spolo43 (none) 26 July 2011

Telecom network service provider harrasment

Hello everybody,

I converted my prepaid connection which i had for 4 years to post paid in 2009. And was using it untill i found out about false billing.

When called the customer care and enquired about the same they took complaint and said they get back to me on this within few days, and they didnt so i called and gave another complaint for which i did not receive a proper solution either, so i took a stand saying i wont pay the bill until i get a resolution for this.

And they cut my connection because i did not pay and got another bill almost double the amount with fine and all stuff. I called up again and said that i can pay only if you give me a proper reason for the false billing.

For which two people came to my house asking why i did not pay bill i explained them the reason and gave them the complaint numbers which i had so they left without saying anything.

Changed to another network service provider in 2009 itself(used the postpaid only 3 or 4 months) and been using it till date. And now after almost 2 years i got a call from Blue dart saying i have got a parcel from a person and because they have mentioned wrong address they are holding it in their office and gave me the number of the person who sent me the parcel.

When i call the person he says he has sent me a summon on behalf of the non bill payment and started shouting for which i replied lets not talk over phone and lets meet at court. He said OK and cut the call.

I have kept the bill which had false calling details, and complaint numbers and even recordings of my speech with these people all these years until recently i threw them away as its too old.

Now i do not have any evidence ! How do i proceed ?

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3 Replies

Kumar Doab (FIN) 26 July 2011

The parcel must be containing a legal notice and not summons from a court of law.

These are the tactics and bad practices of collection/recovery agencies of the company.

It is your discretion to accept the cover or not, as the address is wrong. However you may note down the date time phone number of courier from which you received a call. You can comment if required that you had provided the correct address and asked to deliver. Moreover the company always has correct address and they are at fault if they circulate wrong address.

You can lodge a police complaint against this person who shouted and threatened you and obtain complaint number from office of SHO/SSP.

You should have noted down the names, designation, ID card numbers ,of the persons, who came to your residence without taking any prior appointment/ permission from you. You should have asked them to write down the minutes of discussion then and there on the photocopy of their ID card. However although the company collected the true feedback and details and evidences from you in person thru their employees/authorized representative, company failed to deliver solution/resolution/reply to you and did not correct their bill.

Even if the company files a case you can point out the errors and ask them to reverse all overcharged amounts, penalties, late fee, service tax, VAT, surcharge etc and you can demand the charges of phone calls , representations made by you, and subtract it from the bill and issue full and final bill to you, accept their default and issue apology letter, and supply receipt of full and final payment on the spot. You must demand a letter stating that company has not declared you a defaulter to other companies and credit rating agencies and that if they have they shall supply the certified copies of their communications to other companies and credit rating agencies and another letter under original seal and signature of the competent employee of the company stating that they have withdrawn your name from other companies and credit rating agencies.

Be tough with them and make the full and final payment only after they supply all documents.

spolo43 (none) 26 July 2011

Dear Kumar,

Thank you for giving such valuable inputs,

I heard from my friends that

a summon can only be sent by court directly to me though registered post alone if an FIR is not registered

or If an FIR is registered and if i am not willing to cooperate they can send the summon to local police station, and a PC from local police station will come to my home to take me to station for investigation

Are these correct ?

Secondly this issue was burried for so long and all of sudden it rose up. Isn't there a minimum period before which the company should have taken legal action if it wanted to ? I mean once i heard that if a doctor made a wrong treatment the patient if wanted has to file the case within 2 years of treatment period. Is that true ? If yes

No such time frame here for civil liabilities ?

Kumar Doab (FIN) 26 July 2011

The company shall file a complaint at there location e.g. Circle office, and this location is mentioned by them in SEF. The court shall send summons. We have heard the messenger (pyada) from court brings the summons. If summons are not accepted/delivered, there shall be another attempt. Thereafter thru o/o commissioner, the summons shall be sent to local police station and SHO shall only handover the summons, and can not arrest you. All this shall cost more than amount of the bill to company. Nothing moves without money.

Your contention shall be case can be filed at your location.

If you chose to appear in court, you shall present your facts. You can ask for certified copy of the bill and itemized call details, and you can point out false billing.

Don't be anxious. You can lodge a police complaint for threats issued to you, against the person by mentioning phone number, MD of the company, local BM and circle head of the company.

If the company approaches you ask them to supply you the corrected bill with copies of old bills.

if you are concerned you can avail the services of a local lawyer and file a complaint in consumer forum.

Company tries all tactics so that consumer files a complaint and they shall send a lawyer at who handles all cases of the company at subsidized fee.

Advice of memebers/experts is sought.