Truce Reached

At last, the truce was reached by the end of last month. But I had to adopt a few ideas to threaten them with humiliation. Just have a look at how the matter proceeded further.

For my mail of 17.02.2007, reproduced in my previous post, the corporate centre of reliance customer care was kind enough to inform me on 22.02.2007 that my number under dispute has been deleted from the system and therefore nothing could be done.
"We wish to confirm that above number has been deleted from the system records. So we are unable to process your request to retain same number."

This added fuel to the fire that was already raging inside me and I replied back the following:
Thanks for your reply, which in any way does not attempt to solve my problem nor does it attempt to help me in any manner. To me it just sounds like another version of the same reply given by your customer care people form Chennai.

If your idea is to really help me out of this problem, then I would suggest that you better think of a way for restoring what you have deleted from your system(the promotional offer), in respect of the number 9380946677. After all, the system itself is owned/operated only by your company and not by some external force beyond your control. My usage pattern of both the mobiles should give you sufficient indication that I have been wronged for no fault of mine.

Anything else other than such a restoration may at best be just another corporate correspondence or lip service and definitely not customer-care."

Two hours after my above mail, I got a call from reliance explaining the reason for the deletion--90 days had passed since the expiry of my last recharge and therefore the system had deleted my number automatically. This was followed by an email on the above lines.

Out of desperation I replied the following:

"Nice to receive your mail. As usual you have tried t0 wax eloquently in your reply.

My request was not for retention of a number, but a complaint on what I consider as certain unfair practices that your company adopts.

I am happy that as a customercare official, you had waited for the 90th day to be over so that you could reply me that the system has deleted my number and nothing further can be done.

The second number of mine was never under any dispute/complaint.

Anyway, I have already decided to gift my handsets freely to anybody and through another mail I have enquired the Chairman of your company if he would be interested in accepting free reliance mobile handsets from me.

In case he himself does not want to own a free reliance mobile , I will contact you. You can find out for me from your office, if at least any of you guys are interested in owning a free reliance mobile handset.

I followed it up immediately with another letter to anil ambani asking him to accept my offer of free reliance handsets, and I even told him that I will bear the cost of packing and forwarding them. Probably this was the proverbial last straw on the camel's back.

Next morning, they made me an offer. As per our telephonic conversation, we would offer the following as one time good will gesture. We request you to purchase Get Started Kit (GSK) and activate a new number on your existing blank phone. We will extend one year validity and credit Rs. 1000 On-net talktime (Local & Intra circle).

After quite some deliberations, I decided to accept this offer and gave my confirmation to reliance. Effective form 26.02.2007, I acquired a new number at a cost of Rs.99/= and true to their offer, they have now credited that number with a value of Rs.1000/= and a validity of one year.

How the calls are going to be charged is yet another matter, since no such scheme is available in their published list of various prepaid schemes.

So friends, one thing is clear. It is their system and they can do anything with it in any manner they like. If you can create sufficient nuisance and publicity damage, they may listen to you and try to extend some sops. Otherwise, you end up as a silent victim.

Before I conclude this post, I express my deep sense of gratitude to all of you for offering your valuable suggestions and gave me the necessary moral support which enabled me to bring this matter to a conclusion. Thank you all friends.