This was a incident that occupied our mind for a long long time and caused us a lot of mental trauma. I guess, had it been any other country, the telephone company would have got sued.
One day, when we checked our broadband usage, we saw it was Rs.6000/- We didnt have time for a week to go to the office to register a complaint. As the office was close to mine, i went to complain and the person told me that the bill was not 6000/- and that the bill was Rs.20000/-I was shocked.
Well, i guess instead of typing the whole story, i will copy paste the letter George sent BSNL.
11/03/08
From
George Koshi
**********
***********
Chennai – ******
To
GM – Chennai Telephones
Dear Sir
Sub: Excess metering for Broadband Connection telephone No: *******– Consumer Number: **********
With reference to the above mentioned telephone number, we have received a bill dated 10/02/2008, amounting to Rs.23984.00.
Please note that the complaint letters have been given to the AO, the AGM, the DGM-Finance, on 7/2/08, 12/2/08 and 3/3/08, respectively. We gave the first letter on seeing the billed internet usage, in the BSNL site. The letter that was handed to the AO was collected and given to AGM on 12/2/08. As in the previous letters, I would like to present the issue again.
This telephone was installed on 17th of December 2007; the telephone was dead for over 40-45 days in the first two month on and off. I tried calling up the automatic complaint registry and the message we received was that our telephone number did not exit. At that point in time, we had already received and paid our first bill. I have called up 1500 a number of times and registered complaints, which they informed was manual entries of complaints and that the fault would be rectified. Only after my spouse came to your office and met the Junior Technical Officer and the Accounts Officer, did the line become functional.
In the meanwhile, one day when the phone was dead, I checked our internet usage amount from the data.bsnl.in site. The ID for usage check I had procured with great difficulty from the 1500 office. We were shocked to see a billing amount of Rs.6000.00 (Earlier the data.bsnl.in site used to reflect the cost for usage too) We stopped using the net then on.
My wife came to your office on 7 /2 /2008, to complain about the dead phone as well as the excess billing of internet usage. She was further shaken, when the AOTR told her that the internet billing due was Rs. 20000.00.
Sir, I can reassure you that we are aware of uploading and downloading data from the net and its consequences. Both of us work at office that provides us with free internet access. Furthermore, my company has provided me with a laptop with a Reliance connection (free) too.
I can assure you that we have not used the internet to this extend as my wife and me are aware of the Rs.250/ month plan we are in. We have also used your services previously, for confirmation where you can check the usage of the ******* number, where we have used the internet facility under the same plan (At that time the download limit was 400 mb and we never crossed the 400 mb limit).
In the mean while on 3/3/08, we met the AGM – Finance and he directed me to the AGM - Technical who put me to the AOTR-II who put me to the AO, again advising to issue the provisional bill. We have received the second shock at that point of time where she said that the broadband usage for the month of February was approximately 35 GB download. We have not switched on the modem and the computer for the whole of February month.
We met the CRO South after meeting the AOTR and in his presence we have changed the broadband password. (The facility to change this password was not available early)
We have been meeting a lot of your officers in your office, in this regard from February. Even today I called up the CRO and was told to call the AE and the AE directed me to call the AO, who never picked up the line (she could have been busy), but ultimately, I have not met with any success. This issue is us a lot of mental trauma, I request you to kindly use your esteemed office and resolve this issue.
Thank you and Regards,
George Koshi.
CC: DGM – Finance/DGM-C&A- Technical/AOTR-II/CRO-South/AO
We received three bills from BSNL, totalling upto Rs.70000/-. Th downloads were happening at 1 AM / 4AM and in the early morning hours. As a last resort, we went and met the GM. The lady told us that she would check and let us know. A few days later when i called, she asked me if i had been to Calcutta (A city in the East of India) or if i knew anyone from Calcutta. I didnt know anyone... She told me that our username and password was used by someone there. Well they waived off the whole amount and we just had to pay the rent. An ordeal.
I would never forget the stupid AGM - Finance and the AGM- Technical. Customer service a big ZERO. They spoke like we were at fault and we literally walked out of the AGM- Technical's room. And the tech fellow's seceratary.. a real tied up bull dog. She just would not let us in and had to fight our way into his cabin.
All these people in BSNL, are still in the government mindset. They have such huge cabins, with 2 split AC's per room, eating up all the tax payers money. And they love to see people suffer.
