The woman named Neha Sinha shared her experience on X.
Neha clarified that she hadn’t travelled outside India, ruling out any need for international roaming charges.
In a recent incident, concerns have been raised regarding the practices of a telecom company. One Delhi-based woman, writer by profession, named Neha Sinha shared this shocking news on social media. While on a visit to Bihar, Neha was surprised to receive a message from Airtel, presenting a bill of Rs 1 lakh and an immediate suspension of all her services. Despite Neha’s attempts to communicate with the company, her services remained unavailable for two hours. Neha Sinha, who went to the border area of Valmiki Nagar in Bihar, shared on social media her worry about high charges labelled as international roaming. Neha clarified that she hadn’t travelled outside India, ruling out any need for international roaming charges.
The caption of her post read, “A scary scam! Airtel sent me a roaming bill of Rs 1 lakh while I was in Valmiki Nagar, Bihar. I’m an Indian woman born on Indian soil. I don’t have any outstanding bills. Airtel has stopped all my services and left me stranded in this remote area,” stated Neha on Twitter.
Neha appealed to the Department of Telecommunications and Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav. She highlighted the potential danger for a woman when services are abruptly halted without warning. She accused Airtel of issuing a false bill, and charging roaming and international fees, despite her never having travelled abroad.
Airtel allegedly asked Sinha to pay Rs 1,792 for SIM restoration. She criticised the customer service for a passive-aggressive tone. Commenters suggested such issues are common in border areas and advised Sinha to file a complaint with the consumer court.
I must emphasise here that when I called Airtel they asked me to pay 1792 rupees “if” I wanted my sim restored.Why was it cut in the first place? I have no answers. Not to mention the tone is passive aggressive. Like it’s my fault. Well sister it’s not my fault. It’s yours.
— Neha Sinha (@nehaa_sinha) December 7, 2023
This is a common issue in border areas. Indeed a scam, since their network never catches signals in areas where Jio or Vodafone works, but catches international signals when the phone is in India. Would advise you to put a consumer case against them and also claim for harrasment— RDx (@rdrakesh) December 6, 2023
Neha Sinha has expressed serious concerns and is considering legal action against Airtel. Her worry is not just the Rs 1 lakh bill but the sudden suspension of her services within two hours, particularly in a remote area, which posed a potential safety risk for her.
Airtel issued an apology to Neha, following her experience. The telecom company’s customer care handle responded to her thread on Twitter, stating, “Accept our apologies for the hassle, Neha. Kindly share your respective Airtel number via DM so that we can quickly look into this.”
Source: News18