Airtel DTH Broaddaylight Loot-Wants return back everything i purchased!!!

[indiglo]

I'm a subscriber of Airtel DTH service from May 2011,after i purchased a Airtel HD DTH box & registered for their service alongwith my Sony Bravia Lcd tv which i bought ...but since a few months back i was not recharging my account due to various reasons!

Now surprise of surprise, from today morning ,I am getting very intimidating calls from Airtel DTH that they Want everything(the complete setup including rooftop dish,cables,settop box,remote etc) back .As far I know, it was BOUGHT from the Airtel by me and in no ways am I required to give it back to the company if I dont want to use it further. But continuous inappropriate phone call and threatning that company representative would visit my house and take back the equipments is very disturbing. The way they talk is also disgraceful.This is absolutely unprofessional and shady practice by Airtel. I had paid full price for the purchase of the Set Top Box and thus I don't understand the reason for returning the things(the complete setup including rooftop dish,cables,settop box,remote etc) which i brought by my hard earned money ,which they unscrupulously demand me to return back!I am higly disgusted by the fact that such a big company would resort to such a low practice of conning genuine customers.Isn't this corrupt corporate malpractise of higgest order & i'm greatly surprised by the level of impunity they seem to enjoy to continue such gross malpractise unabated.

Is there nothing called "'CONSUMER RIGHTS" in India,are we the consumers always to be taken for grranted & pushed against thee wall? :sad:

I'm very much confused what to do next???

 

[technobhatt]

Very unfortunate that this has occurred to you
I am certain that Airtel is really becoming this kind of company... full of frauds and full of morons!

I know as per their very atomically written terms and conditions, they can take back STB, but logically this is just a way to dupe customers either way, even TRAI doesn't give a damn about this. But I urge you don't return them anything except your thumb impression. This is how these morons need to be treated.

Just tell them you will recharge the STB after sometime and they will stop calling you. (Even if you don't wish to), If they call again or bother you...tell them whatever they are asking back, has gone to ashes.
Don't worry, Airtel can't force you for taking anything back which you have already paid for.

I also own an Airtel DTH connection, but I am using it as of now. But if someday Airtel try to take what I have already paid enough for; I will not hesitate to take them to court.

 

[Rupam]

Although being an Airtel user, it never made me happy. Now its really low of them to ask to return your purchased goods. Just tell them if they continue to call, you are going to inform police.

 

[n_sachin84]

call tv channels

 

[just4kix]

The CPE or customer premise equipment, viz., rooftop dish, lnb, STB, viewing card, etc., all belongs to the DTH provider. This is in the contract. This is true not just for Airtel, but also for DishTv, Tatasky, Videocon d2h, etc. When the contract is over, the DTH company can take back the equipment.

 

[indiglo]

If everything is their property, WTH did i pay the money for BUYING those things ?
So this way or that a customer has to be fleeced right!
Very sad, such oversmart business model are bound to fail sooner or latter,..the customers will be thinking 100 times to enter into & pay for such lopsided & biased anti-customer policies which gives the operator the final edge to snatch all your equipments away!
A very distressing trend indeed,..(if this is set to be the standard model of the DTH industry per se),for duping gullible Indian customers& their fundamental consumer rights!

 

[just4kix]

However, no one should behave rudely with the customer.

 

[just4kix]

If everything is their property, WTH did i pay the money for BUYING those things ?
So this way or that a customer has to be fleeced right!
Very sad, such oversmart business model are bound to fail sooner or latter,..the customers will be thinking 100 times to enter into & pay for such lopsided & biased anti-customer policies which gives the operator the final edge to snatch all your equipments away!
A very distressing trend indeed,..(if this is set to be the standard model of the DTH industry per se),for duping gullible Indian customers& their fundamental consumer rights!

Don't get me wrong. I am also a consumer and I am with you. World over the policy is same - CPE belongs to the provider. The difference is, abroad, CPE is given free, but there is also a long term contract (typically 12 months) that must be signed. Out here, providers claim that they make a loss on the CPE. They claim that the SD STB alone costs them Rs. 4000+. The dish, LNB, Viewing card, administration charges, installation costs, etc. all is over and above. They say that, they give the connection for Rs. 1500 to Rs. 2500. There is nothing to verify the claim.

The question is also, "what will you do with the CPE?". I terminated my dish TV connection 2 years ago. I informed them. They said that I should return the CPE. I said ok but I am not going to go to their office to return their equipment; if they want it, they should come and collect it. None came. The CPE is still with me but it is just adding to the junk in my home. So my take - don't fret, give away the CPE, as it is useless later.

 

[indiglo]

the question is Also Not "what i would do with the CPE?" but more about why would the provider/Airtel forcibly take a option of media-entertainment away from me when i had paid a certain amount of money which i had basically paid in faith that i would be having the minimum option of activating & deactivating the dth service? What if just tomorrow i would have decided to recharge my Airtel dth service again..it makes their case of doing good business with proper ethics all that far remote from a customer mind about Airtel...he would be highly alarmed by such negative developments & stay far away from such unscrupulous operators.


but even if in lieu of my return of the CPE to the provider,if they would returned the money i paid to install & start their service ,i might have welcomed return of the CPE to the provider, but when i hear horror stories of how Airtel fails their own promise & just gives only a damm not even a dime more,after taking away the CPE equipments,i honestly cannot make me believe to return the CPE & accept it as a fair deal....rather feel it as a master plan to their fraud game to cough up money from customers with undue pressure to run their business which simply is Not Happening
Do we need to return Airtel DTH Set top box & remote back to Airtel if not in use

Anyway...whatever they do, first they should have taken customer into confidence before treating them like shit & make them feel like they were crooks who had stole away some airtel equipments from them ! Certainly they feel less responsible to Airtel as a brand ! I am long time "satisfied" customer of post-paid mobile service of Airtel...now what do i feel about them...does it Count...AIR-TELL ?

 

[Rupam]

I used Tata Sky SD in 2009 and 2010 for a brief period od 5-6 months, then I moved to airtel dth because I got the HD DTH free with my Sony Bravia. I never got any calls from Tata Sky and they never wanted the DTH dish back. Its still with me ! along with set top box.
Even if there is a contract of returning the equipment, they make sure that the customer will hardly notice the clause, by fine printing them at the back of the application.
BTW, even if you return your CPE, get a receipt from them that you had returned it. Who know the way the airtel people is behaving, it reminds me of SHYLOCK.

 

[indiglo]

To bring into comparison,i have also got DishTv TruHD service[which i purchased with my Samsung plasma tv]( also which i have Not recharged too for equally long time ),...Though i had certain complaints against their service after which i didn't bother to recharge, but atleast they were good & polite by "NOT" MADLY pursuing their customer to recharge their TruHD DTH service..though they sometimes makes promotional offer calls & sms! Also I have got Tatasky SD service since 2007 ,in my other apartment which mainly remains locked throughout the year(except when once or twice a year when i go & stay there & recharge it) .Except some calls & offers inbetween times ,Tatasky has Never ever bothered to harass their customers..& i have happily been their customer throughout the 8 years of their DTH Service.

Such a marked difference from Dish Tv & Tatasky ,I simply fail to understand Failtel DTH hyperdrive of being a such a PAI to snatch their customers money away(through recharge) or else get their things! Such a Shame...you disgrace your brand by how you deal with peoples, your very own customers !

 

[prosenjit]

open the stb
damage it...like you were a secrent agent
return it..
or feed every input point 220v....

same way make the cable discontinous at places..

and i have to look the dish unit closly to sugggest something like this...


edit:--why destroy..new idea.. better you keep some components from the box for your diy project......return the box..let them be happy..

 

[k2max6]

See Contract is one thing which we have to abide by as per law, no matter how unethical it is. This kind of a practice is very bad though & will remain like this until the some one takes them to court(Very Unlikely) and court eventually orders them to remove such a clause.

I am also a Airtel DTH customer and have used TataSky in the past as well. Also using Airtel Mobile & Broadband.What i have noted is that Airtel Retention department is that they would cooperate with you till the time there are chances of your resuming the services anytime soon.But if they realize that you won't continue in any case, they don't care and start behaving badly,at least some good for nothing executives.
I had a similar experience for my Mobile number when i tried to disconnect it. One lady executive started talking trash and was warning me that the credits i had received recently from Airtel due to delay in disconnection would be reversed.
I openly challenged her to to do anything in her power to do the same and i'll see to it.
Nothing happened.

In your case if you don't want to return the equipment, just tell them you are out and no one is at home,tell them to call after 1 month.They won't follow any legal route to get it,no matter how much you delay.Don't worry.

Sorry for the long post.

 

[izn_47]

This is disgusting. if they need it back then why the hell we have to pay for stb, dish etc.
If I were you, am gonna bang them with all the abusive words I know hyeah:

Btw, I have Fastway SD STB here in chd, I paid 500/- (refundable) for the STB. that's it. and 250 per month for 300+ channels including paid channels.

 

[technobhatt]

There is one more reason, I will always support of notion of NOT returning any old STB to Airtel or any DTH company. Because these DTH companies will sell these old STB to a new customer and the new customer may have a terrible life ahead due to the sudden malfunctioning of old STBs provided to him.
Come on guys, if this is called unethical practice; I have no shame!!

 

[Santy]

Since it is unused, ask them to refund the money and take back everything.
You know what, Airtel is a rogue company.

 

[just4kix]

This thread has something similar in nature: Planning action in district consumer forum against Airtel DTH - Airtel DTH - India Broadband Forum

A check on this document reveals interesting facts: http://www.airtel.in/wps/wcm/connec...ERES&CACHEID=b12e060047a1185989f5fb6c27c68471

 

[viper08]

What about built in STBs in LCDs?
D2h and DDB provides some TVs with in built Tuners and they generally cost equally as per TV market.

If anyone discontinues services for long term will the company take them back? I dont think so...

 

[mowgli80]

You are lucky that Airtel is calling spade a spade. I had Sun TV HD STB which I got free when I purchased my TV. Few months back when digitisation became mandatory in Hyderabad, a person from Sun TV came and asked for the STB and promised to refund the STB. When I handed him the STB, he said he was out of money and his team mate will pay me the money once he comes to collect the dish antenna. Being reasonable, I trusted and handed him the STB. He then later came back and removed the antenna without my knowledge and did not refund the money . On contacting the customer care, I was asked to follow a long procedure (scan documents, type a mail etc.) so that they could conduct the inquiry, just to discourage me from taking it further. And they succeeded with this . I just did not have enough time to spare on this long battle.

 

[just4kix]

What about built in STBs in LCDs?
D2h and DDB provides some TVs with in built Tuners and they generally cost equally as per TV market.

If anyone discontinues services for long term will the company take them back? I dont think so...

In that particular case, STB is sold to you along with the TV. The price of TV includes it. So there is no question of taking back.