At the outset, I wish to inform you that me and my family are long time subscribers of Airtel. With 4 Airtel tele connections and an Airtel broadband – I least expect such uncouth behaviour from the largest telecom player in the country. I “was” of the belief that Airtel was an ethical company – not resorting to backhanded techniques to make money of its customer.

The following complaint is with regard to the following phone number: +91 97316xxxxx.

This is the sequence of how Airtel has played foul shamelessly to make money by harassing the customer.

1. There’s a SMS from Airtel at 08:11 PM today stating “Thank you for subscribing. You have been charged Rupees 5 daily renewal Rupees 3. To stop SMS STOP to 121.”
2. We SMSed back “STOP” to 121 at 09:03 PM.
3. We received a SMS back “We have received a request to stop your services. We will get back to you in a few minutes with the available options.” at 09:14 PM.
4. Then we receive the SMS stating “The following services are active on your mobile. 1. Kannada Pack, 2. Shirdi Live Arati, 3. Bangla Sahib Live… 17 options in all. To reply type the serial number of each service you wish to STOP.” At 09:14 PM.
5. Now I am expected to send 17 SMS STOP this.

Now let me tell the problem with Airtel.
1. This is the third time something like this has happened in the last few months.
2. The last two times when it happened – yelling at your customer services (after a few attempts) make it go away.
3. This time it’s a list of 17 services which Airtel activates (at its convenience) and expects you to stop.
4. By default Airtel decided it wants to make money of your back – it decides to sub it and then expects you to stop.
5. The process for stopping is to send 17 SMS.