Please help me to get my Rs 4000 refund.

[BypassBypass2]

Sorry for the long post, please bear with me.
Hello, On 24 July i applied for airtel xstream fiber connection on the airtel website, i filled in the name, phone number, address and submitted. Few hours later i received a call from a technician and he confirmed that new fiber connection can be installed at my home (I reiterated my address and shared aadhaar with him) then i chose Rs 699 airtel black plan(Already have airtel DTH since 8 yrs) and paid Rs 4000 with debit card(Its an airtel offer where you pay 4000rs to save on installation charges).

Spoiler: Payment Confirmation

Hi, Payment of Rs. 4000.0 paid via Debit Card towards your airtel Acquisition CART ID 1-CN56XXX has been processed via Order Id 6956936620434178XXX. Please keep the Order ID for future reference.

An hour later, technician called and said application got rejected, he send me this Screenshot.
On the same day my DTH got recharged with Rs1717 (not by me) Screenshot

Next day he came to my home, explained that my connection got rejected because my building does not have fiber main box(FAT box), but have airtel copper line box, said he can provide copper line, i refused, and said he will initiate refund process.
He also showed me nearest 2 FAT boxes to my home(only 50m and 60m away both), said they were new and waiting to go live.
After 10 days both boxes this one and this one went live and i confirmed with him, then reapplied for fiber connection, paid Rs1180 this time.
Connection did not got installed, told me higher ups said no, i told him i could pay whole fiber laying cost additionally, still no, got my refund of Rs1180 after 20 days on 22 August.

On same 22 August i also received this

Spoiler: message

Update on your Airtel Digital TV ID 3009XXXXXX : Airtel Pack : Gujarat Value Lite HD 6M pack, valid till 17-Feb-23. Now use whatsapp with ease, click https://tinyurl.com/2ppjtXXX to get information on your account, recharge & channels.

DTH Balance went from ~1750 to ~100 rs (don't remember exact figures).
I do have received refund message on 12 August for the 24 July Application, Message states Hi, due to some feasibility constraint in your locality, new Airtel Xstream Fiber connection (request No. 01207493XXX) could not be processed. The refund of the paid amount will be processed soon.

Its been 40 days now, technician keeps saying refund is in process, he cant do anything more than that, went to airtel physical store where this technician work, said contact technician only, store cant help me with this.

What do i do now for the whole Rs4000 refund?
And is there any way to get airtel fiber connection, been airtel dth user since 8 years, and i would like to get connection from airtel only.
Thank you

 

[Navjot Singh]

Reach out to Airtel via Twitter. https://twitter.com/Airtel_Presence

 

[Satya97]

Email Airtel Nodal officers / raise a CPGRAMS complaint. If twitter doesn't work.

 

[Chip]

@BypassBypass2 you'll get your money back man...don't worry. Escalate to the Nodal officer and on Twitter. Don't know which neck of the woods you are in but hopefully you did not hand over your money to an LCO. If this was direct with Airtel they'd have refunded it by now (90 days!).

 

[Lolita_Magnum]

First of all, I know it's nitpicking and this is for everyone; but "YOU ARE NOT TO PAY FOR YOUR CONNECTION UNTIL AT LEAST THE CABLING IS DONE AT YOUR LOCATION AND THE DEVICE HAS BEEN SETUP".
Even if the engineer demands that you need to pay first, simply deny him. This is not my rules, this is what is written in the airtel documentation.

 

[dkdhanda8]

@Lolita_Magnum even for me they asked for the payment on the same day saying the other guys are laying fiber and it'll be installed on the same day . I had to go to college the next day and installation was done after 3-4 days lol .

 

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[imdarkray]

@Lolita_Magnum Payment is always done in advance before the actual installation. The booking guy is the one who is at fault. When they do the booking, they have to select the nearest fat-box number from where the user's connection will be done.
The installation team is different. They can deny the customer wiring and connection if they feel the distance is not as per the directives they have received from Airtel.
The booking guy should have confirmed the feasibility before booking a new connection.

As no amount is paid in cash, the refund is pending from Airtel itself.
@BypassBypass2 As you said, you are an Airtel black customer, You can dial 198 from the registered mobile number it would connect you directly to a dedicated Customer representative. They would resolve this quickly. If you do not get a proper response, you can approach through Twitter. Even after this, if it's not resolved, write a mail to your State's Airtel Nodal officer, They would certainly resolve this.

@dkdhanda8 I think in your case, your connection was coming from more than 100m and you had your own deal with the installation team to pay them extra for the wiring. This is not advisable by Airtel and the Installation team is kind going against Airtel directives. If anything goes wrong in this case, it's your personal matter. Airtel may help you out but that entirely depends upon them.

 

[pachabhut]

Rule no.1 - never ever opt for black. Always opt for separate individual services.

 

[dkdhanda8]

@imdarkray i don't recall the location of the nearest junction box at the time of installation as i wasn't present at that time . Rn there's one at 20-30 m from my home from which my connection is taken.

 

[Lolita_Magnum]

@imdarkray We were instructed by Airtel and the Engineer themselves to only make payment via the SMS link once the installation is complete. Jio does the same here, so I have no clue what you are talking about.

When I got Excitel, they did the same and so did all the ISPs I ever had before.

 

[imdarkray]

YOU ARE NOT TO PAY FOR YOUR CONNECTION UNTIL AT LEAST THE CABLING IS DONE AT YOUR LOCATION AND THE DEVICE HAS BEEN SETUP

I am talking about this. I am also saying that the payment is always done online but in advance while booking not installation.
And the OP says he paid through a debit card so I assume that is also from the link that he received in the SMS.

I just got Jio installed 10 days ago at my place and they did the same. The booking guy came and did the feasibility check, and registration and then asked to pay via the SMS link to book the slot and confirm. After payment, within 2 hrs Jio installation guys came and did the rest part. I have also installed Airtel twice and the same procedure was followed. The payment was done while booking and registration. The installation was done later.

About paying in cash, sometimes the local operators try to bypass Airtel and earn money. so they ask for extra cash for wiring if the distance is more than 100m whereas Airtel has totally instructed them not to give connections beyond 100m. The cash payment is totally wrong. But few people who are in dire need choose this way.

 

[Lolita_Magnum]

I guess the above might be true if one is an LCO model or is getting a Prepaid Connection. Because I do not share the same experience as you.

 

[igloo]

Even I paid in advance for jio prepaid installation. Didn't asked for post install payment as box was in front of main house gate.

 

[mate]

I have had the same experience as @imdarkray on Airtel prepaid as well as Jio prepaid & postpaid. Afaik, Jio doesn't operate on LCO model anywhere. For Excitel(LCO model), i paid online after installation was completed. For Railwire(LCO model), i paid cash after installation was completed.

 

[havoc]

@Lolita_Magnum you're right. For prepaid every broadband operator takes the money first. For postpaid it's a different story.