Not easy to opt out

Whether it is mobile portability or credit card closure, things can be tough. For help, contact the nodal officer or use social media

Call a company to get a credit card, postpaid SIM, DTH or broadband connection. After the first inquiry, company executives will relentlessly follow up with you to sell the product. If you do express the wish to buy, a representative will appear at the door to take care of all the procedures required to sign up. The consumer is really made to feel like a king.

Now, try surrendering these. You would need to run from pillar to post. Sometimes, it can turn nightmarish and end in a dispute with the company. Of course, no one likes to lose business and these service providers might try to convince customers to carry on and, at times, have a cumbersome procedure for exits.

Take Kailash Perugu, 26, who works with a five-star hotel as guest service officer. He wanted to transfer the ownership of his postpaid number to his mother. An executive at a customer service branch told him it was not possible in a postpaid connection to change the ownership; he should convert the number to prepaid.

He did as advised on May 12, only to later discover he could not recharge the phone any longer. His incoming calls are on but outgoing ones are barred. In six visits to the customer care centre, he is always told there are technical issues and they are in the process of resolving these. At one time, he was told there was no one authorised to help on the issue and he ought to go to the 'main' centre. He wanted to port to another service provider but was told he could not do so for three months.

Kapil Kumar, 27, from Delhi who works with a knowledge process outsourcing firm, faced similar issues when he tried to port his connection with a leading service provider.

Go beyond call centres
Most customers get stuck at the first level of grievance redressal - the call centre or the branch. They should know they can escalate the issue. Perugu, for example, keeps visiting the branch, instead of shooting an email that can be documented and escalated quickly.

Most companies also have different levels of escalations. With one service provider, for example, the customer can write to the company if the call centre fails to address the issue. If still unresolved, there's a nodal officer in each circle. If still unsatisfied, one can appeal with an appellate authority.

Finally, there are always the ombudsman and consumer courts. "Your case gets stronger if you have followed the proper channel of escalation, preserved e-mails and correspondence with the bank. Even voice recordings can be included but the customer will need to prove that the discussion is with the company executive, as per electronic evidence," says Anushka Shreshtha, a senior lawyer based in Mumbai.

This is true for other service providers, too, such as banks or credit card companies. Pavan Kumar, 33, a credit card customer of a leading public sector bank, couldn't resolve his issue through the call centre. He wanted to surrender his credit card and told the call centre this January. The company executive took the request and assured the annual charges would be reversed. "They asked me to destroy the card to avoid misuse."

A month later, he got a text message that he needed to pay Rs 421. He dialled the call centre again and explained everything. When it happened again in March, he wrote to the head of customer service. His issue was resolved within 15 days.

Use social media
Companies are also increasingly getting active on social networks. They are very conscious about brand image. Many even mine this data to see if there's any complaint that can result in bad publicity. There are dedicated social media managers who maintain these accounts and immediately respond to any issues customers raise on the networks.

"Complaints on social media forum have the tendency to go viral and create negative publicity for brands. As customers, social media is a way to amplify your voice," says Vishrut Chalsani, vice-president of enterprise and sales, and co-founder of Akosha. The company helps customers to connect with brands and resolve issues.

Recently, a customer woe went viral when he ordered a Samsung phone from Snapdeal but got a bar of Vim soap instead. When buyers were unhappy with Flipkart's Big Billion Sale last October, they resorted to Twitter. The social media website was buzzing with complaints, angry comment and jokes about the company. Later, Flipkart wrote an apology to all customers for what went wrong.

Caution in online forum use
Then, there are online complaint forums such as consumercomplaints.in and complaintboard.in. When you put out your issue on these websites, these are forwarded to the customer care department of the company concerned. However, be wary of giving your details on these websites. Restrict information to complaint number and your name. Pavan Kumar, who had an issue with a bank, gave his contact details and credit card number. He immediately started getting calls from people saying they represented the company and were calling to resolve the issue. "They asked me details such as expiry date and CVV number, with an excuse that I have bonus points which translate to Rs 2,000 cash. And, that the company would actually transfer the money to my account," says Kumar. However, he smelt a rat and refrained, saving himself from becoming a victim of a fraud.

With PSUs
Experts say it's difficult to get issues resolved with public sector companies and the way is to escalate the complaint. If nothing works, resort to sending a legal notice and taking the company to a consumer court.