Vodafone Saga !!

Frustration is the state of mind which occurs when you are been f***** by somebody and you are unable to reciprocate coz u just don’t wanna mess up, so something within you burn your hard gained calories and what is left is, just, Frustration !!

Vodafone, in collaboration with Accenture, provides a corporate sim to Accenture’s employees. I got relocated from Mumbai to Bangalore and as per Accenture’s relocation policy, I was enjoying the privilege to have a stay of 15 days at the company’s guest house. It was 19th August 2009, when I flied from Mumbai to Bangalore. On 20th, I bought the same corporate sim from Accenture Bangalore’s office. Vodafone had a separate stall at each Accenture’s location throughtout IDC. There is an indigenous kiosk also present at each location for the employees so that they can pay their phone bills at ease by not effecting their office work.
On 23rd August, Vodafone did temporary address verification at the guest house.
On 26th August, my sim displays a message “Sim is barred” whenever I tried to make an outgoing call. I didn’t got frustrated. It was not a big issue. I just dialed 111 for tele assistance. They informed me that my permanent address verification is pending, so the sim has been barred. I was unable to refrain myself from laughing. I said “Boss, let me complete my 15 days stay at my temporary address, then only I’ll be able to provide you my Permanent address. So kindly activate my sim and update your system that the customer is still in the temporary address. “
If you are providing a corporate sim, mind my words “Corporate Sim” not just “Sim”, u’ll have to customize your policies in sync with that corporate’s policies. “How can I provide the permanent address for verification within 7 days when its Accenture’s policy to stay in the temporary Address for 15 days” Neways my logics effected the tele-caller and he apologized and somehow activated my sim.
On 28th August, the same error message on my mobile screen was acting as a clown and teasing me by those 3 frustrating words “Sim is barred”. But this is not that frustration I was initially talking about. I am still not F*****. I went to the stall of Vodafone at the cafeteria of my office and very warmly let the vendor know about my issue. He did something on his laptop and said with a smile on his face that “Sir, your sim is not barred due to Address Verification, it had been barred because you have crossed your credit limit. “Whatz my credit limit?” I asked with an astonishment.
“Rs. 500” he said lunging towards his another pending case.
“Are you insane, why is it just Rs. 500, I was using the same corporate sim at Mumbai and my credit limit was Rs. 3000/- over there, then how can it be reduced?” I said this with no frustration, believe me !!
“So brother, kindly coordinate with the responsible person, and increase my credit limit, so that I can make few very important pending calls” I continued.

“Credit limit can only be increased after the permanent Address verification !! “

After listning to this statement, I stood their still for few seconds. Believe me, this is also not that state of frustration, I am talking about.

But that statement made me mad, but I somehow kept my cool, and did not bothered to again explain him that whole restriction of providing the permanent Address before 15 days. I asked him if I can do the interim payment to get the services flow once again. He agreed and again somehow I got my sim activated.

30th August, Sunday, I woke up and saw few missed calls on my mobile screen. I immediately clicked on the call button to know if I missed something urgent. Guess what, the same 3 killer words were flashing on my mobile screen “Sim is barred”. “Might be I have again crossed the credit limit which seems very unrealistic to me. Still I made a call to 111 and they informed me that “Your sim had been barred coz ur permanent address verification is in pending state.” Thanks for informing me Mam !! I am obliged !! Do you think this is the frustration I was talking about. NO. Still Not Pal !!

I talked to the floor manager, explained her the entire history with calmness (which was difficult to maintain). She was intelligent enuf to understand the lacunae in their policy. But she is helpless and I’ll have to go to the Vodafone Store in person and submit a request letter if I want my sim activated. But just imagine, today is Sunday, I am alone, not feeling to step out of the house, just want to relaxe and catch some good movies on TV. So I decided to spend a day away from kiths n kins, in solitude. But still I was able to receive incoming calls.

On 31st morning, I mailed my permanent address to the responsible person as I was goin to shift on 1st September to my permanent Address. I was informed that my sim will be activated today and verification will be done later on. I was happy and trying to call Manas intermittently just to check if I finally got rid of those 3 killer words. The whole day passed like that, but still believe, this frustration is not the one I stated in my opening statement. The “F” word is still to occur.

Today is 1st September 2009, I got shifted to a PG nearby to my office. The day still passed by trying to get rid of those 3 irritating words. I was informed that from 2nd September, I’ll have to work in shifts. So the cab facility will be provided to me and the CAB DRIVER WILL CALL ME TO LET ME KNOW WHEN TO MEET AND WHERE TO MEET. I was not worried coz still I was able to get the incoming calls and so can easily coordinate with the cab driver. I was on my way to my PG and surprisingly I saw that there was no network signal in my phone. I tried few things then finally restarted the mobile phone to get back the network signal. To my astonishment I got rid of those 3 killer words, but you know what, I am attacked by another 4 frustrating words “Sim card Registration Failed”. THIS IS THE FRUSTRATION, I was talking about. I am screwed. Now I lost the incoming facility too. SILENCE.

The frustration was burning my calories inside, on my way to the PG. It was all internal process goin on and my co-passenger in the bus was not even able to sense the heat within me.

“I am not goin to pay my outstanding phone bill. Neways I am getting transferred, how is it goin to affect me. They will never be able to locate me.”…….Shekhar, 17th August, Accenture Cafeteria, Mumbai.
“True, might be they will never be able to take the money out of you, but you are goin to face the effect of it in some other way.”………….Shantanu Kaushik.
I don’t know why I just paid the outstanding amount of my phone bill and deactivated my Mumbai sim before flying to Bangalore. But that might not be the case with many others who definitely might not have followed my path and might have saved their few bucks.
Vodafone might have introduced such stringent rules due to many such incidents.
I got my lesson.

----The Shekhar
1st September, 2009