Airtel (unit of Bharati Telecom, big reputed mobile company in India) introduced this service to call internationally from US (mainly to India). This is probably in competition against Reliance india call.
Stupidly, I signed up to their service, thinking that it is a big company hence their service would be OK. I signed into Reliance also at it’s early days and it was never dysfunctional like Airtel. All said and done, reliance web site may look little primitive, but their service was excellent, customer service was reachable all the time (there was no need to call them in last two years). I guess you get what you pay for.
Here, it allowed me to register, took my CC number, but does not allow me to register my phone numbers. That being the most important thing, I tried to call up their customer service number, which is busy all the time. I sent an email, for which I got an automated reply saying someone will contact me, nothing has happened so far (it is second day today)
If Airtel wants to be a serious player in this field, they should clean up their act. They cannot go live without making sure things are in place. (like the 800 number for customer service).
Update: When I sent a mail to customer support, here is the bounced back message, isn’t it hilarious:
Subject: Re: PIN Reminder
was not delivered to:
Customersupport@airtel.in
because:
Error delivering to Customersupport/ES-Carrier/Airtel/BTVL; Router: Database disk quota exceeded
Update 2: Finally, I thought let me try it out directly and take the pain of entering the account number and pin. Surprise!! All it asked me was for PIN, so it did register my number, but I dont know why the hell it needs the PIN. Once I could get in call quality was good, but lot of irritants all the way
After the number is pressed you need to press the # sign.
I guess I just need to finish what ever I have filled and then revert back to using Reliance India call, even in their early days, their system was robust. (Remember, they provided free calls etc)
Update [21-Dec-06]: Reliance has matched their price with Airtel. Thanks and no thanks to Airtel.
Also, checkout my musings on voip service, using bsnl broadband and getting ripped off by regional bells (no longer baby bell).
Let's think 
December 18, 2006 at 7:13 am |
I’m simply baffled by the barrage of posts against Airtel and I simply can’t understand why this is happening.
I’m a user of Airtel CallHome who recently switched from Reliance India Call and I found their service largely satisfactory.
December 18, 2006 at 10:09 am |
Anshuman,
Well, I am glad that you are OK with the service they are providing.
Here is my list of issues:
– I cannot register my phone numbers through their website. ( I need to put in PIN everytime I call from home)
– I cannot connect to their customer service number, I get busy tone whenever I try.
– For the mail I sent asking them about the registration issue, I have not heard back even after a week.
– I had problem logging in using IE6, but that seems to be solved in last couple of days.
– Access number was busy couple of times, in my usage of 5-6 times. Where as in my use with Reliance, I have not got busy tone even once.
– In one call, I got lot of echoing, which I had not experienced for past 1- 2 years.
At the end, for each of us, expectation is different. There is a difference between a service is “good” and service is “worth”. I am not trying to put words in your mouth, but I am just guessing that you may be feeling that this service is worth (4 c/min), what others are feeling is that, it is not good, so the price or worthiness does not matter.
December 18, 2006 at 11:29 am |
I agree with you. The service sucks big time. On peak times you cannot get thru their Toll Free number. Its busy always. I am talking about 10 AM Central time on a saturday.
And the usability has gone for a toss. Both at their website and their phone IVR.
I wonder if we can somehow escalate this issue to their highest management and get their attention. I once did something like that and got the email id of KV Kamath, CEO of ICICI. I mailed him about their pathetic service at one branch and within 2 days there was tremendous response from their guys.
Somehow get some media guys to write about this and give more publicity to this shitty service of theirs…
Sandesh
December 18, 2006 at 3:52 pm |
I strongly agree to all written here and to my surprise I am going through all those frustrations mentioned in these messages. Management shall do something seriously about it.
December 18, 2006 at 6:44 pm |
[…] Airtel Call Home sucks […]
December 18, 2006 at 8:01 pm |
I am on the same boat too. I am so frustrated that I am thinking of contacting Better Business Beur. Enough of waiting.
December 19, 2006 at 8:38 pm |
In my experience, in a nutshell, the service is worth what we pay for but
not comparable to Reliance; so is apple to orange.
DEAL:
Reliance never gave such an attractive opening deal (you get twice the minutes for the first 2 purchases with airtel: a potential $400 give-away, against a petty $10 free call per number by Reliance. Unless you used up all the phones you find in your neighbourhood like a fraction of us did, airtel is a better & more meaningful welcome deal).
WEBSITE:
The website works well for most people’s initial needs. People who need customer care, call details, other itty-bitty things are obviously are in soup. For 90% of users this should be fine; not sure if airtel planned for it or just happened so – either way they got 90% their target customers to atleast look at them.
PHONES:
I too agree that the customer support# is a waste of print-space(or shud I say byte space), but the access number is fine 90% of the times or so. This is expected given that such a huge volume of desi customers should find it no-brainer in terms of per minute rate and should try to call almost upto 3+ times their usual calls (in comparison to “reliance” rate). People who are talking highly about Reliance’s phone number doesn’t know 1000s of customers like me,who never got any of our emails replied. In fact, reliance had a customer support number where you need to enter your registered number and PIN that never worked for me until a few months back. I still liked them for their line’s worth for my money.
REASONING:
My only logical deduction why airtel is not as good as Reliance is
that they underestimated the traffic they will get for their deal.
CONCLUSION:
We should give our feedback in a positive way to the management,
who not only had the guts to compete with Reliance but also gave
us a generous welcome deal. Like a wise man said once: It doesn’t
matter whether you do great things or not atleast don’t interrupt
somebody doing it. And, it’s easier to say, but harder to do. Airtel
is doing something harder for most other companies in india & world.
I’m sure airtel will address their technical drawbacks and soon be a great competition to reliance, hence giving us more time to call our folks & friends.
December 20, 2006 at 11:01 am |
Dhanas,
It is an interesting take, I agree that deal is pretty good, but unfortunately if it does not work, it is useless (I got busy tone on access number for the most part last evening) Reliance has not done anything in reaction means that either they dont care or there is no impact so far.
You say that we should give positive feedback, HOW? I ask. Their customer support number is unreachable, the email bounced back. I dont buy the argument that reliance’s offer was small in its size hence they did not expereince these problems. What they offered then was things like free 100 minutes on indepdence day (or some Indian national holiday), which means that there will be lot of hits on just one day. Their network withstood all those things.
Web site is OK? hmm.. misleading error message at the end, making people to register multiple times there by incurring multiple charges on CC and no way to reverse it? No way to register your phone number hence forced to provide the PIN everytime, No speed dial?
Airtel’s issues are no way related to the promotion they are running, it is purely unprofessional for a company like that. I would’ve forgiven them if it was some other small fish trying big thing.
Anyway, as I said in my reply to Anshuman, each of our expectations are different, “value”, “worthiness” are very subjective. I am willing to pay 12c for a dependable and reliable network, because I dont call all the time but when I want to call, I want it good service for sure. However, if I talk all the time, then I will be more willing to forgive once or twice or try later as I am not in dire need to call at that moment.
December 20, 2006 at 2:17 pm |
I very much strongly agree with all the above statments. AIrtel has debited the amount from my account & still I didn’t received my account number & pasword even after 10 days of registration. I am not able to reach any one either through mail nor through the customer care. Is it the way a Gaint is supposed to do?
I am totally surprised whether Airtel want to relly do business with us or not?
Very Sick company…
December 20, 2006 at 9:50 pm |
Needless to add that I have been through all that has already been so eloquently written vide supra. At the same time, I do agree the call rates are really attractive, so I would use Airtel so long Reliance does not bring theirs at par if not necessarily equal. No wonder Bharti, the parent company of Airtel also happens to be a partner with Walmart. They need to carefully look into the history of Walmart: cheap deals don’t necessarily attract people, while every bad experience repels customers forever.
December 21, 2006 at 10:38 am |
I don’t understand what the entire fuss is all about. Was eagerly anticipating the Airtel Call home service before launch and i am happy to say it did not dissappoint. The call quality is far better than on Reliance (and i have had a lot of experience there).
I have read a lot about people saying it’s access no. was busy all the time…don’t know how much of that is actually true as neither i nor a friend of mine (He’s also just started using this service) have faced this problem. I am sure this would have been a perfect case of Network getting choked with lots of people trying the service at the same time (Lets face it..lots of people are excited about this service). I am sure the small niggling problems will get sorted out in the next few days.
Overall i think Airtel has really done a commendable job by taking Reliance head on in this product. Things are only bound to get better for customers like us.
December 21, 2006 at 10:42 am |
[…] Now, that is pretty hard for reliance india call loyalists to switch. Even though I want to thank airtel for bringing in the price war, I am still mad at the way they have launched their service without proper testing. […]
December 21, 2006 at 10:49 am |
Jasdeep,
Yeah, we have grouped together and running a big conspiracy against airtel to say that their number is busy falsely, we all work for reliance, so we say bad stories about Airtel.
/* End sarcasm */
On a serious note though, If you are enjoying their service today, it is because so many of us have gone through the pain and tried our best to bring it to their knowledge. Their website
hasmight have been fixed recently (not for me, I still have problems registring numbers, looking at balance, seeign call history, OK what else works properly probably recharging, sure bet I wont try that), but not sure if their customer service is still up. If you are enjoying their service, I am happy for you 🙂December 22, 2006 at 2:56 am |
Hi its good to know that so many of us have gone for the service. i have not faced any difficulty except that the 1st time i went to the website it was slow for around 2 mins. Otherwise its been a smooth ride. I think Indias no 1 telecom company would respond fast and remove your concerns. Its definately better than reliance.
December 22, 2006 at 8:36 am |
Airtel is doomed!! All the money they spent on marketing, infrastructure, everything down the drain…
I just got an e-mail from Reliance saying they slashed the price to 7.9Cents AND they are giving double talk time till Jan 30. I absolutely have no reason to try airtel again!
Imagine how much Airtel would have paid Sharukh and how much they would have paid for airtime on all those hindi channels. If they would have spent a fraction of it on quality/load testing, they would have been soo much better off…
December 25, 2006 at 3:08 pm |
Are you guys really mad on the AIRTEL. We need to thank these guys for bringing a price war with reliance. They been ripping us for the last 3 years were they had taxes and all the nonsense in the world to jack up the price.
There was some initial hickups in the AIRTEL service, now the christmas weekend supposed to be a busy one, i did not had any problem. I am going to stick with thse guys. We need competition and need to support AIRTEl in this early days.
After all they know more telecom business than RELIANCE with 30 million customers back home…. 🙂
December 27, 2006 at 7:32 pm |
I HATE Airtel with a passion. They wouldn’t register my phone number, I cannot get through to their customer service, and I’ve protested the charge on my credit card.
I got suckered by their CHristmas time commercials on ZEE and SONY for the US market.
As of Dec 27th, I am still out the 5 bucks I’ve spent on my credit card.
All I can thank Airtel for is the response from Reliance to reduce their price to match Airtel rates.
Reliance has been phenomenally smooth to use – voice quality, customer service, web site service etc.
These guys undoubtedly know how to run a US quality business – probably because Anil graduated from Wharton ?
I HATE AIRTEL ! THEY SUCK ! THEY ARE THIEVES !! THEY ARE INCOMPETENT ! THEY ARE $%^*@&*%&*
December 28, 2006 at 6:05 am |
I am planning to file a consumer fraud complaint agnist Bharti with NY state attorney.
December 28, 2006 at 9:31 pm |
In just the past decade, the phone card industry has mushroomed to a $4 billion industry with an estimated 500 million cards sold last year alone. Pre-paid phone cards offer convenience for travelers and access to generally economical telecommunications prices for those consumers without telephone service in their homes. However, there are things to consider when purchasing a pre-paid phone card.
Beware of Extremely Low Rate Cards: If you are buying a prepaid calling card from an unfamiliar company, buy the minimum denomination and try it. Because some companies advertise rates as low as 1? per minute, this way you should be able to spot surcharges and hidden costs before you spend a lot of money.
Before you purchase a prepaid telephone card, carefully read the card and its package very closely for the following fees and surcharges:
Connection Fee: Many cards charge at least 50? for connection and in some cases even more each time you make a call.
Pay Phone Surcharge: Many cards charge an additional fee of at least 50? per call for each call made from a pay phone.
International Surcharge: Many cards charge an additional fee of up to $3.00 for each international call.
Taxes: Many cards levy an additional surcharge of up to 25% per call for “taxes.”
“Maintenance Fees”: Some cards charge a weekly “maintenance fee” after the card is first used. If you use the card only occasionally, this fee can add up.
Rounding: Most cards round up a call to the next minute. Some cards use six minute rounding. This means a one minute call will be charged as a six minute call.
How to Shop for a Prepaid Calling Card
Many prepaid phone cards do not disclose enough information, especially information about their actual rates which is necessary to enable consumers to make informed purchasing decisions.
Cards that charge very low per minute rates (1?- 4.9?) but high surcharges may still be a reasonable value if you make calls of 10-15 minutes each.
If you anticipate using the card to make calls under 10 minutes, cards that charge a higher per minute rate (9.9? and up) but do not have surcharges are probably the better deal.
Those who expect to use pay phones should be careful to look for cards that don?t surcharge for this service.
Although many prepaid phone cards make express promises of substantial savings, many fail to disclose the basis of the claimed savings.
The quality of the service provided can vary dramatically among prepaid phone cards. Some cards provide excellent service. With others, consumers may encounter trouble connecting to calls or with the quality of the call. Still others charge for uncompleted calls or turn out not to work at all.
There are also significant differences in the features provided by prepaid phone cards. Before buying a prepaid calling card, consider how you will use the card. Some cards provide no extra features, while others provide consumers with such benefits as the ability to proceed in different languages, speed dialing, the ability to be recharged to add additional value and protection against loss.
Additional benefits often come at a price. The more features a prepaid phone card has and the more information it provides its users, the more expensive it tends to be.
Questions or complaints about pre-paid phone cards or its posters or advertisements should be directed to the Attorney General?s consumer help line at (800) 771-7755.
December 29, 2006 at 9:45 am |
@Nyesi: Airtel is good back home? At least 3 years back when I used to use them, they sucked BIIIIIG time. Their customer service has always been pathetic, so has their billing. Their Indian website had more holes than a block of swiss cheese!
I have used both Reliance and Airtel back in India and also in the US, and across the globe, they are not even in the same league.
Are you having some kind of misconception about the number of satisfied customers reliance has in India v/s the number airtel has?
December 31, 2006 at 10:11 am |
I am very happy that Airtel has launched this service coz Reliance has reduced the rates. I read all the nasty reviews of Airtel and dared to call their customer service. To my disappointment (!!!) I got connected the first time. I called their toll number to see if that would’nt work but that did too (around 10am Dec 31 PST). I guess based on your reviews Airtel guys have done some damage control but I still did not register with them. I think I will give them a month to stabilise and then register. Competition is always good for the consumer and may the price war continue into the new year. Wishing everybody a very Happy New Year
December 31, 2006 at 11:43 am |
Hey Desidude.. How are you able to connect ? are you using any different number than their toll free shown in the website ? I am too in the PST zone , I enrolled an hour ago and I am trying to call the access number and the customer service , both show a busy tone.. I never thought Airtel is so dumb and crappy .. I have sent several complaint emails to them..
Had I checked the reviews on the net, I would have never enrolled in it..
I was a big fan of Airtel in my college days in India.. This service sucks.. Those who have not enrolled , BEWARE !! Before enrolling , Just try to call their customer service and you will know what we mean…. I shall be disputing this transaction with my Credit card company and shall take my money back..
DUMB ASS AIRTEL.. !! THEY REALLY SUCK @#%
December 31, 2006 at 11:58 am |
Also, I hated the Reliance’s fking british accent at the start of the call and easy dial number notworking sometimes.. I expected airtel would be very intelligent, smart and provide excellent service in these areas…
Now I have to admit , Reliance is far far better.. I paid $50 to airtel enrolment and still cant make a call to India (through Airtel ) yet.. This is very disappointing . If Anybody knows airtel managements’ emails , please post in this forum.. Lets all (atleast registered airtel users ) complain the management.
January 10, 2007 at 12:47 pm |
Fellow customers, Be careful with the double talk-time offer with Reliance. I neither love or hate Reliance (nor Airtel). But their competitive offer for Airtel’s double talk-time is bogus or misleading at-least.
Only for $5 recharges you get double talktime. For $10/$25, $50, $100 & $200 recharges you only get $5, $10, $15, & $20 worth of free talk time. They falsely claim it as double talk-time in their email, but read their fine-print at their website shows ‘the devil in details’.
I would use both airtel (for non-peak & leisurely calls from home) and
reliance (for urgent, backup or convenience calling – say from cellphone
while driving).
January 14, 2007 at 12:28 pm |
Dont go crazy with airtels offer of double talk time for making calls to India. They cahrged me twice and when i tried to contact i have hard time to resolve the issue. Their website doesnt work all the time. Your account will be blocked for unknown reasons. inspite of their poor services they will not refund your money back. They give only 50%. This is teh fate of our companies . Inspite of their failures they want to have peoples money.
When contacted the higher official also says that there will be no 100% refund. They want to make only 50% refund. They know that their services were poor but it is their companies policy to take 50% of people money for their failures even people want to opt out of that.
My request just trust reliance. No more airtel.Just pay little more.But get good services.
February 9, 2007 at 8:13 am |
This is services full of problems. My suggestion is never user Airtel calling card. Neither is there network good not they know how to resolve problem. There callling system is also pathetic and keeps repeating options.
Worst service i have ever experienced.
February 13, 2007 at 8:53 pm |
AIRTEL CALL HOME IS A FRAUD. DO NOT USE IT.
Hi Airtel is a complete Fraud.
1) Very poor customer service
2) Fraudulent Accounting practices
They gave double talk time to begin with, but soon i found that for every call they were charging me twice. I have logged a complaint number 325500 with airtel. I cant believe i switched from Reliance.
The customer service told me that they see the double charges but that is due to some missing calls from the system. FRAUD again.
AIRTEL CALL HOME IS A FRAUD. DO NOT USE IT.
I AM GOING TO STICK TO RELIANCE.
February 19, 2007 at 3:09 pm |
I used virtual CC number which they can use only one time so payment/recharge issue. Took a while before numbers were registered. I have using AIRTEL for last 2 months it is getting better. It is worth if you qualify for double talk offer (4 cents /minute NOT Bad). Otherwise Reliance still better. Still after 2 months Website SUCKS!!. For new customers it’s not advisable to join AIRTEL.
We need to give AIRTEL credit for bring rate down which Reliance had monopoly. Still Reliance is playing cat and mouse game, Initially they offered double talk time but pulled out abruptly knowing AIRTEL has problem.
I don’t know why AIRTEL can’t fix the website issue? It’s totally disastrous for them.
So lets enjoy the better rates!!
March 19, 2007 at 7:43 am |
the most sucking network in mumbai is airtel.. in the evening very difficult to get even ther f u c k i n g call centre.
March 30, 2007 at 6:19 am |
we have want to register my airtel post paid user name and password
April 19, 2007 at 4:39 am |
Hi,
I have been an Airtel user for the last 5 years and have even signed up for the Post Paid payment scheme for the next 3 years. Since I have already paid the money, I will stick to Airtel for the next 3 years. Every month I get a bill of approximately Rs.1000+ and make payments duly. This time, as I was out of station the bill payment went overdue and I made a cheque payment on the 17th of April,2007 at the Times of India office dropbox. On the 19th of April, my phone was disconnected due to non-payment of cheque. I tried calling up the call centre only to face 2 discourteous staff ( Mr. Mohinder and Mr. Sundeep/Pradeep). Mr. Mohinder tried to put me off by assuring me that he had registered my complaint. But when I asked for the complaint number, he could not provide any. Next he spent some 20 minutes in questioning me about the cheque and finally said that he would reactivate my number for atleast 24 hours.
When, by evening, my number had still not been activated, I encountered Mr. Sandeep/Pradeep at the call centre. He curtly told me that it was ‘my fault’ that I had made the cheque payment and that the service would not be activated. Such extreme discourtsy makes me rethink my decision of sticking to Airtel. I do not even know if any one will be actually reading this, but if this is the level of service you provide, then your customer base will hardly be what it is today. Then dont blame the customers.
May 8, 2007 at 4:57 am |
I agree they have the worst service in the world
their service sucks . .promises always unkept . . and more promises to fulfill the promises and even they are left undone.
website is so slow looks like the top management themselves physical load the data when you log on and man arent they sllow in typing
May 9, 2007 at 5:27 pm |
I agree completely to the fact that Airtel Service sucks , big time…now that Reliance has matched their rate to Airtel, I myself see no point in going thro’ the Airtel frustration and I have stopped using Airtel and switched back to Reliance…may be one day Airtel will be at par with Reliance or even better but until then, I am with Reliance…
June 1, 2007 at 11:30 pm |
Airtel Call home really Sucks!!
Even I agree that they have the worst service in the world
their service sucks….really sucks big time… now even their latest Summers Shower offer is super flop. Since the day they announced, their website is down and not workin. website is so slow looks like the top management themselves physical load the data when you log on. Even when one tries calling their Customer care number they never respond.
If this will be the level of service they give Soon they should pack their bags & move. Seems they r having hard times as reliance India Call has come up with many new offers and with quality Service & nominal rates.
I feel airtel is finding difficult to cope with Reliance as it has matched their rate to Airtel, I myself see no point in going thro’ the Airtel frustration and I have stopped using Airtel and switched back to Reliance…
June 1, 2007 at 11:32 pm |
Airtel Sucks———Reliance Rocks!!
What kind of service Airtel is providing they ONLY know…….bcoz their website never works…..their customer care numbr doesnt work…..they dont revert to E-mails…..you can not get through numbers…..lines always busy…..they charge you extra…..they give no offers…..even wen you fulfill all conditions….So I Have pretty much given up on AirTel Call home & now Started using Reliance back. For the last couple of weeks been very delighted to use Reliance…….need not to bother much & good easy connectivity!!
I for one though will never use AirTel again!
June 1, 2007 at 11:34 pm |
Pathetic simply Pathetic!!!
This is what i would call Airtel callhome service. Ever since they launched they seems to have one or the other problem. Even now on their new Summer Showers Offer…they have proven themselves NUTs……there site is down from last 4-5 days & they dont respond to phone calls/emails. Their customer care no is always busy. That junk of webpages which they call as website is fully broken and too slow…it never works!! Don’t go with Airtel.
I feel Reliance India call is much better….No issues with reliance…..Had been using it for more than an year. They have also slashed thier prices. More important I heard that they are bringing some offers very soon.
June 2, 2007 at 2:13 am |
Again A poor Show by Airtel India call – Summer Shower Offers Flops
Recently i came to know about Airtel Summer Shower Offers. THey mailed all their registered Customers but the truth is that to reach them REGISTER Or RECHARGE neither their website is working (down from last 5 days……nor their toll free number works……i m trying to contact them but even after dialing thir nos hundreds of time they dont respond…lines always busy………..a very poor show by airtel once again…..
Airtel guys are Loosers…….
September 2, 2007 at 11:09 pm |
Hi,
PLEASE! PLEASE!! PLEASE!!! Don’t go for AIRTEL because I am suffering a lot. I just want ot use GPRS facility which is Rs. 12 per day. there are many flaws in their system.
1. u can not deactvated it before 24 Hrs. if u want ot use it just for a day then u have to pay Rs. 24.
It’s huge wake up AIRTEL people b’caz IDEA is giving GPRS just for Rs.5/- Per day.
2. They created a flaw in deactivating GPRS system so u will easily activate GPRS but can’t
deactivate it by sending SMS so they will deduct u r AMT. forcefully.
3. STAFF is so arrogant & not co-operative they will not solve u r any problem.
if u want ot have a experience the pl. visit @ Vega Centre, pune. u will have a worst experience.
4. I know 100’s of people who are get cheated by AIRTEL.
5. I think AIRTEL management hired the full STAFF from SLUM area.
September 12, 2007 at 9:56 am |
Hi,
I signed up with Airtel just when they offered their service. The price was great. The website was bad. It did not let me register my cellphone, still I went ahead and in general found the call quality not bad and I liked the fact that airtel customers back home did not get taxed on their airtime when I called, but that was it. Every time I tried to recharge it was a huge hassle as I had to re-enter all my credit card details to do that and then they came up with the auto recharge option and I though OK they got it under control, but no that was the start of my trouble. The auto-recharge never worked and than on top of it, neither did the manual recharge. I called customer service almost twice a week for 6 weeks hoping that they fix it. Every time the answer was that they are escalating the issue and that it will be fixed in 24hrs. Finally I got frustrated and cancelled my account. Thankfully I was not foolish enough to cancel my Reliance account all the while and that has been working like a charm. If the management of airtel does not wake up at this rate, they will have to forget their call home service.
September 13, 2007 at 12:12 pm |
Airtell sucks —-
Agree. Airtel really sucks and is not worth it. Better pay a little high to reliance and other companies to get a good quality service and without bothering to followup with airtel customer care and your credit card company.
Airtel does not have capacity to handle such consumer base and they never try to improve. Customer care would say trust me in 24 hours you would get the rpoblem resolved and since each new day brings another 24 hours with it , their 24 hour never comes to end. OR may be they want us to call anytime other than between 12:00:00:001 and 23:59:59:999 .
This company really sucks and wastes a lot of time for all of us.
September 17, 2007 at 11:16 am |
Hi Guys,
What can I do to make a complaint on them. Where to do and how to do. Can anyone assist me?
I really wanna do it. Please assist.
Thanks in advance
December 29, 2007 at 2:13 pm |
i had given a required for cancellation of edge services 28.12, it have been three days till now the services are active
Firstly they gave me wrong
information, that my handset is compatible with edge, but later when i not getting the speed of edge they say that my hansed is not compatible
I have been calling the customer care for the same, now that they have blocked my calls
A person calls up customer care again-n-again only when he is having some problem or when the problem is not rettfird that does not mean u block the call of ur customers. An customer any call the care reppedly if he is not been proper services
August 7, 2008 at 11:47 am |
AIRTEL SUCKS BIG TIME AND REQUEST PEOPLE TO GO FOR ANY OTHER SERVICE PROVIDE BUT NOT AIRTEL..THEY HIRE ILLITERATE CUSTOMER SERVICE AGENTS TO ATTEND TO CALLS WHO ABRUTLY DISCONNECT CALLS WHEN THEY DONT FEEL LIKE ANSWERING OR WHEN THEY DONT UNDERSTAND THE QUERY OR COMPLAINT. MAINLY ITS THE UNDERSTANDING PART. IM SO FRUSTRATED THAT I HAVE TO WRITE IN BOLD HERE TO MAKE IT EVIDENT FOR PEOPLE TO SEE.
AGAIN AIRTEL SUCKS BIG TIME..
August 31, 2008 at 5:19 pm |
If you are looking for alternet service provider. try http://www.dial91.com
September 14, 2008 at 7:37 am |
Well the reason why I am sending you this comments is just to share my bad experiece with airtel customer service and I would like to take your kind attention towards their irresponsible/fraud attitude.
From Sept 5 -08 morning onwards I was not able to make any calls to india from any of the phone number from US through airtel eventhough I have sufficent balance.I called airtel customer service(877-247-5150) on the same day twice for telling the same issue and the executive who handled my case told they opened a ticket for the same and will be solving the issue within 24 hours and I will be getting the call within that period.More over the executive told they will be sending this ticket number/status to my EmailID which I updated in my profile and more over he collected the same on the same call ,unfortunately I didn’t get any calls/mails till saturday Sept 6-08 till evening 6PM and I called the same customer service number asking about the status..The executive to whom I spoke on saturday told still 6 more hours left for solving that and the ticket is still open.I waited till sunday moring Sept07-08 by thinking they will be resolving the issue.Unfortunately I didnt get any updates either through phone / mail.
Finally I decided to close my account and I don’t want to continue the relation with airtel call home,before closing that ticket I asked the executive to pass the phone to any of his manager/supervisor and you know what how the executive replied “There is no manager/supervisor on the Floor”.I really fed up with their services ,then I came to know how importance they are giving to customers.
When I asked the status of my ticket(Close account) after 8 days the same executive team told account is still active but they block my account by keeping some of my money.If we are closing our account then that is their responsiblity to close our entire account information then and there and refund whatever balances we have till that date instead they are showing their fraud attitude.
So I would recommend you guys is think twice before you are proceding with airtel..They will cheat you …
October 22, 2008 at 7:58 pm |
I have been using Airtelcallhome service over reliance India call for all my international calls because I can not only call India but UK and other international countries too. MY account has been blocked since Sept 15 2008 and now it’s been over a month that I have been trying to unblock my account. I have called the Airtel customer service more than a dozen times just to get account reopened. Airtel works on “INDIAN STANDARD TIME”, always LATE. If they said they will call me in 12 hrs to verify my account details it will take them more than 24 hrs to reach me. If they say they will resolve the issue in 48 hrs, expect NOTHING will get done. Every time the customer service apologizes to me for the inconvenience, but no apologies are good if my account is not UNBLOCKED. The first few weeks I waited around for Airtel, I didn’t not get to call home, Finally I switched to RELIANCE. I am still in the process to unblock my account for the past couple of weeks. I demanded my REMAINING BALANCE on the account and tried to close my account. They told me it will take A WEEK TO REFUND my money but it has been over four weeks and still the status of my account is same as the day one of my complaint “BLOCKED”. On top of that, HOW DARE they call me for promotional offers “YOU HAVE BEEN SELECTED FOR blah blah blah..” after what they did. I use to spend at least $50-$100 per month making calls all over the world with Airtel, and now they have lost a loyal customer. I would recommend others to not use Airtelcallhome service because of the experience I have been through, “DON’T WASTE YOUR MONEY ON AIRTELCALLHOME”.
October 23, 2008 at 12:25 pm |
Dear Friend i have gone through same problems. dont even ask the details. i have shifted back to Reliance and am ver happy with their service. Now they have even slashed their rates up to 30% on some tariffs.
guys check their website relianceindiacall.com
October 28, 2008 at 6:48 pm |
I am sure that there are plenty of positives out there, but what have you seen for yourself? I want to improve my regular logic Oh, good joke) What’s a chimney sweep’s most common ailment? The flue.
October 31, 2008 at 1:44 am |
if you ask me ,reliance calling card is the best one around.have been using it for one year now and i get good voice quality,fast connections,and virtually zero call drops.i learnt that they slashed their effective calling rates this festive season to about 5.9 cents/min and are also giving away 120 mins free talktime to all their customers.Makes sense to go for it.
November 23, 2008 at 11:52 pm |
Hey guys, I am in Singapore and I need to call my parents in INDIA on daily basis. SO i got registred on the website of Airtel Call home as it was giving me very good offers .and didn’t face any prob while registering and got my PIN easliy. After using airtel I’d say Airtel Sound quality is best and their rates are cheaper when compared . So I would recommend Airtel is the best for calling someone you want to..
December 3, 2008 at 4:16 pm |
As if bad services was not enough, Airtel will eat up all your balance if you don’t service for a bit… Cheats.
December 4, 2008 at 9:00 am |
Airtel Sucks…. these beggars steel money from your account. Customer Care worst than automated system. They are very rude. One of the situation is that if there is no activity for 6 months on the account, the disable the account and take the balance to party. Funny thing is they say there is no way that they can re-activate the account. The catch is if you do not realize that your account got locked, if you try login online it will let you login and re-charge the account. When you call Customer Care they say that is your fault to recharge. There are no alerts or communication to notify the account status.
Airtel STEELS money they are thieves and beggars.
December 15, 2008 at 5:50 pm |
Airtel has one of the pathetic services I have ever used for calling India. They dont recharge my card saying there is difference in the mailing address, but next day they will recharge it and couple of days later they will express concern that they wont charge it due to difference in mailing address and this has been going for 2 months now, I dont know if someone is going through this issues or not but they r losing business because of their unprofessional attitude.
January 27, 2009 at 1:32 pm |
Airtel is only good at charging your credit cards everything else is a big disappointment…..
February 28, 2009 at 6:56 pm |
Do not use airtel call home, if you do not use for 6 months then they will block the amount though you have much amount in your account. Instead go to reliance or trueroots.
March 17, 2009 at 2:32 pm |
Airtel FOREFIET all your balance amount saying your account is BOLCKED if you do not access for six months. Customer service says my account can be UNBLOCKED by resetting balance to ZERO only and I have signed up with such agreement they have on their web site. I can not understand how just like that they withhold 89 dollars of my money. I guess they don’t have any value to customers and their money. It is ridiculous and CHEETING.
April 8, 2009 at 6:37 am |
I purchase $25 worth min. to call India, after submitting order request, I check my card account and they have debited $110. I immediately call customer services and CSR told me that with in 4-7 days they will reimburse difference. After 7 days they credited $75 to my card. Now do the math. I received $25 + 10% tax = 27.50 ($25 worth min) . They debited $110 ($100 + 10%tax = $110). I got back $75. $110 – $75 = $35 (effectively they charged and I got min. $27.50 = I lost $7.50.)
This is scam. while you purchase there is no review of your order that you can modified. One click and bam they charge what they like.
pl. check this news link for (Bharti stock tanks as CEO sells stake for ‘personal reasons’)
http://news.in.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1942879
Airtellcallhome is run by Bharti telecom India
another “SATYAM” from India? and now They are offering 1cents a min. to call india.
some thing gone wrong with this company. they need money very badly. by hook or crook.
April 26, 2009 at 8:52 am |
I was with reliance for 2 years i never had any problem except for their high rates. So last month after going thorough the stupid 1 cent/min add i decided to join Airtel and i tell you this card ain’t worth shit. Man the service sucks BIG TIME. just to you have to make atleast 5 – 10 attempts to get connected to the local access numbers and the horrible part is that most of the times the call ends up on wrong numbers ( initially i thought it was my fault but it keeps happening very often ) and the quality is no were near the reliance services i am shifting back with my old services screw “AIRTEL” bunch of jerks.
August 8, 2009 at 8:26 am |
If you think Airtel sucks, wait till you see these URL’s. They’re BBB’s pages on Airtel. On the second link, you’ll see that the majority of the customer complains were regarding billing and collection issues.
http://www.bbb.org/new-york-city/business-reviews/telephone-service-long-distance/bharti-airtel-usa-limited-in-brooklyn-ny-93695/
October 7, 2009 at 11:01 am |
Airtelcallhome sucks your money. Their customer sevice is rude.
December 11, 2009 at 10:16 pm |
Great .. really great matter. I’m goin to blog about it also!
March 10, 2010 at 2:52 pm |
The same thing happened with me. Account blocked and balance set to ZERO for not using their services for 6 months.
This is unfair and unethical.
I’ve raised a complaint with their customer care. Lets see what happens.
Keeping my expectations low as even the standards of their customer care have fallen a lot as compared to 3-4 years back.
March 19, 2010 at 9:35 pm |
I have a special experience with these guys. Blood suckers. They send me a email saying that if i recharge there account by 19 march, they we give me 10% extra minutes. I did so on 19th March at 3:30 EST. I was not given the offer. When i called, they said that its 1:00 A.M. and 20th March according to India time. So the offer canot be offered to me. The point to be noted here is that they have not mentioned the same in the email. I suppose they expect us to follow India clock in US. They say that they canot do anything about it. When i called there call center, they were very rude. And said, do whatever you u like but it is this way only.
I can sum it up as that Airtel has ways to go and learn for mature markets like USA.
PS: I m not writing about the quality as all that is covered in earlier reviews.
May 31, 2010 at 6:45 pm |
Just to add one more star to customer service approach. I just put the receiver down after dealing with these cheaters, they charged me for three transactions and refused to refund me for two. They kept me promising they are going to refund me. Today, they said sorry they can’t refund for two transaction but will refund for one. This complaint was raised in month of March.
I had worst experience while dealing with Airtel customer service.
November 27, 2010 at 3:50 am |
DEAR SIR
I AM SANDEEP FROM GURGAON. I USED AIRTEL SERVICE LAST 6 YEARS. MY NO IS 9818666980. THIS PHONE IS MY COMPANY NAME MK HOMES,105 VASHIESHT COMPLEX SIKENDERPUR GURGAON(HARYANA) LAST MONTH IN 11OCTOBER 2010 I HAVE TAKE A NEW NO(9818666990)POST PAIN NO FROM URS D .S.A UDYOG VIHAR PHASE-4 FROM MR VIPEN OR MR KAMAL HIS NO IS 9650096200. . I GIVE HIM ALL DOCUMENT. HE HAS REQUIRED.BUT NOW IS 27/11/2010. MY NO IS NOT ACTIVE.WHNE I CALL MY VIPIN OFR COMPLAIN HE DID NOT PICK MY PHONE.
BUT IN 27/11/2010 IN AFTER NOON I RECEIVE A CALL FROM MS. SHRUTI. HE OFFER ME SAME NO.
SIR HOW IS POSSIBLE U SALE ONE NO TWO TIME.
WHO OFFER ME THIS IS HIS ADDRESS IS
Mr VIRIN SHARMA
MS SHURTI/9971114408
SHARMA COMMINUICATION
H-8 DECS PLAZA ROOM NO 208 NETHANI SUBASH PLACE PRITAM PUR DELHI-34;
I HAVE COMPLAIN IN MAY TIME YOUR CUSTOMER CARE. BUT NO ANY PROGRESS. WHEN I TELL THE COMPLAIN NO THE GUY WHO TALK ME FROM CUSTOMER CARE REFUSED .NO COMPLAIN IS THER
I HAVE SOME COMPLAIN NO.
34321754
34454662/ THE GIRL NAME-OMA
34497037
SIR. IF U BEHAVE LIKE THIS FOR CUSTOMER.HOW CAN WE ATTACH AIRTEL.
PLEASE CUNFIRM ME. HOW CAN U HELP ME
THANKS
SANDEEP
9818666980
July 27, 2011 at 4:06 am |
child minding…
Airtel Call Home sucks « Let’s think…
July 27, 2011 at 4:20 am |
Nice post! GA é também o meu maior ganho. No entanto, não é uma coisa.
April 6, 2012 at 10:15 am |
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