Price to pay for Consumer Rights - Harassment & Threats

It is sad that in a country like ours we have to think twice before standing up for our rights ! Standing up for Rights be it individual rights, human rights or consumer rights are causes close to my heart. I believe in standing up for everyone's rights.

When I started this blog I thought I would be able to make a difference ! I thought I might contribute something towards lighting the extinguished fire in people's hearts regarding their rights and I managed to do that for some. I was even applauded for pursuing such causes and getting justice for others and myself.

But my recent experience with Vodafone is leaving my friends and family very concerned about my security considering that they are making different men call me from different numbers who are not even working for them directly. In a country like ours parents fear that people can be vindictive. In such a scenario the question is what must I do ? It is very easy to take my number to Airtel or Reliance through mobile portability but why should I get defeated without fighting a customer battle. Would it be correct to exit and let Vodafone get away with it's bullying ? I am doing a survey on that on FB. 

Appellate Authority, Vodafone Specialised Care Team and Nodal Office- All for One & One for All in Lies

I can totally see from the responses that Appellate Authority is clearly siding with Vodafone Nodal on this issue. It is heights that they are deviating from the matter and misquoting me. And Vodafone specialised care team is providing a false feedback that I have not visited any Vodafone store to submit updated documents. Abhishek from the Vodafone store has confirmed that I had submitted my documents on the 4 th of June 2015 and I appreciate him being honest in the entire matter. It was the Vodafone store that returned my documents saying that they had been verified and they did not require to keep them.

 The fact is that I have been wronged here because my account was suspended by the carelessness of the Backend team and the wrong feedback of the Vodafone specialised care team even after my documents were verified by their staff. The question is not so much about submitting the documents again and again. The question is why were my calls blocked when my documents had been verified ? They could have admitted their fault and requested me to submit those documents again BEFORE they decided to interrupt my calls. 

Why are the people concerned be it the Vodafone specialised care team or their Backend team not blamed for their unprofessional customer service ? It was the duty of the Nodal Office and the Appellate Authority to have investigated the matter instead of believing the false feedback of their specialised customer care team gave them. It was their duty to make sure that the customer was not constantly harassed for the fault of their team. The unprofessionalism and duplicity of the so called specialised team of Vodafone has to be addressed here. And the inability of the Nodal Office as well as the Appellate Authority in providing fair resolutions has to be addressed too.

I am escalating the matter further and am now going to the next level to complain. Appellate Authority never does it's work properly and this can be seen from the feedback of various customers on the FB page of Vodafone India. If needed the court will investigate the matter and they all will be held responsible for their lies. I have proof that I had visited the store with updated documents and my phone call from the store that day from my Reliance phone would be traced to support my statement.

Further I am bringing forward their careless and indifferent approach to the entire matter in this Consumer Rights Blog. Vodafone had no right to make odd men call me and force me to submit those documents again. As it is I had stated in my mail that the documents which have already been submitted will only be given again when Vodafone accepts it's mistake in writing and I am compensated in some way for the deep harassment and inconvenience.

Vodafone bullies and now adopts gang warfare against customers

It seems that Vodafone is adamant on deviating from the point to cover it's act of carelessness. I have already submitted updated documents for both our numbers on the 4th of June 2015 and they had been thoroughly verified by their Vodafone store staff. So there is no requirement for those documents to be submitted again. First Vodafone deactivates my account without thorough investigation regarding my submitting the documents on time and then they harass and threaten me so much through calls and emails. Instead of apologising and making up for the inconvenience caused, I was continuously threatened and was told that they will disable my account again. Then Appellate and Nodal deviate from the matter and urge me to dismiss my case and tell me to treat this experience as an exception when the fact is that so many others like me faced similar problems regarding updating of documents and their accounts were suspended too without investigation. All the complaints against them are all over their FB pages.

Now Vodafone care, Nodal office and Appellate Authority office have joined hands in harassing me further by putting pressure on me to submit fresh documents on the pretext that my connection is a new one when I actually acquired this number in 2009. Since they don't know how to admit to their carelessness and are not ready to pay damages, they are now resorting to another way to harass me into submitting my documents again and again by saying that this is a new phone connection. And Vodafone Okhla made it's collection person call me over and over again to insist that he would be visiting my residence. The latest is that they are misquoting me by saying that I had requested for the new connection and the documents to be collected from home. Vodafone is continuing harassing me beyond comprehension and are conducting this gang warfare against the customer so that the customer gives in or crumbles and they get out of the mess they created scratch free. That is absolutely not done ! Now they are invading my privacy and bullying me till my house...

As I had informed them that I have NOT in any way committed to any Vodafone staff that I will submit the documents again. First I want to be compensated for my account being disabled despite the fact that I had submitted updated documents on time and then I want action to be taken against the Nodal office and Vodafone care team for lack of co-ordination between it's departments and follow up to confirm the issue before disabling my account. Till the time justice is not done, I am not even considering submitting my documents again and they cannot coerce me to do so just to cover up their mistakes and saving themselves. The Backend team is also to be blamed for barring my calls without proper information. I wonder if Vodafone extends the same unprofessional customer services to it's customers in the U.S or U.K. Well I don't think so because there they will be sued. In India too action can be taken against them if customers rise up to their bullying and demand to get value for money as well as stand up for their rights !

Appellate Authority in Alliance with the Nodal Office Vodafone & Vodafone Customer Care - Harassing Customers

Fair resolutions require proper investigation based on facts and evidence and not false feedback. From the response of the Appellate Authority, it is clearly evident that they in alliance with the Vodafone Nodal Office want to put pressure on the customer to ignore the inconvenience caused to the customer by Vodafone's careless action. As per the recent mail from them,  it is also clear that the Vodafone specialised Care team had provided false feedback to the Appellate as well by stating that I had not submitted the documents. The hard fact is that I had submitted the updated documents required by Vodafone on the 4th of June 2015 and the Vodafone Store concerned supported me in proving that. So then why were my outgoing and incoming calls blocked by the concerned Vodafone team when procedures were followed and why am I being asked to submit those documents again when proper verification was carried out at the Vodafone store and there was no problem whatsoever ?

Well it seems neither the Vodafone Nodal Office nor the Appellate Authority Office want to give me answers here as that will bring forward their act of carelessness and insensitivity towards their loyal and law abiding customer. Repeatedly I am being urged to treat this issue as an exception so that they can  simply  get away with this mistake as well. But I refuse to let this matter go unnoticed . I am from the Customer Services Industry too and we were taught to do proper follow ups on complaints and investigate complaints thoroughly to provide fair resolutions to guests and fix responsibility on people who caused inconvenience to the guests. As an ex- Hotelier I was taught that complaints have to be treated seriously so that there is no repetition and the customers had to be compensated in some way for the inconvenience caused. So why isn't anyone from Vodafone taking my complaint seriously or addressing it rightly ? Their interaction with customers always turns out negative. Vodafone India or should I say Vodafone Delhi is definitely not getting positive feedback from customers because of their lack of action and inability to provide fair judgements. Now the Appellate Authority has also joined the gang it seems...

Now to deviate from the issue and cover their mistake, the Nodal Office has suddenly informed the Vodafone Store that the updated documents for customers with no change of address has to be collected too. Couldn't these instructions be given to the Vodafone stores at the time they sent the SMS regarding updated documents to the customers ? Because of lack of clarity in the instructions given to the Vodafone stores regarding collection of updated documents, so many customers including I have suffered so much of harassment as their staff returned our documents after verifying details. Had the seniors sent out clear instructions and written circulars regarding the same to the Vodafone stores, the customers like me would not have suffered and our accounts would not have been suspended.

I have submitted my updated documents and it is not my problem that my documents were returned to me after verification. In fact because of their lack of follow up, my calls were disrupted even after their assuring that I will enjoy uninterrupted service. Before taking such a stringent action against me like disabling my account for so many days, the Nodal office should have confirmed with me and I would have informed them that I have already submitted my documents. And they should have confirmed the same with the Vodafone store too.Under no conditions did Vodafone have the right to harass a customer so much by even disabling the customer's account when the customer had co-operated in submitting updated documents in the given time. I will address this matter as much as I can and hope that this will inspire other Vodafone customers to come forward with their complaints and escalating complaints without fear of pressure from Appellate Authority and Vodafone Nodal Office to dismiss the case. I will try to pursue this case as far as I can even if it takes a lot of time. Wrong has been done and it has to be corrected !

Vodafone case stand at the Appellate Authority Office

Vodafone's Customer Interface  Management- A Nagging Question in my mind

I had escalated the matter of the misleading and unpleasant customer  service of the Vodafone staff. This is the first time I interacted with the Appellate Authority Office. I was obviously very disappointed with their indifferent approach. I expressed to them that I am not satisfied with their response because they are clearly deviating from the issue and the details of my complaint. This issue cannot be ignored without fixing responsibility on the people concerned who have caused great inconvenience and harassment to me as well as my being compensated for being treated badly for no fault of mine. Moreover I require a written apology as well because this entire episode has caused me so much of stress and as a result I had a severe migraine attack which is concentrated in my left eye and my eye is swollen badly because of that. I told them that I could provide them proof to support my statement. Not only did this harassment affect my work but it affected my health too. The work related calls that I was expecting from abroad were interrupted because of Vodafone's rash and impulsive decision of  deactivating my account without verifying details with me. I may have lost possible job opportunities due to the barring of my incoming calls too. I had co-operated with Vodafone in all matters since 2009 but Vodafone has costed me greatly for being such a loyal customer.

They are wrong to urge me to treat this as an exception because such things have happened far too many times and so it is high time that their customer service be questioned. I informed them that I am not the only one who faced this problem recently. On the Vodafone Delhi Mobile FB page  you will find that Ms. Dhara and many others complained about similar bad customer service regarding updating of documents. Hence somewhere Vodafone staff is not working properly and the Nodal office is not doing their job and fixing accountability on those people. Instead of apologising or making up for their carelessness, they are harassing each and every customer. A Vodafone customer service executive that I would rather not name informed me that this is also happening because of the changed customer interface with their introduction of 4G or whatever it is and in that Vodafone ended up deactivating so many accounts for no valid reason at all. Vodafone's lack of efficiency and inability to handle latest technology and introduce or deliver that technology to it's customers smoothly is portrayed through this universal harassment of Indian customers in the latest updating of documents case recently. Updating of documents may have just been a camouflage to cover up their inefficiency to introduce the latest technology effectively.

 Even after my repeatedly informing the Nodal staff through mails and telephone conversation that I had visited the Vodafone store for submitting updated documents as needed, a proper investigation was not carried out by the Nodal Office. Instead I was repeatedly ordered that I should submit my updated documents which I had already submitted well within the time limit given. But they refused to accept that as they wanted to cover up their act of carelessness. In both the cases whether it be updating of documents or deactivation of the ISD pack 55, it can be found that the customer service executives misled me and due to their mistakes I have suffered immensely. Customers cannot find time to keep reminding Vodafone about each and every mistake of Vodafone staff. Why isn't smooth and pleasant customer experience given to Vodafone customers when that is their right ?

I have urged them to take my complaint seriously as I wish to escalate the matter further. From my side this case stands open as I am dissatisfied with their stand and attitude on the matter. They are asking me to ignore the entire inconvenience caused to me just because they decide to activate my account now after so much of confusion and suffering. I want to know why in the first place was my account disabled for a week or more when I had submitted my updated documents. I want to know why the Nodal Office harassed me continuously regarding this instead of personally visiting that store to investigate. Even in the last telephone conversation, Ms. Chauhan told me to go and submit updated documents and I had to remind her over and over again that I have done so. When I have already submitted my updated documents on the 4th of June,2015 why should I visit the Vodafone store again ? By asking me to do so again, the Nodal Office is simply trying to prove that they are right which is untrue. I have had enough of Ms. Chauhan threatening to deactivate my account on that basis when I can provide evidence that I had visited the store with updated documents. In fact from the Vodafone store , I had called my home and that call could be easily traced. In a similar matter, Reliance had sent an investigation team to Noida. But Vodafone insists on troubling the customers instead of taking action against it's staff.

Problems occur with customers even in Reliance or Airtel, but in the end after a lot of struggle atleast their seniors take actions there. Unfortunately Vodafone's senior officers are not interested in providing fair and positive resolutions.

It is time that the Appellate Authority also acts responsibly instead of being partial to the Vodafone Nodal Office through their deviation from the real matter and forcing the customer to forget the inconvenience caused. I expect a more just resolution from the Appellate office.  If a fair and positive resolution is delivered then it is good...if not then at least I have exposed their defective customer interface management to the world and have given a voice to all the Vodafone customers to work on and refer to.

I would like to conclude that instead of standing true to their motto " We are happy to help ", Vodafone is actually demonstrating that " We are unhappy to help !" . Naturally their customer services will be questioned and that will be a blot on their image and reputation if they help in providing me with a fair resolution in this matter... 

Vodafone's Misleading Customer Service & Indifference

Vodafone's lies and discriminatory attitude towards me has shocked me. Instead of making up for their mistake and the carelessness of their staff, they are harassing me. Instead of fixing responsibility on Abhishek and Ms. Chauhan for their lack of co-ordination and not doing their work rightly, they are making me suffer. I said the same to Ms. Chauhan again in our conversation on the telephone today.

My calls were barred for so many days without investigating the matter despite my repeated emails to them that I had submitted my updated documents. They may have activated my calls today after so many days of harassment but along with it they have caused me more harassment and trauma.To add to it , because of the mishandling of my complaint by the Nodal Office and their deactivating my account, now with the fresh activation of my account I am being charged for services that I had deactivated or never subscribed to. This is so unfair !

Last month on the 20th of May, I had deactivated the ISD call 55 pack and confirmed the same with their Customer Services executive and Manager. Reference number is 2564011888.  After that I have called so many times till about 2-3 days before my billing cycle to re-confirm the same and everytime I was assured that it has been done and that from the next billing cycle I will not be charged. They also told me that I would receive a SMS confirming that the pack has been deactivated on the 6th of June. But because of Nodal's fault and their restoring my account after so long, now I have received a SMS stating that the pack is active on my number. So many others services that I did not subscribe to have been activated due to the confusion the Nodal Office created. Vodafone's customer service is misleading and deceptive. And Vodafone is continuing harassing and charging me for services that I had never activated.

Even when I submitted my updated documents, I was misled into believing that the same would be updated on my account and my calls will not be barred. I had insisted that I should get a written confirmation or reference number that I have submitted my updated documents but they refused. I was assured that since my documents are authentic and right, my calls will not be barred. In fact Abhishek returned my documents to me after that. Now that is what I am telling the Nodal Office that I cannot be held responsible for their staff not doing their work properly or not following it up. The fact is that I have submitted my updated documents and I can prove that in court. So why should I go and keep submitting the same documents over and over again ? It is wrong to expect me to do so now specially after the Nodal office not being sensitive to me all these days. In the first place the Nodal Office should have checked with the Vodafone store concerned and should have carried our an investigation to find out why their staff did not do their job properly. But instead the Nodal Office barred my calls without thorough investigation.

I wish to escalate this matter as far as it can go. And I will contact Vodafone World HQ too regarding the same. Let's see what their stance is. Responsibility has to be fixed and people have to be accountable for it as I have suffered so much with all this unfair treatment. I am in the right and so I have the right to state that I will not be contnuously harassed like this by being ordered and threatened to keep visiting the Vodafone store with updated documents when I have already done so on the 4th of June 2015.  Ms. Pathak, the Nodal a Officer Delhi has not given a fair resolution this time and she should have investigated the matter before deactivating my account. I have a Right to Information as to why this was not done. I want answers here. Justice had to be served !

Vodafone's Lack of Co-ordination

On the third of June 2015, I received a SMS from Vodafone telling me to submit my updated documents for my connection within 48 hours at the nearest Vodafone Store to enjoy uninterrupted service. And so I did even though I found it odd that they had given such a short time to submit documents again.

Anyway I visited the Vodafone store on the fourth of June 2015 to submit my documents even though it was really not required and the customer service person there assured me that I would continue enjoying uninterrupted service on my number. However soon after that both my incoming and outgoing calls were barred because either the person at the Vodafone store did not update my record or this lady at the Nodal Office ( where I had complained about the short time frame given ) did not do her homework on my connection.

I  received an email from a Ms. Chauhan on the fifth of June that my Vodafone account had been suspended for not having submitted the documents which was actually untrue. Despite my telling her repeatedly that I had submitted updated documents for both our numbers, she refused to accept it. Because of the lack of efficiency and lack of co-ordination of the Vodafone customer service executives and the Nodal a Office staff as well as their staff at the Vodafone store, I have suffered as a customer.

Vodafone customer service was never good like most phone companies but this time the Nodal Office too disappointed me thoroughly. Their blocking my calls despite my submitting updated documents much before the given time shows how they harass customers and cause them inconvenience because of their lack of co-ordination.

I have escalated the matter further and am addressing it at the Appellate Authority level. All this time I have not been able to call or receive work related calls and responsibility has to be fixed on them for causing me so much of inconvenience even after my co-operation. Their careless and indifferent attitude will only encourage their customers to transfer their numbers through mobile portability. Vodafone Headquarters must ensure that their Indian customer enjoy professional and pleasant customer service and they should be more selective about the staff they hire to deal with customer problems and complaints. Their lack of sensitivity towards their customers will not be tolerated for long !