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Inflated mobile phone bill costs Airtel dear

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Tribune News Service

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Panchkula, December 11

Sending inflated bills proved costly to a telecommunication company when the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum directed it to compensate the complainant with Rs 10,000 and refund the excess money charged.

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The forum comprising its president Dharampal and members Anita Kapoor and SP Attri also asked the company to pay Rs 5,000 to the complainant against litigation cost.

The complainant, Sanjiv Goyal, a resident of Sector 15, submitted before the forum that he had been using mobile phone services of Bharti Airtel since 2012. The complainant visited the USA from July 6 to July 24, 2015. While he was abroad, he received a call for 15 minutes and the expected cost of the call was around Rs 1,300, the complainant stated. On the contrary, he received an SMS that he would be charged Rs 3,640 for the said call. After this, he got the international roaming service de-activated through his wife. The next day, on July 14, he received an SMS at 8.44 am regarding de-activation of international roaming. However, he received a message on the same day at 2.55 pm mentioning a voice call bill for Rs 5,725.

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The complainant wrote a letter to the company in this regard and got a reply that the final bill would be sent after adjusting discount as applicable. 

On reaching India, the complainant received the final bill of Rs 3,300, which included Rs 1,350 for an international incoming call and Rs 175 for 7 SMSs sent to the helpline number 121 on July 13.

The complainant paid the bill under protest. 

Moreover, on July 25, Goyal visited a dealer of the company at Delhi and lodged a complaint that his number was not working and he learnt that the SIM had developed a fault and needed to be replaced, which would take three days. On July 29, the complainant deposited the SIM along with the necessary documents with the dealer but he received the SIM only after 10 days on August 7. He requested the company to ensure that the bill was raised on pro rata basis by not charging him for the period, July 28 to August 6, when the service was not active. Despite this, he was sent a bill of Rs 1,159 for the full month. 

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