Apology is a word too expensive for Vodafone to afford...

An apology costs nothing but Vodafone is so reluctant in even giving that to it's customers. Vodafone does not seem to be really apologetic at all for their negative attitude and unfair actions towards customers. I have suffered immensely for the last six months because of the mental harassment and threats of Vodafone representatives  and all they can give in return is a sloppy response. Just false assurances...No action only words ! Is this the kind of response one expects after a long journey to get justice which involved loss of time, loss of energy, financial loss and loss of peace of mind ? Is this all that Vodafone can do for it's customers ? They do not even try to investigate matters leave alone empathise with the customers concerning the atrocious services their representatives are giving. I am very disappointed with their stand on the matter and more so with the attitude of the Department of Telecommunications too who also suspended my complaint based on the false feedback of Vodafone that the case had been resolved. Once again I was forced to then lodge a fresh complaint with the Department of Telecommunications.

On the 29th of November I received a letter from Vodafone with the same statement as before that they basically regret the inconvenience caused due to the inadvertent error and an appropriate action has been taken against the feedback received from me for the customer service. The way I see it , it was a very crisp business  letter and lacked the sincerity of an apology. And I do not appreciate the fact that they keep referring to my " complaint" as "feedback". I had asked for an apology letter to be sent to me from the people involved in harassing me and causing the deactivation of my number but that did not happen. This was not the kind of response I was expecting. From no angle did the letter look like an apology letter. It seemed more like a copied and pasted version of their previous mails to me.

Today they followed up that letter by an email which too did not clearly demonstrate that any investigation took place. Had a fair investigation taken place then my number would have been restored automatically without my re-submitting documents for a new connection. My number was unfairly snatched away from me because of the false feedback of their teams and now instead of taking concrete action against those people they are asking me to buy a new connection for the same number instead to retain my number with a new security deposit when they already have the original security deposit of Rs.500 from me for that number. This is their way of meeting targets by showing that they are actually enrolling new customers. Why should I buy my number again ? It seems this is the path they have adopted in blackmailing customers who want to retain their numbers.

Leave alone compensation for all the mental harassment and financial loss caused to me due to the wrongful deactivation of my number, Vodafone does not even realise the importance of a "sincere apology" from the people responsible for deactivating my number. If Vodafone was apologetic then my number would have been restored to me without my submitting the documents for the second time ! They all are basically trying to cover up for each other. By asking me to re-submit those documents despite my already personally submitting it at the store reflects their partiality to their team and proving them right. They are completely ignoring what happened.

Since June endless number of times I brought this issue to Vodafone's  notice and it is surprising to hear from the External Nodal team in not so many words that now they appreciate my bringing my experience with Vodafone to their notice.

I had informed Vodafone time and again that I would only agree to submit my documents AGAIN once the store concerned admitted their mistake in writing and apologised for it in written. But nothing of that sort happened. Piyush from external Nodal team had misled me into believing that responsibility would be fixed on people concerned and an "apology letter" would be sent to my address from the Nodal Officer. Of course a letter did arrive at my doorstep on Sunday morning and I appreciate that BUT it was not from the Nodal Officer and from no angle did it  look or sound like an apology letter as it was just a pasted version of their previous mails to me in a way and lacked the sincerity of an apology. Further Vodafone has been terming my " complaint" as " feedback" all the time. Mine is a complaint and that is why I expect a proper follow up and concrete action taken on my complaint. 

As I have mentioned earlier, in continuation of my trailing mails on the subject, Vodafone's contention that this whole episode was an exception is not legally tenable. This whole sordid episode inflicted by their company on me was professionally a vindictive misdemeanour and mental harassment which continued till date since 19th of Oct. The same had occurred before in June as well. 

Despite my best efforts to resolve the issue of restoration of my number wrongfully deactivated by Vodafone, their staff always  adopted dismissive and threatening approaches to browbeat me. They were therefore requested to forward  a written apology letter to me for the financial and mental harassment which was entirely the creation of their staff at the Vodafone Stores,Customer care and Nodal team.But Vodafone disappointed me there as well !

 It seems that Vodafone does not pay attention to educate and brief the staff on how to deal professionally with staff or how to deal effectively with complaints. This had totally ruined my festive season. On receipt of a written "apology letter" from the people concerned, I shall think of re- submitting the documents which their staff wrongly turned down at the first instance and then my number would have to be given back to me without security deposit as that has already been paid for this number. Otherwise I will keep pursuing this matter till it's logical conclusion.

For now I am not satisfied with their resolution yet again. As far as I am concerned the case stands open and unresolved. This petition stands stronger than before. If nothing else it is my duty to inform people and specially TRAI about how telecommunication companies like Vodafone and all are treating their customers. Customers are being cheated and harassed just because there are some serious deficiencies in the working of these companies which are being overlooked and ignored. It is high time that TRAI does something to cleanse these telecommunication companies by restricting their dictatorial powers to do just anything with the customers and getting away with it. These telecommunication companies must be held accountable for their negative actions. Swachh Bharat concept should be applied here too . We as consumers now have to pay Swachh tax and so we need to get value for our money all the more !