Airtel 3G data pack/plan recharge after you run out

Airtel’s 3g payment service is incredibly broken. I am a heavy data user and this happens to me all the time. Here’s the scenario:

1. You buy a data pack (say 2GB for 455 INR)
2. You use up all 2GB before the end of the month (if you call 12311# it will tell you 0.00 MB remaining).
3. You SMS 3g to 121 to renew. You select what you want (after the 10th try).
4. It tells you it will be activated in 4hrs.
5. A minute later, it tells you you have more than 50MB in your account so you cannot purchase the data pack.

4 calls to customer service who supposedly fix it every time, 3 emails which will be responded to in one day (4 days and no response).

TAKE MY GOD DAMN MONEY AIRTEL! I’m not asking for you to make your service work, or even provide me good service, I’m asking you to TAKE MY MONEY. Can’t we find a win-win here?

Originally published at http://www.jacobsingh.name on March 7, 2013.