Easymutant
R I P
- Jun 3, 2010
- 2,564
- 1,129
This was an article in the Arusha Times regarding possible fraud against AIRTEL prepaid internet users:
Dear Editor,
I decided to write the Arusha Times today because after months of working with Airtel to fix a serious issue that affects prepaid internet users, I was finally told the truth today. That truth? "NO.
Now go away"
I am a very experienced network engineer & security auditor from the US with 26 years of IT work under my belt. After moving here to do volunteer flight medical work, I bought an Airtel modem and subscribed to the 3GB/Week plan. Being a computer geek, I use A LOT of bandwidth.
So I finish 3GB quickly, and then recharge and do it again. I quickly realized however, that it was cutting out before using the full 3GB I paid for. Having the access, I installed professional grade network monitoring software to see what was happening. I did this on several computers, with several SIM cards. What I found was that the service would cut off after only 1.5GB of usage, or 2.3GB, or only 1GB.. etc, randomly. I would check my account balance and Airtel would respond that I had used 3GB of data.
I brought this to the representatives at the Clock tower office. It didn't take them long to get a response from their technical staff that yes, they could see this happening, and that I wasn't the only one to report it recently. By the time of writing this article, I have lost (pro-rated) 130,000 TSH from this. All the while being assured that I would be refunded and that this issue would be fixed. For FOUR months I was strung along, always being told it would happen soon.
Finally today, I demanded that the refund be issued, and that I be given contact information for someone up the corporate ladder to speak to. I was told that they aren't authorized to give this information.
That was it. Not only were months after months of my time wasted, but even worse, who knows how many other customers are being defrauded because they aren't as technically proficient as I am? Now, I want to take a second and mention that while Airtel has failed miserably in both honesty and customer service, the representatives I worked with here in Arusha, despite being unable to accomplish anything for me, were very friendly and understanding. I hold no animosity in their direction.
So in the end, the fact remains that Airtel is taking money for a service and giving less than what is being advertised. They have decided to acknowledge this while at the same time refusing to do anything about it. Why should they? They are getting free money from us! Beyond that however, is the blind greedy arrogance to deny us the ability to resolve our issues with them civilly. Support emails go unanswered, repeated trips to town are necessary to follow up, and when finally given a flat denial.. access to those who have the power to do WHAT'S RIGHT is blocked.
Dear Editor,
I decided to write the Arusha Times today because after months of working with Airtel to fix a serious issue that affects prepaid internet users, I was finally told the truth today. That truth? "NO.
Now go away"
I am a very experienced network engineer & security auditor from the US with 26 years of IT work under my belt. After moving here to do volunteer flight medical work, I bought an Airtel modem and subscribed to the 3GB/Week plan. Being a computer geek, I use A LOT of bandwidth.
So I finish 3GB quickly, and then recharge and do it again. I quickly realized however, that it was cutting out before using the full 3GB I paid for. Having the access, I installed professional grade network monitoring software to see what was happening. I did this on several computers, with several SIM cards. What I found was that the service would cut off after only 1.5GB of usage, or 2.3GB, or only 1GB.. etc, randomly. I would check my account balance and Airtel would respond that I had used 3GB of data.
I brought this to the representatives at the Clock tower office. It didn't take them long to get a response from their technical staff that yes, they could see this happening, and that I wasn't the only one to report it recently. By the time of writing this article, I have lost (pro-rated) 130,000 TSH from this. All the while being assured that I would be refunded and that this issue would be fixed. For FOUR months I was strung along, always being told it would happen soon.
Finally today, I demanded that the refund be issued, and that I be given contact information for someone up the corporate ladder to speak to. I was told that they aren't authorized to give this information.
That was it. Not only were months after months of my time wasted, but even worse, who knows how many other customers are being defrauded because they aren't as technically proficient as I am? Now, I want to take a second and mention that while Airtel has failed miserably in both honesty and customer service, the representatives I worked with here in Arusha, despite being unable to accomplish anything for me, were very friendly and understanding. I hold no animosity in their direction.
So in the end, the fact remains that Airtel is taking money for a service and giving less than what is being advertised. They have decided to acknowledge this while at the same time refusing to do anything about it. Why should they? They are getting free money from us! Beyond that however, is the blind greedy arrogance to deny us the ability to resolve our issues with them civilly. Support emails go unanswered, repeated trips to town are necessary to follow up, and when finally given a flat denial.. access to those who have the power to do WHAT'S RIGHT is blocked.
