‘AIRTEL Must Pay For Their LIES’

“Airtel lied and keeps lying to me; I have no doubt to you too.
I am one of the many people who bought the Airtel internet modem (dongle) that was on promotion up to 31st July 2011. The promotion promised that if you bought the modem, which was for K250,000, you would receive free internet data of 100MB valued at K85,000, every month for three consecutive months.
Surprisingly however, the modem gave less free data than promised. In my case, it gave me 30MB per month for three months. For 6 months (July to December 2011), I kept phoning Airtel customer care to report the “defect” and all I got was the same story: “You are not the only one with such a situation, Sir. The procedure is: give me your sim number, I will add it to the list to be submitted to IT; then IT will credit you with outstanding free data within 2 hours. We are very sorry.”
Customer care my foot! Never even writing down query details; not once, not twice or three times, but almost 20 times. As if that were not pathetic enough, they even blocked my number twice for calling them more than three times a day; its how they have set up their call centre system – to deny customer care to the people who need it desperately.
There was another customer who received 100MB as promised, but only for two months instead of three. He too was told stories as “customer care” until he gave up. He vented his frustration on a consumer diaries blog, who followed up the story and alerted ZICTA. ZICTA contacted Airtel who profusely apologized and gave the gentleman his outstanding free data.
I couldn’t help but think that I still had not received my free data because my case had not reached “big bosses” for Airtel to be scared. So I came up with my own scare tactic.
I wrote Airtel a demand letter, explaining my situation, demanding billions of kwachas for breach of warranty, misrepresentation, negligence, unfair trading practice, etc and threatened legal action. It is now two weeks since my fourteen (14) days notice expired; no word from them, still no free data in my internet.
It is clear my scare tactic was not scary enough. It was not on a lawyer’s letterhead. Airtel quickly figured I was too small, merely a dispensable nonentity in their quest for profit.
Their other commercial lie is their internet bundle pricing. They advertise that their data bundle, say, 1GB, is K125,000. But when you load K125,000 into the modem, you get around K124, 000 credit. So you must buy an extra K1,000 card to be able to recharge with 1GB.
This is misrepresentation, a very unfair trading practice.
What You Should Do
There is hundreds of thousands of us internet customers with Airtel. So for every recharge, an extra K1000 from me, from you, the next person and so on, translates into billions of kwachas for Airtel. The same with the free data. The more of us they tell stories and refuse to give until we give up, ‘the more money in their pockets.’
Here is what you should if you have faced similar frustrations: contact me on www.facebook.com/mauricemakalu. I want us to launch a group complaint to both ZICTA and Consumer Protection. This is to show that instead of this behavior by Airtel being seen as normal human error, for which they can get away with a simple public relations apology, it is actually a deliberate setup, intended to induce customers to buy Airtel products for them to increase their sales and once they make the money, they frustrate customers who demand real value for services for which they pay sufficient consideration.
Are you thinking fraud??!! Me too; I wish I was in Mutembo Nchito’s chair. Considering the technological advancements at play here, I would like to know what judges think about this right up to the Supreme Court. I also wish the technologically compliant Fraud Act 2006 of UK were effective in Zambia.
There is two of us already. We need to be as many as possible when we write to ZICTA and Consumer Protection.
So has Airtel lied to you too? Take a step, inbox me on www.facebook.com/mauricemakalu. Let us get Airtel to pay for their commercial lies and send a message against such behavior in our economy.
I appreciate your proactiveness.”

Posted by Editor on January 17, 2012. Filed under LATEST NEWS, Letters To The Editor. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

95 Responses to ‘AIRTEL Must Pay For Their LIES’

kapoko

January 17, 2012 at 11:37 am

IWE JUST SUE THEM SO THAT YOU GET COMPANSATED FOR THEIR LIES.GO TO COURT AND NOT TO TUMFWEKO.WHEN YOU ARE CHEATED YOU REPORT TO RELEVANT AUTHORITIES. YOU HAVE GOT EVERYTHING YOU BOUGHT,WHY WASTE TIME?
DISAPPOINTED MODEM

January 17, 2012 at 11:42 am

l have packed my Airtel modem please am joining you for compensation
LM

January 17, 2012 at 11:51 am

You are lucky you even received those 30s. I have never received any and now this bloody dongle of theirs doesn’t even work properly. All it does is chew my money and yet I never get any connection. Load the airtime, try to connect, the dongle signal is ever green and the next I see is a red page saying “You have insufficient balance” What the HELL? K125,000 to finish in 10 minutes? They have given me a new sim-card now but its even worse. They promised to refund me my money because apparently they noticed in their system that I was been ridiculously overcharged but its almost 3 months now since the promise. BLOODY AIRTEL
kayusu

January 17, 2012 at 11:59 am

airtel is a lair with their promotions. shun then. leave iwe fishe fi airtel. there are reasonable networks like mtn. go and flash your modem and stat using mtn. airtel my foot
REAL MAN

January 17, 2012 at 12:01 pm

@Kapoko you are right why bring this issue on this site? Go to court.
kayusu

January 17, 2012 at 12:04 pm

ask me nicely i will give you the code to flush yo modems
CONCERNED ZAMBIAN

January 17, 2012 at 12:06 pm

Shame on AIRTEL

AND SOME PLIZ TALK ABOUT HOW
THEY ARE BUST TAKING PEOPLE AS TEMPS, INSTEAD OF GIVING PEOPLE GOOD JOBS. BA SATA, WHY should AIRTEL subcontract their CALL CENTRE???

BA SATA CHECK THROUGH ALL THE TELECOMS COMPANIES

YOUR PPL ARE BEING MISTREATED
First lady

January 17, 2012 at 12:07 pm

Ine i get suprised airtel subscribers you’re always complaining but you never leave the useless network,i think you also enjoy.
Prof Michael Chilufya Sata

January 17, 2012 at 12:07 pm

I left Airtel last year because of the same old bullshit! That is the more reason why we need a fourth mobile network company in our country to provide serious stiff competition to these infesters masquerading as investors. The best option is to sue them!
switch

January 17, 2012 at 12:09 pm

is there a facility of switching modems from airtel to mtn? I would love to do that.
Kumushi

January 17, 2012 at 12:21 pm

I think its high time we woke up Zambians. This thing of ukulilana masuku pamitwe is rising rampantly in our country. These fools can’t even think on behalf of a poor zambian living on less than a dollar per day. Today airtel when you recharge, whether its internet or calls on peak hours, its very expensive. Imagine 15mb for 20pin lasting only 2minutes without any download. I’ve thrown my airtel dongle with its sim in the bin, am using MTN, its far much better.
Observin frm kitwe

January 17, 2012 at 12:22 pm

Iwe feel free to leave airfail en join mtn wher we doin beeg things
A Samuneti

January 17, 2012 at 12:22 pm

Airtel ar jst crooks they called me that i hav won modem bt it has neva been given to me. So da advise to airtel they shud jst stop fuling us wth their fake promotion & promises Mtn is da best network.
Ricco

January 17, 2012 at 12:22 pm

Too bad man,airtel has become big headed nowadays,they dont fulfil their promises as 4 me am nw using MTN have no problm wth thm,wel try harder
Airtel

January 17, 2012 at 12:23 pm

Let’s sue them!!!….quacks, I’ll find you on f.book.
magroova

January 17, 2012 at 12:42 pm

Bwana if aircrap r giving u shit service dump them ! Its their loss bro I burnt my aircrap sim years ago and have never regretted the move When u pay it must show if it doesn’t don’t pay dump them!!!
Nshendi

January 17, 2012 at 12:46 pm

Get used 2 it
kay

January 17, 2012 at 1:00 pm

I wish I could join you but i gave up on airtel a long time ago and i have since cracked their dongle to use any data network simcard. To hell with airtel and their nonsense, enuf is enuf!
umu zedian

January 17, 2012 at 1:03 pm

thats y mtn nimbama.
Am wit u bro!

January 17, 2012 at 1:05 pm

I think its cool wat u r doing. I personaly thot long & hard b4 deciding nt to buy da dongle. Forget ol da pipo tellin u nt to do it,just go ahead dude. This is likely to ripple thru to other airfake products & help otha disadvantagd peeps. One luv
airtel

January 17, 2012 at 1:11 pm

ukutemwa ifya free ba fikala!
Nacimbusa

January 17, 2012 at 1:14 pm

What do you expect from a company being run by Indians? Let us team up and demand for their exit bacilamo ubufi bapompwe mwibala nsala. Even their talk time ilapwa bwangu kwati tulalya. Just few minutes ati yapwa. Now that we have a different government we need Vodacom not Airtel. How come when I am using MTN I can chat for longer hours only for 10 pin bena just 2 minutes it start beeping. Some of these infestors niba pompwe.
conman

January 17, 2012 at 1:15 pm

stop pretending. you cant do without airtel. yours are crocodile tears mr. i know the internet at MTN is pathetic. am now making video calls from my tab using my dear airtel. happy grumbling though do not involve people in fruitless ventures.
wasting tym

January 17, 2012 at 1:20 pm

BABA…DONT DEAL WITH CROOOX,COME ON MTN,THEY GAVE ME 4475MB! SO Y CRYING?
Munalian

January 17, 2012 at 1:25 pm

Those saying the complainer shouldnt “moan” on Tumfweko but to court are ignoring that suing a big corporation is likely to fail due to expensive lawyers but using blogs like Tumfweko and social media is a the best way to raise awareness to have a “class action”, ie thousands (if not tens of thousands) against the company…ie ONE lawyer (firm) representing MANY customers…thereby reducing legal fees.

@switch,you can’t use dongle of company A with service of company B…the dongle and service provider have to be the SAME.

@concerned Zambian,the President isn’t elected to check EVERY wrongdoing that happens in all sorts of companies…appropriate ministries exist for that!!! Besides, there must be an a watchdog and courts to settle disputes!!!

PLEASE,PLEASE…don’t think the President is there to fix EVERYTHING that seems wrong or not working!!
mad

January 17, 2012 at 1:43 pm

CONMAN ULITOLE SANA!!
hot

January 17, 2012 at 2:04 pm

I seriously urge the necessary authorities to look into this. We are being exploited as Zambians. Its not just a matter of leaving the network. I may leave, but they’ll still continue to con the poor Zambians. Talktime runs out too fast. We need to come together and speak out strongly against their malpractices. We deserve better service than the crap we’re being subjected to.
Donch

January 17, 2012 at 2:11 pm

hey just come to Lapgreen you will never regret
Mwanamfumu

January 17, 2012 at 2:24 pm

Ubu buteko bwampilpili, Airfail you shall be sorted out soon! Campaigning for Movement for Mad Dogs plus day light robbery,wapya baisa!!!!!!
Miss G

January 17, 2012 at 2:28 pm

MTN z th best. Loadd my 2gigs a month ago n i browse evryday, n i stil hv 1.8g remaing
Mwanamfumu

January 17, 2012 at 2:28 pm

Ba Conman Kwateni amano naimwe!!!!!!!!!
50:50

January 17, 2012 at 2:30 pm

There are advantages and disadvantages on either sides weigh them and they balance equaly.Bakafyeni fye.
zambian in india

January 17, 2012 at 2:30 pm

am stayn in india at the moment and the services of airtel here are execllent! As if its not the same company y cant they deliver such services in zambia also…they r jus exploitn africans coz u wont belive it i buy 1GB For k10,000 here(98 in rupees) eh k125,000 for 1GB dats nonsense
Wezzy

January 17, 2012 at 2:35 pm

Use article why not go to ZICTA or relevant authorities for compensation chipuba iwe? You are very dull and idiotic
Dodola

January 17, 2012 at 2:38 pm

So there are pipo still making aittel richer every day. i stopped years ago. i do not like being taken for granted
Stress

January 17, 2012 at 3:00 pm

What do you expect from these stingy Indians running Airtel?
wabufi wenye

January 17, 2012 at 3:10 pm

Airtel is another has exhibited potential for having their licence cancelled. We the PF dont play, we are warning them to stop those dirty tactics or else it will be like lap green issue and later introduce another mobile service provider. Our people should not suffer, to hell ba Mwenye with your cookedness
Willie Earl

January 17, 2012 at 3:11 pm

I notice something fishy with this article-”Their other commercial lie is their internet bundle pricing. They advertise that their data bundle, say, 1GB, is K125,000. But when you load K125,000 into the modem, you get around K124, 000 credit. So you must buy an extra K1,000 card to be able to recharge with 1GB.” So, the K, 000 only disappears if u load it on the modem not a phone, or if you load 125 pin? This is not true, its a lie and the author of the article is just disgruntled! GET A LIFE MAMBALA!!!!
Mpanga ya sapa umwenda abakalabene

January 17, 2012 at 3:30 pm

Finally someone has spoken loudly about the irregularuties and business malpractices of AIRTEL. I have just maintained the airtel line because it is paid for by the CO. During end of year appraisals almost everyone raised the issues of exhorbitant rates and poor services by AIRTEL and we have resolved to allow those who are not happy to move to MTN! Personally for private internet I have an MTN dongle which works very well and the charges are fair. I only use K85,000 as I only require this over the week-end and when on leave. SUE THE BLOODY AIRTEL INDEED! FRAUDULENT INDIANS!
docc2m

January 17, 2012 at 3:33 pm

Airtel is trash. I’ve always been MTN, no complaints…
Swituska

January 17, 2012 at 3:33 pm

malabbishi
Yongest DJ

January 17, 2012 at 3:36 pm

I HATE AIRFAIL. PEOPLE THINK TWICE. MTN “Yello.
Chips

January 17, 2012 at 3:36 pm

@conman dont display ur ignorance..let us stand together n fight fo what is right.Atleast ZICTA has instructed them n they cant bar you fm calling customer care if u kol them more than thrice in a day.
mwine mushi

January 17, 2012 at 3:57 pm

since my first handset in 2000 i have never used zamcell,celtel,zain now airtel i hope i m correct my network telecel…..where ever u go..
B King

January 17, 2012 at 3:59 pm

Airtel lie
Liseli

January 17, 2012 at 4:19 pm

Well done,good way to protest and recruit!
democracy pazed

January 17, 2012 at 4:41 pm

ha ha airtel is a fake compay.
I stopped using it’s network.
eshlon mpanga

January 17, 2012 at 4:44 pm

Airtel is a complete farce in everyway. Magic numbers, the rate @ which airtime is gobbled, competions, the list is endless. I m sure even the salaries of non Indian workers must be but just a pitance.
Child of the Sky

January 17, 2012 at 4:48 pm

Besides the “big” compalaint. let’s pack our bags and leave the inefficient, unfair trading briddled network. I already. Their sim cards are just for statistics to hoodwink the nation on the large customer base they have without showing real cause why they should continue on tyhe market. Bring the 4th provider, possibly vodacom and push these useless characters out of the zambian mobile communication landscape.
Ian K

January 17, 2012 at 5:02 pm

i was using airtel bt because of their poor services i’ve moved to MTN . just join the network that is going to meet your requirements, as for me it’s MTN.