A customer review on Bharati Airtel Ltd. . -Kuldeep Dhyani, New Delhi, India, 3rd July 2021.

Porting Prepaid to Postpaid with Bharati Airtel

It was 28th Jun 2021 when I decided to switch my grandmothers prepaid mobile to my existing Aitel postpaid family plan. An add on service provided by Bharti Airtel Limited to the consumers of India.

I think I am a smart citizen of India that seeks ease of service, business & opportunities. I wanted to leverage the technology & hence decided to go to the My Airtel application to perform this switch. 

I believed that I just have to do tip tap touch & bam! Her number should have added to my plan.

But this hoax of ease was shattered when I realised that even after 2 days her mobile services were not switched into my plan. I wondered why & wanted to know the reason behind this delay in service.

On 30th June 2021 at 8:52 pm, I decided to call 121 Airtel customer care to understand why my request was not processed. I got connected with Narendra, an executive of the Airtel Delhi circle. 

After sharing my details & concerns, he informs me that there are new regulations by the government of India realised on 11th June2021. Now it requires consumers to visit the Airtel store along with the person who owns the number they want to switch into the family plan for verification.

Asking why this process is in place now, he says that these new guidelines are for security reasons.

I was disappointed as a citizen of this country.

Does this mean that I will have to prove my freedom at every step I take in my land?

Or I & my 80-year-old grandmother are somehow becoming a threat to the security of this nation?

On top of that, it's pandemic time & will you advise old people to go out to perform a task?

Raising these questions to Narendra, I demanded my right to be revoked & demanded my services & ease back. I also asked that why the decision-makers are not questioning the authorities. 

To ensure better policies, we should think through all the possibilities & consequences while drafting an act. Working with every possible user cycle & how to enable rather than obligate is the only way we can overcome the situations we are in today.

The reckless decision making or not thinking through while drafting policies affects the people. We should raise questions out loud if the answer is not provided by the enforcement.

To this, the well-oriented executive shared his affirmation of my reasoning. He told me he doesn't have answers to my questions but can transfer the call to his supervisor. 

So far it was going good but, as Sapna, a floor supervisor came to address my problem. She threw me off by simply stating that she can not do anything about it as it is a government directive & I will have to comply.

Airtel is known for delivering a better service than the rest of the operators on this part of the land. As Airtel consumers, we have been taking pride in being given the power to connect us with mobility. 

I believed that Airtel is India's best service provider in the region but when Sapna has given up on my case I said she might not have a solution for me but, I am not giving up on this & requested a call transfer to the Manager.

She refused me that she can not at the moment but can arrange a callback. Hence I disconnected the call but, I was not done.

I wanted to reconnect with Airtel & address that how their representatives are dealing with consumers concerns at different levels.

No one is perfect in this world, but your acts define that how you perform better than the rest.

Now it was 9:20 pm & I was on my second call with executive Kusum Chawla. She patiently listened to my grievances & assisted me the best way possible the way Narendra did earlier. When I requested her to reach out to her seniors she reached out to them & informed me that one of the managers is on the case and trying to call me.

To my surprise, Manager Shubham responded promptly. I addressed my concerns & he regretted the inconvenience caused to me. He suggested a solution where he asked me if Airtel will try coordinating an executive who can come up to my doorstep will I be up for that. He also said he will try doing rest is on the higher team. 

To this, I gave my affirmation & highly appreciated Narendra, Kusum & him for understanding my concern & trying to resolve it.

The very next day, I received a call from Rohit Malhotra from Airtel he asked me for directions & reached out to me with one of his executives Kalpna. 

They did the necessary formalities & helped me to migrate my grandmother's mobile number into my family plan. He assured me that if I have any trouble ever again concerning Airtel, please feel free to reach out to him & he will be more than happy to help me. His way of counselling the consumer was like a family member with care.

In the evening, I received a call back from Airtel on my resolution. The executive was polite she took my feedback & I felt privileged by the extended arm of Airtel.

Highly appreciate every single Airtel people who are working hard to support the consumers & helping in providing them resolutions. I am happy but not satisfied as this is Airtel going out of the way. But, why my government is ignorant about the ground realities & how their rules are impacting society. 

As Airtel says, you should ask questions.

We should ask questions about every problem around us & work together to design solutions.

Thank you for reading this personal story of my life!!!