MADURAI: The Madurai District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission recently ordered Bharti Airtel to pay Rs 30,000 compensation to a private college professor for activating an international roaming pack without his consent, which resulted in him incurring a bill of Rs 2,122 in May 2024.
"It is crucial for service providers to prioritise explicit consent from customers before activating any services that lead to additional charges," the commission observed.
The complainant, SCB Samuel Anbu Selvan, a postpaid subscriber of Bharti Airtel, had activated an international roaming pack on April 22 with 30 days validity, costing Rs 2,998.
Subsequently, he visited Malaysia with his family from May 18 to 20. Though he did not make any request, Airtel activated an international roaming daily limit pack worth Rs 649 per day for three days and billed him Rs 2,122.50. Pointing out that he already had an international roaming pack valid till May 21, Selvan took up the matter with the company. Since he did not get a positive reply, he moved the commission.
The company claimed that Selvan's international roaming pack was valid only till May 1. Since he continued to use international roaming without renewing the package, they had activated the daily limit pack as a goodwill measure to prevent him from incurring excessive charges, the company contended.
Hearing both sides, the commission’s president M Piravi Perumal and member I P Shanmugapriya noted that as per the company's official website, the validity of the international roaming plan for the aforesaid amount is 30 days for prepaid customers and for postpaid customers, the validity is only for 10 days.
However, if the international roaming pack used by the complainant expired on May 1, the company ought to have discontinued the service. Instead, the complainant was able to use the service even after the expiry of the validity period, which raises questions about the billing process and management of roaming services, the commission said.
The unilateral activation of the roaming pack reflects a lack of transparency and amounts to unfair trade and deficient service, it added, and directed the company to refund the bill amount and further pay Rs 20,000 compensation and Rs 10,000 towards litigation charges within 45 days.