Airtel Woes

Not a day goes by that I don’t have to call up Airtel for one service or the other, be it broadband, digital TV, or for my wife’s mobile phone (I thankfully left Airtel six months ago.) The latest issue is that I need to recharge my TV account but can’t log into the site. It isn’t necessary for Airtel simply believes in expanding its footprint while existing service are plagued by problems.

In all the years I have been an Airtel customer, I have never understood the logic behind asking the customers for their name, phone number, billing address, alternate contact number or e-mail before answering any customer query. Their 121 executives simply refuse to proceed until the caller confirms each of the above. I do not understand how anyone can harm me by calling up Airtel pretending to be me. Even if I give the benefit of doubt to Airtel and accept that misuse is possible, how do they ensure that the person who’s calling is really Manu Khanna, and not an imposter who has my personal details. The details they ask for is information that can be easily ascertained.

The point that I am trying to make here is why have processes that don’t solve their intended purpose? Might as cut to the chase and answer what the caller wants to know.