[d.j]

Hello everyone, I hope it’s not unreasonable in any kind on my part to load this out here, I feel it’s important for everyone here too to know about it, sure critical for many fellow travelers plus I don’t follow much on any other forum or public platform to write and express myself.

Recently I returned from my business trip and to my shock Vodafone idea presents me a roaming bill of 3 lac rupees (2.98 to be precise). I am a VI customer since about last 18 years, am always on IR package and this time too I had activated the correct appropriate pack before starting from Mumbai. (charged on bill too)

Just to give a background, I have travelled about 60-70 countries during all these years and using roaming since the time when the concept of travel data packages didn’t exist, neither there were government defined policies of bill shock prevention or credit limit intimation to the customer. I never faced any issues as usage formed into muscle memory and the bills been always in a range of 5-10k types depending on the country and usage.

This time I am travelling in West African region, Nigeria – Ghana – Senegal – Guinea (Conakry). I was flying Ethiopian and transiting at Addis Ababa, each transit was about 2 hrs. and both the times, arrival – departure gates were hardly few mins of walk to the lounge. I am on travel class where I straight get to use the lounge and all during this time whatever phone data, I have used was on the lounge’s Wi-Fi.

Coming to the bill, the breakup is something like this, total bill 2.98Lacs, out of this 10k is charges for voice + data usage in above listed 4 countries (include extra for non-pack country Senegal) and balance of 2.89 lacs is for 162 mb of data in Addis. I am just transiting in Addis this is a non-data usage country by any means for me. Data by default is shut here and neither I am using any.

My question to VI is (few mandated by TRAI too)

1/ why bill shock prevention did not kick in.
2/ why there was no call, message, warning to the customer about this huge amount of usage.
3/ why my phone was not barred immediately as I was touching my credit limit

At the time of this incident, I was still 2 weeks away from the bill due date but VI immediately without even informing us barred my phone. I did remind them about the past bill records and requested to let me only have local incoming – outgoing facility till the time the matter is resolved, local phones don’t cost much, am not travelling anywhere for next 2-3 weeks. Also, I was ready to pay the clean charges on the current bill (no past outstanding) and extra amount to the extent of my credit limit shown on the phone bill which is about 30,000 rupees.

During the week we tried multiple times to contact the VI teams at all levels, but their answers are copy paste, they act, behave like sailors of a sinking ship. No one seems to come forward, talk, help resolve. I mean nothing like you would expect for any customer friendly company may exhibit in such a situation.

Now we are a stranded customer, as a commoner I would be paying all from my pocket, no gst claims and a tax paid money of say 4.5 lacs to pay for the telephone bill that too for a paltry of 162 mb. This looks ridicules frustrating and disappointing when no one is ready to talk, resolve and we threatened of phone number harassment etc.

Now what do we do next, what would you have done being in my place?. Discussing this among friends, family and colleagues, there are different opinions.

1/ Send them a legal notice for phone services and such exorbitant charges.
2/ Throw the sim as VI now runs a new modus operandi of overcharging customers and they are a sinking ship. No one will come forward to resolve or settle it with us.
3/ Go consumer court
4/ Pay and port.

We are surprised, in spite of so many emails, messages, phone calls we have done so far. No one from VI has contacted us back, why? irrespective of the fact whether this bill is mishap, technical error, whatever, a phone bill of 3 lac rupees is not a daily thing, think about it, companies today are selling a GB of data for few hundred rupees max to 20-30 dollars in countries with most expensive data. This case is 15-20 lacs for a GB, and they don’t see it as an issue to talk to customer?

Anyone knows what's the on-ground situation of VI, is that the reason of the mass exodus of people porting from VI to other service providers.

While all this is happening, I did spend some time studying VI packages and the roaming facility offered by other operators like Airtel and Jio. VI does tricks the customers, their roaming billing cycle is Indian standard time irrespective of the time zone you are, country wise charges at places are higher than competition in range of 30 -40%, no true roaming friendly packages, a smaller number of countries covered, no plans to cover transit airports, in flights etc.

What's VI future here. Switch to Airtel, Jio?

Regards/DJ

[harishpr]

This is a very frustrating and a similar experience made me port out from VI to Airtel.
If this VI number is very important for you and your business/Professional reasons, seek legal advice and issue show-cause notice as no one is coming forward to help you. I believe three consecutive show cause notice to their registered office address will help you in future even if you decide to goto consumer court or simply throw the sim.

[sjain2054]

Out of ~20 years of my working life, I have spent about half of that in Telecom (including Vodafone/Vi). I can tell you for sure that this is a common problem with Vi. A very close friend of mine had a similar problem in 2018 where he travelled abroad and came back to a hefty bill. Even though his organization was paying for it, he had me escalate the matter to seniors in Vi. Absolutely nothing happened. The problem was that he selected the wrong network when he landed. That telecom network did not have a tie up with Vi. Your problem might be similar (once you dig deeper and do an RCA).

My advise is that you must switch to Jio and that too in prepaid connection. I have a Jio prepaid connection which gives me unlimited calling, messaging, data for Rs 3000 per year and I also travel abroad very often and always buy the appropriate prepaid international roaming pack in advance before leaving. All of this is done using their wonderful MyJio App. I always buy the international prepaid pack just before boarding the flight - I open the app, go to international roaming section, select the country, choose the pack I want, pay the money and that is it the pack activates as soon as I land on the other side.

I have been using Jio prepaid (domestic and international) for 7-8 years now and not once have I been stuck without network (except in Kashmir/Ladakh because prepaid does not work there but I was on a holiday and happy to be away from network for the duration).

[thanixravindran]

I have Airtel Postpaid and use international roaming regularly. I generally add the roaming packs but irrespective of any add on packs, during travel, I always keep the mobile data switched off manually. Only when I need to use the mobile data, I turn ON the mobile data. After all, it is just 1 click, so it is better to be cautious rather than having an frustrating prolonged fight with the operator.

Please write to nodal officer for Vi and proceed for consumer forum at the earliest.

OT: My wife's BSNL number has this issue in India in dual SIM phone along with Airtel. Though mobile data is disabled for BSNL SIM, each day at some random time, it reduces the main balance citing few KB data used. We finally moved it a basic phone.

[Jeroen]

Originally Posted by sjain2054

The problem was that he selected the wrong network when he landed. That telecom network did not have a tie up with Vi.

Just to add some more context.

In order for any mobile phone to work, your operator needs to have a roaming agreement with the respective operator (s) in the other country. Your mobile phone will automatically select the appropriate network. You can select manually as well, but it simply won’t work on a network without a roaming agreement.

The fact that the OP got a bill, albeit a very hefty one, is proof that roaming agreements were in place. Your operator might have more than one roaming agreement in place in a specific country. In that case it is theoretically possible they also offer different tariffs. In which case it might make sense to chose the cheapest. But you would have to contact your carrier to find out.

Vodafone is/used to be present in many countries. It would typically offer the best tariffs on those networks for roaming customers. In many countries it would not even offer the possibility to roam onto another carriers network.

E.g. if you have an Indian Vodafone subscription and travel to the UK, your phone would roam onto the UK Vodafone network and nothing else! You can’t force it onto anybody’s else’s.

An operator will only opt for multiple roaming agreements, when one carrier doesn’t offer full coverage. Having an roaming agreement cost a carrier money, so they prefer as few as possible. And they prefer to have their customers on their own and or affiliated networks.

Jeroen

[Hayek]

It’s not possible that you could have consumed data in Addis Ababa without data roaming being on. It can happen accidentally - because you left the network on without realising it.

Vodafone currently has the most attractive roaming programs - with unlimited low cost roaming in most countries. The risk is of course that we get so used to it, and when we are in the few countries where this is not available, we can accidentally end up paying a bomb.

[sandeep108]

Common problem with Vi. And learning from a friend's experience with an even higher bill, immediately switched to pre-paid. When I was out of India, it latched onto another non-pack network before I realised it. Lucky I had ensured my balance was just around Rs. 500-600 and that got used up in a jiffy. When the signal went off, I checked using Wifi and latched onto the correct operator (pack enabled). Recharged my account with another few hundred rupees and all was well.

Nothing will work except paying the bill off and porting elsewhere, unless it is a secondary number and not very important to you, but even then you may have a problem not paying.

Always pre-paid if any international roaming.

Another issue with Vi was LTE, every time 2kb would be used and I would be charged 8-9 Rs. several times a day. I realised that when roaming one needs to switch to 3G, because for LTE, whether your data roaming is on or off, it always sends a data packet to authenticate. Vi charges for this, not sure about other operators.

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by Hayek

It’s not possible that you could have consumed data in Addis Ababa without data roaming being on. It can happen accidentally - because you left the network on without realising it.

Vodafone currently has the most attractive roaming programs - with unlimited low cost roaming in most countries. The risk is of course that we get so used to it, and when we are in the few countries where this is not available, we can accidentally end up paying a bomb.

Completely agree with this post.

In my experience roaming with and without a pack enabled I have never been overcharged. My experience is of occasional long duration travel and frequent short trips due to work.

Vi has the best long and short duration international roaming plans available across all networks in India. A very detailed itemised mb by mb break down of usage is available through the Vi app, and as the op stated that there was usage then there was usage even if unintentional. Learning experience for the future on any network.

I’m not saying it isn’t a shock, and I’m not telling the op how to react - that’s entirely their choice - just stating facts and my experience.

[Govind]

I had a similar experience with the old Reliance (CDMA/not the JIO) as wanted it as part of testing one of the products we were working on. So, it was partially official. We gave a request to change the scheme, and the customer care did not do it and finally gave a big bill. So please double confirm all such requests and setting changes are applied at the operator side by means of SMS or email or through app/portal. We escalated it at multiple levels, but always got the same 'copy paste' reply though it was a miss from their side and finally we had to pay and settle. Fortunately, it was not a very huge amount!

A word of caution: If you want to port it and keep the number, you need to settle all outstanding dues.

/Govind

[pun337]

Originally Posted by d.j

2/ Throw the sim as VI now runs a new modus operandi of overcharging customers and they are a sinking ship. No one will come forward to resolve or settle it with us.

Hi D.J., Do not throw the Sim, Non-payment of telephone bills may reflect in your CIBIL rating.

Add the Appellate Authority from Vi in CC for all correspondence.
Each circle has a different officer with email and phone number.
https://www.myvi.in/help-support/app...thority-detail

Then escalate the issue to the Appellate Authority and then to TRAI complaints.

How this helps,

[d.j]

Originally Posted by Hayek

It’s not possible that you could have consumed data in Addis Ababa without data roaming being on. It can happen b.

Originally Posted by VeluM

Completely agree with this post.

In my experience roaming with and without a pack enabled I have never been overcharged. My experience is of occasional long duration travel and frequent short trips due to work.
.

Possibly, I was on the addis airport for about 2:30 hrs, this includes possible in and out of lounge too. The data charges on my bill is just 1 entry 8:35 pm – 162 mb – 2.89 lacs. By flight stats I landed at 8:33 PM and at gate on 8:43 PM. So, whatever happened here.

To what I have understood so far, Vodafone has the trickiest roaming plans among all the other major Indian players, their plans start – end Indian standard time irrespective of country you are in, specific country charges are 30-40% higher than the competition and airtel now offer 184 country packages, data on plane and certain airport too wherein VI offers max 12x odd.

Originally Posted by harishpr

This is a very frustrating and a similar experience made me port out from VI to Airtel.
If this VI number is very important for you and your business/Professional reasons, seek legal advice and issue show-cause notice as no one is coming forward to help you. .

Originally Posted by sjain2054

Out of ~20 years of my working life, I have spent about half of that in Telecom (including Vodafone/Vi). I can tell you for sure that this is a common problem with Vi. ).

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

I have Airtel Postpaid and use international roaming regularly. I generally add the roaming packs but irrespective of any add on packs, during travel, I always keep the mobile data switched off manually. .

Originally Posted by sandeep108

Common problem with Vi. And learning from a friend's experience with an even higher bill, immediately switched to pre-paid. .

Originally Posted by Govind

I had a similar experience with the old Reliance (CDMA/not the JIO)

/Govind

Originally Posted by pun337

Hi D.J., Do not throw the Sim, Non-payment of telephone bills may reflect in your CIBIL rating.

Add the Appellate Authority from Vi in CC for all correspondence.
,

We did write to the mumbai appellate about a week back itself but no one responded until today, time we escalated this on Twitter, they offered a (5,000 +gst) deduction, which we don’t accept. Further, am not sure if we permitted to post the link to tweet over here, if yes and you convinced with it pls retweet, post, like. https://x.com/dineshJHAMNANI/status/1865363555119411682

Overcharging by companies in sectors like Telcom and utilities is a widespread issue in india and there Is nothing new about it. This will continue to be so until we don’t let strong institutions prosper around us, otherwise why company like Vi won’t follow simple mandates given by TRAI. Its Not just telecom, you go any industry, automobile, medical, consumer products, today it’s the customer who owes the onus of being able to run in good terms with the service provider. Cant Vodafone employ a tech to prevent such cases?.

We don’t know what happened, a mishap, technical glitch or an error. A 162 mb of data shouldn’t be costing customer a whopping 2.89 lac rupees, what I am trying to emphasize is, there has to be some sense of responsibility and accountability on part of the service provider too. I mean, think about the world if every causality is left to fate of a preceding party action/function. There has to be some logical conclusion to it, if my credit limit is rupees 33700 so when does the system trigger ?

Forget all, I say, is charge of 2.89 lac rupees fair by any means for a usage of 162 mb ?.

Agreed, whatever the final outcome is we don’t want a spot on us but will definitely take them to the court.

Rgds/DJ

[Ragavsr]

Hire a lawyer , send a legal notice and they will back out straight away. You are liable only till the credit limit and not a paisa beyond it. Happened to my uncle a decade or two back, himself being a lawyer handled it calmly. I am surprised people in the forum are actually defending Vi and providing justifications.

Also ditch the postpaid sim and get a prepaid one. Postpaid doesn't offer a single extra convenience except for faux bragging rights.

[MyLife_MyCar]

Originally Posted by d.j

https://x.com/dineshJHAMNANI/status/1865363555119411682

I rarely use X, and don’t understand how the tweet and its replies are clubbed. But why is Vi addressing d.j by different names in their replies?

[d.j]

Originally Posted by MyLife_MyCar

I rarely use X, and don’t understand how the tweet and its replies are clubbed. But why is Vi addressing d.j by different names in their replies?

It happens when they reply to all in the thread. you can use any of following, marked in red, thanks!

[vb-saan]

Originally Posted by Jeroen

Just to add some more context.

In order for any mobile phone to work, your operator needs to have a roaming agreement with the respective operator (s) in the other country. Your mobile phone will automatically select the appropriate network. You can select manually as well, but it simply won’t work on a network without a roaming agreement.
...

This is true. It is always good to check the roaming coverage including the countries and related partner providers in those countries.

During the summer holidays I drove from Munich to Milan, passing through Austria and Switzerland. I had taken a 6GB data roaming plan (SGD 40) with the telco provider here in Singapore, which covered some 60 countries. On return to Singapore I noticed that another 1GB roaming plan called Worldwide Roaming Others (SGD 60) was added to my bill. Called up SingTel and checked on this, and they said its due to data roaming in Liechtenstein, which is not included in the initial plan I had taken. I told them that I was driving from Munich thru Austria/Switzerland and this country (Liechtenstein) was literally on the other side of the river. They checked the records again and found that I was in Liechtenstein network for around two and a half minutes and consumed around 8MB of data, which was not enough time/usage to enter/exit a country. They promptly agreed to reverse the additional charges (SGD 60), and was reflected in the subsequent bill.