Consumer court slaps Rs 50k fine on Airtel on complaint of retd Wing Commander in Hyd

A bench comprising Hyderabad District Consumer Commission-1 chairperson B Umavenkata Subbalakshmi and member C Lakshmiprasanna, which examined the precedents of the case, found that the negligence of Airtel Company was apparent and ordered to rectify the erroneous bill and pay Rs 50,000 compensation within 45 days.

Hyderabad: A consumer court in Hyderabad imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on telecom company Airtel for "negligently" billing a man with a whopping Rs 1,41,770 for international roaming. Retired Wing Commander Samar Chaktravarthi, who resides at the JalVayu towers in the Lower Tank Bund in Hyderabad, and his wife wanted to go to the Bahamas. He approached Bharti Airtel for international roaming services. Samar said he told Airtel's service center staff in Begumpet that he had been using the postpaid service since 2014.

The staff, as per Samar, told him that the network will work in the Bahamas if he uses the America Plan-B service. Samar reached New Jersey on June 27th, 2018, and recharged the sim with the said plan of Rs 3,999+Rs 149 pack. While he got the message that 500 outgoing calls, 5GB of data, unlimited SMS, and incoming calls are applicable for the pack, Samar complained to the service center that he had been repeatedly disconnected from receiving international roaming services several times since the new plan was activated.

To his utter shock, Samar received a message saying the bill was Rs 1,41,770 upon arrival in Nassau, Bahamas. He said he contacted the service center again but was surprised to find that the plan did not work. He said it was only after the Airtel Service providers' recommendation did he take the plan while accusing them of negligence.

While Airtel said that it will deduct some of the bill amounts, a bench comprising Hyderabad District Consumer Commission-1 chairperson B Umavenkata Subbalakshmi and member C Lakshmiprasanna, which examined the precedents of the case, found that the negligence of Airtel Company was apparent and ordered to rectify the erroneous bill and pay Rs 50,000 compensation within 45 days. Failure to do so will result in payment of 12% interest amount, the court warned.