Indian Mobile Operators are going to start charging for customer care calls !

Yesterday, I called Airtel customercare and heard a taped message that, from May 10 2010 onwards, they will be going to charge Rs. 0.50 / 3 Minutes. !!!!!!

When I asked about this to the customer care executive, they said that, the telecom department is planning to do this to all the mobile operators..!

Is that really needed ???? Do you agree with this movement ???

I am against this....!

In this way, the mobile operators can earn some more from these calls. I think, this effectively reduce the number of calls to customer care. And more cause more pain to the normal customers.

Expect your 'please wait, your call is very important to us' sessions to get much, much longer.

And the people you call to speak much slower.

Helll-ohhhh. Thhhhhaannnks for cccalll {pause} ing.

Akhi, Vodafone has already started charging for the same in Maharashtra circle...

Are they providing an alternative method to contact them?

I suppose they want the customers to pay the customer care group's salaries. :mad:

Good question abhijit. If there is a website with customer help faqs and things like that you could use that to try to resolve your problems. If they took customer emails and responded to your questions also that would be another plus. If they don't do any of that then that sucks. They should only charge for the time that you are not waiting on hold.

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Originally Posted by koolsid

Akhi, Vodafone has already started charging for the same in Maharashtra circle...

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Yeah.. And Airtel is going to do that from May 10 onwards....

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Originally Posted by abhijit

Are they providing an alternative method to contact them?

I suppose they want the customers to pay the customer care group's salaries. :mad:

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Originally Posted by EntityX

Good question abhijit. If there is a website with customer help faqs and things like that you could use that to try to resolve your problems. If they took customer emails and responded to your questions also that would be another plus. If they don't do any of that then that sucks. They should only charge for the time that you are not waiting on hold.

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I think, Airtel is having an email support system already.
Mail id: [email protected]

But what about others ??? BSNL is the worst in Customercare support. If they are also going to charge their customer care calls, then I will dump my BSNL sim (I have a BSNL students plan sim with 2000 SMS free for each month)...! :)

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Originally Posted by akhileshbc

Yeah.. And Airtel is going to do that from May 10 onwards....

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In Vodafone, if you have a general query then you have to dial 111 from your handset and that is charged. If it is a complaint/Feedback then you have to dial 198 which is toll free. I am sure Airtel will have a similar feature...

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Originally Posted by koolsid

In Vodafone, if you have a general query then you have to dial 111 from your handset and that is charged. If it is a complaint/Feedback then you have to dial 198 which is toll free. I am sure Airtel will have a similar feature...

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Thanks for the info... :wave:
I'll check that...

I haven't called customer support in months. If they start charging, the situation is not likely to change either.

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