Hello All,
(Sorry for the long post)
I live abroad but I am an airtel user and I keep it active as I need it for OTP purposes and so on.
In February I returned from India and in February the package expired also during the end of February there was no network anymore and signal was lost, so I did a recharge of 4,999 Rupees which is international roaming package with one year validity expecting this could solve the issue. But the network still did not appear.
Upon constant chat messages via their stupid app and multiple calls from my international number they were only misguiding me and always said they will get back to me, but never returned. After month of contacting them more 50-60 times, they finally said the eSIM is broken and I need to get a duplicate PHYSICAL Sim in India. It is total nonsense that you need a new physical sim to fix a eSIM issue and what’s the point of using digital technology then? I had the similar issue with Vodafone and they had just sent me a new eSIM installation process via email and solved it in 20 minutes and all remotely.
Now I said I live in a different country I can’t go to India to get a new Sim card. They said send passport, visa, adhaar, NoC blah blah to your blood relatives and they will get a new duplicate sim card from airtel store. My family members don’t live in India and I do not have anyone else there whom I can trust to give access to my Sim card. And also I believe its a serious Security issue to give access to your sim card to someone else. I told this to them. They said that’s the only way.
I said okay since there is no solution for my problem from your end and you are not offering any service to me for my 5K recharge I need a refund. And they deny to give my money back. First they said they never issue refund of a recharge and they do not have a procedure like this. After asking again they said you can claim refund only with 3 days of recharge. I mean they took one month to figure out the issue. I am only fighting because all my Indian banking, insurances, etc are connected to this number and I am not able to use any banking systems until next year. Everything needs an OTP and I am stuck.
Fun fact: while enquiring about this issue Airtel said you need to update your email id before proceeding and to update email id you need OTP. To receive OTP you need service.
I believe in India there is too much reliance on mobile number with UPI, etc which I believe is a serious bottleneck. These systems should work independent of mobile number in my point of view. Relying on just mobile number is a serious bottleneck of these technologies and I realized it the most. Even to open a complaint in online consumer portal of government it asks for OTP and mandatory Indian mobile number. I believe they are scamming many people by not offering refund when legally applicable.
Did anyone went through something similar?
Thank you