Vodafone Postpaid Incorrect Billing Issue: Rs.50 TV pack renewed

[madhusudhan7]

I recently got an SMS from Vodafone stating "Your subscription for Vodafone TV All Channel pack has been renewed and Rs 50 has been charged.Your next renewal date is 04-03-2013. To cancel send CAN TV to 111/144"
I called up Vodafone customer care for clarification almost immediately because i didn't recognize any of these charges but the Customer Care people simply refused to do anything about this 'because' this was some kind of a download charge when a WAP site is visited from 'MY OWN MOBILE PHONE ONLY' & it was only 'I' who could activate such a service, i insisted that i did not visit any such website after checking the browser history on my mobile phone & requested them to check my internet history access etc for clarification but they again refused to do anything about this
Has anyone else faced similar issues with Vodafone in recent times, i think this was all because of a bug in their billing system or something & Customer Care simply does not even want to listen to or understand the issue. I have already written to their Nodal Offier & hoping to hear from them soon

 

[uberjon]

Yes. In Nov, they activated 'Biscoot Mobile Pack' & deducted Rs. 35 from me. I have no idea what that pack was.
Anyway, I went to their website & made a complaint. They responded after 2 days.

However considering the long term relationship with us and as a service gesture a credit of Rs. 35/- has been posted to your account towards download charges. We would like to bring it to your notice that the reversal has been taken up from our end as a one-time exception and would not be able to facilitate further. We thank you for your patient understanding.

 

[dextermorgan]

Sadly this type of fraud is done by almost all operators. I've had a friend who was working in airtel and he knows they they wantedly activate these value added services without any sms from the user. Normally people in urban areas call them and deactivate them after shelling out one month's fee while those in rural areas couldn't deactivate them since they rarely use sms and are afraid to talk with Customer care.

 

[x720]

Bah! PORT XXXXXXXXXX to 1900. All that you need to do
Let them be the ones running after you. In all likelihood, you'll get the amount reversed and some extra credit too!

 

[madhusudhan7]

Bah! PORT XXXXXXXXXX to 1900. All that you need to do Let them be the ones running after you. In all likelihood, you'll get the amount reversed and some extra credit too!

And which operator will you port to my friend... When just about every other provider is probably worse than your existing. This main postpaid number is very important and I can't afford to have any kind of downtime or network interruptions.I've tried test prepaid connections of Tata, Airtel & BSNL mostly when their respective 3g services newly launched but the experience was only worse than the other.Our choice in India is always "Best of the worse"P.S: Otherwise I've already sent that Port sms in past but decided to stay back after understanding the actual process and possible issues

 

[x720]

You don't need to port to any operator. Just wait for their retention deptt to call you!

 

---

[amar]

I recently got an SMS from Vodafone stating "Your subscription for Vodafone TV All Channel pack has been renewed and Rs 50 has been charged.Your next renewal date is 04-03-2013. To cancel send CAN TV to 111/144"
I called up Vodafone customer care for clarification almost immediately because i didn't recognize any of these charges but the Customer Care people simply refused to do anything about this 'because' this was some kind of a download charge when a WAP site is visited from 'MY OWN MOBILE PHONE ONLY' & it was only 'I' who could activate such a service, i insisted that i did not visit any such website after checking the browser history on my mobile phone & requested them to check my internet history access etc for clarification but they again refused to do anything about this
Has anyone else faced similar issues with Vodafone in recent times, i think this was all because of a bug in their billing system or something & Customer Care simply does not even want to listen to or understand the issue. I have already written to their Nodal Offier & hoping to hear from them soon

I have faced same issue in Tata Docomo. I am using Android (Samsung Galaxy s plus), was using one application suddenly shows pop-up (docomo's VAS ad) there.. By mistake I clicked on that banner and my balance got deduct by Rs.50/-

 

[sgurumurthi]

My daughter has been having a similiar problem with Vodafone since the last three months.
Initially Vodafone asked me to check out the download dewtails from Micromax (model used by my daughter). Micromax reverted me back with "Check the details with your "Serviice Provider". Vodafone has not been able to clarify on the same so far.
Below is a mail that I have written yesterday..

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: 9987103257 -Please Call back on number - 9867186020. Date: Tue, 21 May 2013 17:54:26 +0530 From: S Gurumurthi To: Nodal Mum (MUM-NE), Vodafone India
Dear Mr. Rohan,

My bills (for [font="'Vodafone Rg'"]9987103257)[/font] for the last four months had been as follows,

Jan-13 199.33 Feb-13 747.76 Mar-13 513.06 Apr-13 445.52 I received a bill for Rs. 1135.98 this month. (as per your update online - I have still not received the Hard Copy)

I had the following charges in the last two months,

I have also been charged the following "Downloads" charges for the last two months,
DD/MM/YY-Time- Number Duration(min:sec) Charges (Rs)
15/04/13-15:34:46 igmicromax_gm_99 0:00 99 (for Feb-Mar)
11/03/13-21:05:25 igmicromax_gm_99 0:00 99 (for March-April).

I visited the Ghatkopar Gallery on 11 May, (along with my daughter and her mobile) and spoke to Mr Rahul, and also could not get any help from your "Faster, Smarter...." Data "Expert" in understanding what these charges are? They informed that there are no "Chargable" downloads in the mobile and these charges should not happen now.
They also raised a service request (SR#: 1332920348) and mentioned that reversals for the above would be reflected in my next bill.

But I was surprised to find the below charges once again, while checking the "View Itemised Bill",

DD/MM/YY-Time- Number Duration(min:sec) Charges (Rs)
20/04/13-12:23:09 igmicromax_gm_99 0:00 99
25/04/13-22:13:53 igmicromax_gm_50 0:00 50
27/04/13-17:29:41 igmicromax_gm_50 0:00 50
16/05/13-19:10:00 igmicromax_gm_99 0:00 99
16/05/13-19:10:03 igmicromax_gm_99 0:00 99
Total 5 Calls 397:00

I feel that it is unfair that we get charged for services that are not requested for and that you are unable to explain (What are these games that are presumably downloaded and charged for).

I hope I will be getting the paper Bill (Hard Copy) for the current month (and also the previous month as promised - without Charge) - which is essential for my monthly visits to the gallery.
I have been generally happy with Vodafone (apart for visits to the Gallery - EVERY month to get reversals for wrong billing). I hope I am not forced to consider "other" service providers and therefore I am requesting for clarity on the download charges - and assistance from "Vodafone" to ensure that these charrges are not repeated each month. I also request for a reversal for the above download charges - in case you are unable to clarify what these downloads were (The last two charges seems to show that two "Games" were downloaded within 3 seconds on 16th May).

Thanks and Regards,
S Gurumurthi
9867186020
Hope they respond. (It seems that after MNP - none of the "Service Providers" care for the customers - They know that all the "Portability" withh happen among the top four "Service Providers" - so what if we lose some we will also be gaining some - so to hell with you. All of them have outsourced their "Customer Care" to "Call Centers" and are attended by persons who understand little about the "Plans" and are only told to start and end each sentence with "Shama Chahate Hai"
Sad state of affairs - TRAI also has diluted the "Grievence Redressal" now. A customer has no way of reaching a "Service Provider" employee with the top four "Serrvice Providers" now-a-days.

 

[Vel India]

Hello Gurumurthi,We are working on your concern and will get back to you with an update in 48 hours.

 

[sgurumurthi]

This is a follow up mail I have mailed today - Hope Vodaone reverts back, and also hope that TRAI does something to allow customers to select the "Value Added Services" they want and also ensure that "Service Providers" are reachable for customers (Not via the "Shama Chate hai" call center persons - I have NOTHING aganist them - they just are not equiped to solve or understand the issue).
I hope I will be allowed to Port-Out in case Vodfone is unable to clarify what Games were downloaded for which I have been charged the last few months.
[font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt]-------- Original Message -------- [/font][/SIZE]

[font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt]Subject: [/font][/SIZE]​

[font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt]Re: 9987103257 -Please Call back on number - 9867186020.[/font][/SIZE]

[font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt]Date: [/font][/SIZE]​

[font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt]Thu, 23 May 2013 10:35:49 +0530[/font][/SIZE]

[font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt]From: [/font][/SIZE]​

[font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt]S Gurumurthi [/font][/SIZE]

[font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt]To: [/font][/SIZE]​

[font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt]Nodal Mum (MUM-NE), Vodafone India [/font][/SIZE]

[font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt]Dear Mr. Rohan,

Since I had still not received the paper (Hard-copy) bill of last month (promised as per your mail below on 9 May - "[/font][/SIZE][font="'vodafone rg'"][SIZE=12pt]We also confirm you that request for duplicate bill has been raised on your account and same will be received to you within 7 working days to your billing address.")[/font][/SIZE][font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt] I visited the Chembur Gallery to meet the "Smarter. Better, Faster - Data Experts" to seek help in understanding what was the downloads that I was being charged for. They again suggested that I should go to Micromax for this help. They did confirm that the only way the charges could stop was by stopping the GPRS services - which I then requested Mr. Shridhar - CSR to do (Refer SR # 1339673696) to do.

On my way out the "Data" Expert mentioned that even though I do not have GPRS active in my plan I can still get charged at "Base" rates for these internet or GPRS or "Downloads". When I requested if they can remove the Vodafone GPRS settings from the phone , he claimed that he cannot. When I asked if he can reset the phone to remove the GPRS setting, he mentioned that if I put the SIM in any Android phone these settings will be loaded even if I do not want it.
IS THIS SO?
Now I am a worried man, I understand that at Base rates the charges can be "HUGE".
You may mention that these charges will be reflected ONLY if I use the services, but should we not have the option of not having the GPRS setting loaded if we do not wish to use the Internet.
I have initiated the MNP process, (sent an SMS for the UPC) though I would prefer to continue with Vodafone (The others may be as "GOOD or BAD", but I am a worried man today, and have started to panic when the billing date nears.) [/font][/SIZE]

[*][font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt]Is there no way we can select the services we want and only get charged for what we use.[/font][/SIZE]
[*][font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt]I was told that Vodafone has one of the BEST tracking system, so is there no way your system can show what the actual downloads are, for which we are getting charged?[/font][/SIZE]
[*][font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt]I had been to both the Ghatkopar and Chembur Vodafone Gallery (with the Mobile) to check if someone can help me in understanding what these downloads are for which we are getting charged. I was told at Ghatkopar that no games have been downloaded, but at Chembur I was routed to Micomax.[/font][/SIZE]
[/list][font="'times new roman'"][SIZE=12pt]Please suggest where should I go for Help?

Thanks and Regards,
S Gurumurthi
9867186020[/font][/SIZE]