreported (either due to low level of awareness or indifference to go against a large company).
 
You pay 300 on an average on your postpaid bills in india and US customer pay on an average 30-40 dollars a month. Quality of service would be diff!
Company like Airtel and Vodafone cannot do illegitimate Deduction from balance and neither they have any deliberate systems to do so!
As i said its all sporadic errors due to enormous transaction. These errors sometimes go unnoticed during their day to day operations and it is customer who has to bring to their notice.
Notorious Telco would never refund your money if it was scam based deductions. But they generally do if they see false deduction else they put it for probe. These Telco have lot of reputation at stake and cannot let go by doing these notorious activity

I am no way connected to any telecom company!
 
A US based unskilled worker would make around 6-7 dollars per hour working as a waiter. How much does waiters in India make per hour?
 
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