I always stand up for what I believe in and what is right even if it means standing alone...In life standing up for your rights is never easy but it is very important to embark on this Long and difficult path to enforce and protect your individual and consumer rights.We all must be aware of our rights.In exercising our rights are we truly free individuals.

I have won many long customer battles against Banks,Phone Companies, Airlines, Electronics Companies etc. I have devoted time and energy to demand positive resolutions for myself and people around me. I hate it when one is denied what every customer has a right to...and that is when I find it important to address it and complain about it. I know it takes time to escalate matters but somehow I prefer to address it no matter what. Having lived in America for sometime, I give a lot of importance to Individual Rights.

It is my nephew who inspired me to write this blog. He felt the importance of his rights and the need to address this subject in a blog very early in age when he was unhappy with the services of a certain Airline. It was then that he suggested that I should write a blog concerning such matters too.

Everyone has certain rights but we are usually not informed about them or do not exercise them. We have a right to be heard...and we must never forget that. There is One Right for All and None should be discriminated. One has the right to question and a right to information. With growing middle class touch 400 million and consumerism, Indian Companies need to become responsive to Consumer complaints and grievances. Ignoring such complaints could lead to big financial losses for the company on consumer complaints being upheld by Consumer Courts.

In this blog, I would like us to share our knowledge about how best to address our complaints effectively as a customer or consumer. It is also important to inform people about the poor customer services provided by reputed brand names. But I would also like to hi-light the names of companies and brands who have co-operated with customers and given positive responses. Please do share your experiences too.

You do not win every battle in life but you learn lessons from it and hopefully live to win it some day. Through this blog ,I would like to inspire people to stand up for their rights and if needed fight for it but the fight for your rights has to be fair and honest. I aim to create a direction and awareness for people who are not given their due rights as an individual first and then as a consumer. There are always solutions and there are way to reach those solutions or alternatives as customers through proper channels.

Whenever you have been able to get your rights heard, you should generously share that knowledge as how best to achieve that so that others could follow that too. Pay it forward ! We should share knowledge and in doing so we will learn more from each other. Alone you can stand up for your rights but with people behind you and with you , there will be more force in it and consumers and customers will not be taken for granted. United we stand in getting value for our hard earned money...United we stand in ensuring we get good customer service.

When there is a will there is a way. When you stand up for your rights and for others , somebody will listen to you sooner or later. Your voice will be heard ! But for that you have to speak out ! Silence can sometimes be mistaken as weakness or indifference. Always know your rights and request for those rights to be implemented but if they are not then demand that justice be served.


Always stand up for your rights...

Consumer Rights Consumer Might !

" Sadaa Haq Aithe Rakh ! "

"Manzil mushkil to Kya... Humhe to us rah par chalna hi hai..."


Sunday, October 25, 2015

The deficiencies of Vodafone cost the customers endless inconvenience

 One for All and All for one in their lies...It is clearly visible that is what Vodafone stands for ! The last three months I have been caught in the web of their lies. And every time I tried to disentangle myself to reach out for the next level of complaint channel to get justice, they would again weave a web of lies regarding my case. I have suffered immensely health wise too because of the mental torture they subjected me to through their representatives like Sunil and Sunder on the phone at 199 & Nodal number who were extremely aggressive and rude. They continuously harassed me through their lies, accusations and hostile attitude. This is supposed to be business but they made it personal ! Instead of addressing the case with a calm and professional attitude, they for some reason of their own made it their personal agenda to prevent me from getting the case investigated. Most of their male representatives always talked to me in a raised voice when discussing this case !

When I even complained to the shift supervisor Naresh, he declined to register a complaint for quite some time till I coerced him to do so by reminding him of my rights. Basically he was more interested in finding out as to what all I have gathered in terms of evidence relating to this case and I told him that he would get to know that soon enough when the matter goes to Consumer's Court. Such is the behaviour of Vodafone Representatives !

An investigation can never be one sided ! But Nodal based their resolution only on the false feedback given by their team. That just goes to show that all cover up for each other and going to these so called different levels of complaint is just a sheer waste of time ! At all levels they deviated from the matter and refused to address my complaint ! They only kept passing unfair judgements. Nodal is supposed to resolve conflicts impartially by listening to both sides but they did not do that as Nodal team was more interested in passing judgement based on their opinions. They did not even want to consider the facts.

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 and Vodafone shop even after my documents were verified by their staff. At the time of visit to the store, I had even requested them to keep our attested documents and photographs but they returned it saying that they do not need it as our address has not changed in all these years. I kept requesting the representative to give me a reference number or receipt so that it could be confirmed later that I had got my documents verified at the store again but he refused. He assured me that my calls would not be barred but soon after that my calls were barred for a week ! It is very disappointing to see that they go back on their word everytime.

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 ? Vodafone's lack of professionalism, lack of efficiency and lack of co-ordination between departments is the key factor in complicating this matter. And because of the deficiencies in Vodafone's way of working, I as a customer have suffered and my number still remains deactivated for over a week now. I have been caused endless inconvenience by Vodafone's lies and carelessness.

ONE

I believe in standing up for my Rights and felt the importance of informing the world about Vodafone's dishonest business tones in India.

And I am truly grateful to all who are supporting my petition because WE as " ONE" can make a difference and bring about the much needed change in the way companies view customers.

Earlier on the 20th of June 2015  I had reported this matter to the Ministry of Consumer Rights but till date nothing was ever done in that direction !

Let's become ONE in defending our Rights as consumers or customers so that companies cannot take us for granted and get away with endless harassment. It is time that importance is given to Consumer Rights in India as well !

Only words and no action !

Only words and no action ! Vodafone only believes in discussions and not action. On their social media page Vodafone says that they do not want me to have such an unpleasant experience with them . But that unpleasant experience with them has already occurred and is still an ongoing process and they are doing nothing to change that ! They only offer words and fake assurances but no action is being taken to rectify their mistake. This has already happened far too many times ! 

What happened cannot be changed but Vodafone can definitely change their attitude towards this case and all it's customers. There has already been so much of discussion on this matter since June and now I expect action !

 The time has come for action and for Vodafone to fix responsibility on the people concerned. It is high time that conflict resolving authorities like the Nodal and Appellate Authority act responsibly for a change !

 The time has come for Vodafone to give importance to the customer and demonstrate it through actions by first restoring my services and then sending an apology letter right away. And then only will I  submit my documents again but on the condition that  Vodafone investigates the matter thereafter so that there is no repetition of such carelessness with any customers or me in the future. And I would need a reference number for that investigation so that I could keep a track about the progress of that investigation.

 Now this is not only my matter, it is the matter of all their customers in the same situation as mine ! Vodafone should investigate why it's stores are not registering or updating the customers' information regarding verification of their documents on visits to their various stores.

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Vodafone does not ever give importance to customer services

A business thrives on it's relations with customers as each feedback of the customer is very important in making that company acquire a trustworthy reputation. Good customer relations requires the company to ingrain courtesy, sensitivity, flexibility and professionalism in it's staff in their dealings with customers. Good customer service also includes effective response to complaints and queries. But Vodafone neglects that all the time. Their lack of sensitivity and lack of providing an effective resolution has led me to escalate the matter on this platform. They are not attending to this case the way they should considering how far this complaint has been escalated. 

They are letting their unprofessional juniors handle this case and that is why there seems to be no breakthrough. As it is their staff is so rigid that they never want to hear anything or discuss a way out to resolve the problem by meeting the customer half way if not all the way. Vodafone staff needs training in customer relations as they lack the skills to initiate a pleasant interaction with the customers. Till date the Specialised Customer Services team and Nodal just seem to be adopting the same approach every time instead of a more flexible approach that could lead to solving this case. Instead of making up for the mistakes, they are continuously blaming the customer all the time and thus alienating the customer further. Instead of focussing on resolving the problem, the Nodal and Appellate have concentrated more on closing the matter immediately by blaming the customer to save their staff. If Vodafone believed in customer relations, it would have handled my complaint differently.

Vodafone as always fails in complaint management and satisfying customers

It seems that Vodafone is not at all interested in meeting the needs of customers or address customers' complaints promptly. Back in June this year the investigation was left incomplete and that is what I had requested in addition to an apology for barring my calls in return for my co-operation to submit the documents I had already submitted. And now from the 15th of October I have been telling them repeatedly through mails and calls that I had already submitted my documents this year and they should confirm that and find out why their representatives did not update that information. But instead of co-operating with me on the matter, from the beginning they took a rigid stand by not even willing to investigate the matter or offer a written apology for the carelessness of their staff. If that was not enough, they even went ahead and barred my calls from the 19th of Oct. and then suddenly deactivated my number on the 21st .

Vodafone leaves no room for negotiation with customers to come up with a mutually suitable resolution to resolve the complaint.

Vodafone takes a very long time to even address any complaints seriously and never really follows up on the complaints promptly. It just chooses to let complaints accumulate and does not bother to deal with it the way it should. Perhaps Vodafone thinks that customers will get so tired and worn out by the delays in fair resolutions of complaints that the customer would just give in but every customer is not the same.

Vodafone's unprofessional business tactics and inefficiency has costed me a lot of inconvenience and that is why this careless attitude of theirs is not at all acceptable ! As it is because of the barring of my calls, I am not only encountering inconvenience in my personal and professional life but also loss of money because now the Vodafone World Calling cards that I had bought would be wasted.

Also in my entire time in business interactions with companies here as well as abroad, I have never encountered such endless harassment and rudeness and so it cannot be easily forgotten. I have been dealing with Vodafone for years but this time they have really gone too far in being abnormally aggressive and hostile with the customer and this is just very bad customer service ! I don't understand why they treat customers so harshly and allow complaints to go a long way of escalation. Vodafone needs a wholesale cleansing of their customer service to save their reputation from getting ruined and to meet the needs of the customers.Somehow they are just not able to satisfy numerous customers through their worst customer service and unprofessional way of managing complaints.

Vodafone is not even sensitive enlighten to honour simple requests or preferences of customers while dealing with them in addressing the complaints. Just yesterday I requested them on their social media page to interact with me in writing concerning this complaint instead of calling my alternative number so that everything is on the record. But they did not even agree to that as it seems they do not want to leave any trace of their acknowledgement of their faults in writing.  I had told them that I will  not entertain any calls from Vodafone on my alternative number after the way their staff has been continuously harassing me mentally and verbally on the phone . I had also requested them to first restore my number and have Sunder, Sunil and the Nodal team apologise to me for not doing their job correctly and then  I could agree to talk to Vodafone staff on Vodafone number regarding my co-operation for the second time on this matter. But I did not get any response whatsoever in written on that.

 Vodafone believes only in verbal communication and verbal acknowledgements while handling complaints so that they cannot be held responsible for anything later. But based on feedbacks of customers on various sites and my personal experience, Vodafone's word can never be trusted ! That is why I have suffered so much in my dealings with Vodafone as I always believed their fake assurances that my calls will not be barred even when I visited the shop with documents for our numbers. Perhaps their refusal to give me a reference number for our interaction then and later on the phone regarding complaint of harassment was just their way of having a power to change their statement any time and summon the customer specially a lady any time at the store. But they forget that we as customers cannot be fooled every time and we also know how to maintain evidence of our interaction with them. But customers do be careful ! Please record each and every interaction with them so that they do not get away with their lies and harassment.

 As it is they never deliver the services they promise. Vodafone never honours it's promises to the customers. Vodafone does not stand true to it's motto " Happy to Help". It is very unpleasant being a Vodafone customer !

Friday, October 23, 2015

Constant efforts to resolve the matter amicably rebuffed by Vodafone time and again !

My constant efforts and pleas to resolve the matter amicably and objectively were rebuffed at all levels of Vodafone by brazen, crudeness and rudeness in order to browbeat me. 

All this was being done by them to camouflage the illegal actions taken in transferring my number to a third party. Whatever Nodal may say today that they have not given away the number as yet, the fact is that Mr. Sunil threatened to transfer my number to a third party on the 21st of Oct. From June till date I have had to endure constant mental harassment by Vodafone which in turn spoilt many auspicious events and Dusherra recently. As evident by the feedbacks of so many customers, I am not the only ONE...Vodafone has troubled many in the past and now specially on the 21st and 22nd of October 2015 by deactivating their numbers without warning and without investigation.

I am extremely disappointed with the Nodal response as they too like their various teams are trying to weigh me down so that I give up my complaint and an investigation does not take place. 

There has been immense loss of peace of mind, time, money and energy in pursuing this case with them. Because of their rash action of barring my calls and later deactivating my number, my professional and personal life has been affected.


Vodafone's brazen display of arbitrariness

 Mahatama Gandhi said " I may be the most despicable person but when truth speaks through me I am invincible". Vodafone fails to realise that in time the truth about their lies shall emerge and they cannot keep intimidating me like this by threatening to keep my number deactivated for long and finally transferring it to someone else.


Vodafone in a brazen display of arbitrariness and selective unilaterialism deactivated my number just to victimise me for insisting on truth and integrity in Vodafone's interaction with it's customers. 

The Indian government has to restrain Vodafone from it's imperialism in India.


Vodafone till date is still refusing to accept the fact that I had already submitted documents ( ID & Address proof) on the 3rd of June 2015 but their staff at Noida Vodafone shop did not do their job rightly and update that information in my account which caused barring of my calls twice. 

Instead of investigating the matter thoroughly or have their staff apologise to me in writing for all the inconvenience caused, the Nodal team from the beginning has not even tried to resolve the matter or addressed my complaint properly. In the last call from them, Mr. Sunil did not talk to me in an appropriate manner as he was very hostile in his attitude towards me in this entire case. He kept talking in a raised voice. It is clearly obvious that I would not be getting a fair resolution from Vodafone. But I will continue to fight this battle with Vodafone.

I once again am not satisfied with their resolution as I have lost faith in their ability to resolve customer complaints. So I will be escalating the matter further and as far as it can go. This is totally unacceptable that the Nodal Office is letting Vodafone representatives get away with continuous harassment of a customer. Their uncouth employees do not even know how to talk to a customer leave alone a lady. It is also very unfortunate that the Nodal team is aiding the customer service team and Noida Vodafone shop to cover up their lies and supporting them in deactivating my number impulsively without even letting an investigation take place.

This was my last attempt to give them a final chance for the third or fourt time to resolve this issue at their level but as usual Nodal has failed me badly and let me down as a customer who had repeatedly turned to them hoping that their office would order an investigation of the matter and pass a fair judgement. As I had stated earlier on first Vodafone should do their job and fix responsibility on the people concerned by investigating and asking them to apologise in writing and restore my services, and then I shall submit my documents again for the second time. They have to be accountable for treating me this way !

I request all to stand by me as your support will make all the difference.