chandramauli 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2005 (edited) A friend of mine is an Airtel Customer. He, like millions of other Airtel customers, has been facing the worst blitzkrieg of SMS Spam and pointless marketing gimmicks ever conducted in the history of India. I just did a little poll around the office to check how much SMS Spam people get from their mobile service provider. Let me define SMS Spam; any message which is not a direct result of any activity by you, or a change in the service provider's system and promotes something that you did not ask for can be classified as SMS Spam. So, if the service provider messages you about a mobile scheme change or a service alert, that's not spam, but if he tells you to go watch a movie, or download some new ringtone for Rs. 7, that is. Here's a result of the poll! Orange (5-8 SMS Messages a month) BPL (3-6 SMS Messages a month) Reliance (4-8 SMS Messages a month) (Sorry – no Tata Indicom users in my office) Want to know how much spam my friend gets from Airtel? 45 Messages a month, promoting everything from movies to ringtones, even shopping sprees! What's worse is the fact that they arrive at almost any time; even at 11 PM, or 2 AM in the night (over 30% of them), whereas according to the little poll I conducted, that's not the case with the other service providers. What's worser is the way customers are treated when they call up to report spam and get it disabled. First, you have to call customer service, navigate endless menus, wait for five to ten minutes to be connected to a real human, during which, they stream down marketing messages and advertisements to you (marketing everywhere?). Second, the customer service associates fail to acknowledge the fact that these messages are spam and that the customer never signed up for them in any way. Then, they tell the customers that their systems are incapable of "disabling" these messages for individual users; they're sent to everyone and that they don't see anybody else complaining about it. And when you ask to speak to somebody higher up who could resolve this problem, or take a decision on the same, they hang up on you. This has happened in front of me, three times in a row! Want to know something even worse? Airtel has even sold out their "Balance Check" feature. Try their Prepaid balance check service to see how much money is left in your account and they send you an SMS back, the top 2/3rds of which contain an ad for something or the other (for the movie Kisna, when I checked last), you've got to scroll down to the end of the message to check your balance. Overmarketing, you say? What crime have any of the users committed to be treated like this? Especially Prepaid users who have already handed over the money they will use to make calls (don't even get me started on the fact that Prepaid users are charged more, despite them paying their fees in advance)? Airtel needs to come clear and stop these horrendous spam tactics to generate revenues, else users will uproar, form a committee and take Airtel to the consumer court for sending unsolicited spam that affects their daily lives and makes it harder to read even simple things like your balance. Forget customer service; that's a different story altogether, to be covered in a different edit someday else. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- KEEP IT UP AIRTEL ... KEEP SPAMMING !!!! RIM please don't follow AirTel courtesy : Techtree.com The author of this post is varun singh. Log on to techtree.com for further discussions on this post. Edited February 3, 2005 by chandramauli Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
deepu 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2005 There should be some rules for SMS spaming also... Like emails which can be blocked. The service providers should also give option to customers option to block such messages. Maybe TRAI should set some guidelines on this also. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tanveer 59 Report post Posted February 3, 2005 Yeah i know Airtel really s**ks in that respect dont know what they want from customers. i cant tolerate all those stupid messages Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ashokjp 15 Report post Posted February 3, 2005 Yeh me 2 is a victim of this... Each day i get messages like Kalla Kalla, Lajjavathiye and other foot tapping Malayalam hits now play on ur phone. Dial 2020, go to All Time Hits and select ur favÞ one right away.Rs.7/min The latest Dileep Hit _RasikanÞ collection of songs on ur mobile. Dial 2020, goto Rasikan special and download ur favÞ tone right away. Rs.7/min. The recent hit in Malayalam Rasikan with its vibrant songs now on ur mobile. Dial 2020, goto Rasikan special and download ur favÞ tone.Rs.7/min. any many more... No use complaining... It keeps spamming... Only way is to delete it... When we are waiting for someones calls or anything, this sms beeps in.. we'll think that its that guy who is messaging, finally when we open it jus this ugly adverts Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
swaroop 0 Report post Posted February 3, 2005 i dont use Airtel but many of my frens use it.. i guess there is a shorter way to disable spam -- Send N to 170 -- my frens have done this and they dont get any more such messages.. its toll free too .. hope this works and bring peace to all those irritated ones ! p.s- if this post turns out airtel customers shifting to reliance because of this spam.. .. i m sorry ! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ashokjp 15 Report post Posted February 3, 2005 Btw wats the dat command for ? I mean wats its actual use ? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vishal Gupta 4 Report post Posted February 3, 2005 My friend is also an AirTel customer. He also told me about such thing many times and he is very frustated. He complained many times but nothing happened. thnx Swaroop! I'll tell him about SMS N to 170. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
imvikky 0 Report post Posted February 4, 2005 Hey did you hear about the hutch move they had some offer last year of free roaming... Now let me explain their concept of free roaming... Once you go from place A to place B the day you reach place B you'll be charged Rs 50 (for nothing) and then for a given period say fifteen days(I'm not sure) you won't have any roaming charges... We guys used to fly from Place A to B to C to D to E and back to A on the same day..... By the time you reach home your balance is nil and you get five messages " welcome to A/B/C/D/E" At least I thank reliance for not having any such plan in use........ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
AmanJ 1 Report post Posted February 4, 2005 Hey did you hear about the hutch move they had some offer last year of free roaming...Now let me explain their concept of free roaming... Once you go from place A to place B the day you reach place B you'll be charged Rs 50 (for nothing) and then for a given period say fifteen days(I'm not sure) you won't have any roaming charges... We guys used to fly from Place A to B to C to D to E and back to A on the same day..... By the time you reach home your balance is nil and you get five messages " welcome to A/B/C/D/E" tongue.gif At least I thank reliance for not having any such plan in use........ clap.gif i dont know for other hutch circles but for hutch delhi subscribers , Rs50 is charged only once u actually receive or make call or sms. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
imvikky 0 Report post Posted February 4, 2005 Hey i mean the same the moment you recieve that welcome message then you are charged.... if you keep your cell off while flying low/transiting thru that city then you are safe.... otherwise you are charged Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
linuxguy 0 Report post Posted February 4, 2005 Heh, I have a BPL SIM and I get spammed with 5-6 messages each day! Anyway, I love my TRUMP SIM. It offers free roaming(without charging Rs.50 or whatever, only charged for actual calls or smses ) but the network sux Ah yes and I dont receive much spam Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
swaroop 0 Report post Posted February 4, 2005 Btw wats the dat command for ?I mean wats its actual use ? 25967[/snapback] this is the thing that the whole AIRTEL customers are looking for to disable gettin further spam messages !.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ashokjp 15 Report post Posted February 5, 2005 I asked that bcz when i send a message to that no my phone shows "Number not in USE" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
delguy19 0 Report post Posted February 6, 2005 hi all i call airtel care and ask then why i am getting so much spam msg they says its promotional sms if u dont wana we will make it deactivated in 48 hrs as now 48hrs completed no spam in whole days thx airtel Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
swaroop 0 Report post Posted February 6, 2005 I asked that bcz when i send a message to that nomy phone shows "Number not in USE" 26063[/snapback] so u use Airtel too ! .. good. And may be they have disabled that command or number 170... what matters is that CC guys are disabling the spam thing on request. [as delguy19 has written] Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Chirag 5 Report post Posted February 7, 2005 1 more interesting thread on the board that members can read... Block that pesky phone call Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
satyamsharma 0 Report post Posted March 4, 2005 I wonder why nobody hasn't talked about them - but shouldn't there be a system by which a customer can ask Reliance not to be disturbed by 3rd party advertisements that have become so irritatingly frequent and bothersome these days? Firstly there are the Reliance's ad messages itself ... almost two every week ... some scheme or discount or the other ... but now there are even ads from TV serials!!! - and that too from the number 1232 which clearly means somebody paid Reliance moolah to ensure they trouble and disturb us on their behalf ... not to mention last year's general elections when one would pick up the phone only to hear the prime minister's voice asking for votes ... this is a paid service, after all, and everybody pays *good* money and *hefty* bills to keep their connection alive ... why then should we be subjected to this kind of "official" spam??? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Shabz 8 Report post Posted March 5, 2005 I just recd a SMS from Amit Sana of indian idol from 1232 thanking me and telling me to watch the indian idol finals on saturday infact I do not see this show and have never voted for anyone Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
chandramauli 0 Report post Posted March 5, 2005 strange .. i still haven't received spam from reliance.... the only messages i get from 1232 is regarding reliance its self ... that they have added news sites in gujarat (im from gujarat) ... and all which i think its ok .... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
