The Incompetence that is Airtel

I really hate it when any company or government institution does NOT do their jobs properly, or implement their processes properly and then they irritate the crap out of you. More so when they charge you a fine when it's your mistake, and when it's their mistake it's just a "mistake". They don't have to compensate you or even apologise, in the case of government institutions. In fact they might conveniently blame it on "the Computers".

Anyway recently on two occasions Airtel (Bharti Cellular India) peeved me off.

1. On December 31st 2005 my dad went to the Airtel office in Ahmedabad and gave back the sim for my brothers cell phone in Ahmedabad. We even paid off the final bill, and of course before all that, we filled and submitted the form for cancellation of number and service.
What arrives in the mail near the end of January? A bill for the rent and charges in January. How is this possible when we GAVE BACK the sim and even gave the Cancellation Form? Maybe the guys there were in the New Years Eve mood and slipped up.

And then it happened again.

2. Around 8th of February 2006 (give or take 3 days) I submitted, in the Airtel Pune Kalyani nagar Branch, the Cancellation form for my sister's Airtel Number. There I was told that the final bill will come in 2 days time which I will have to pay. This time I kept the sim since he said "Keep it around but don't use it." I didn't follow up on it after that day because I was way too busy with my project work. On the 26th of Feb. Airtel sends a DCA (debt clearing agency) guy home to collect a cheque from me and ask me why we didn't pay.

I told him that we had cancelled the sim and were waiting for the final bill which they NEGLECTED to send, so we didn't know how much to pay, and I was too busy to follow up. So he calls his boss up to tell him that this was the case.

His Boss then has the gall to ask me "Why did I cancel the sim?". I told him why, but really, that pissed me off. I can cancel any service when I want, which I signed up for (except the army of course), without having to answer to them, or even specifying a reason.

The bill came by courier the next day.

I really wonder what goes on in Airtel's offices and Computer Systems. Do they work? Maybe I should design and sell them a working software system (Somehow the Billing system never ever fails....)

I really hate it when Corporates never provide the kind of service that people get from companies in other countries. I must say how ever that multinationals that come to India do almost as good (I was surprised twice with prompt response from Pizza Hut Pune and Luxor Writing Instruments in Delhi. What was more surprising that they replied to an internet feedback form. In Contrast Godrej Sara Lee's website doesn't even work half the time)

Government institutions are decades behind that kind of response....don't believe me...just go to your local BSNL office or passport office and just try to ask them even one Question. Any Question. See how they respond......