It is one of those moments when I feel like fighting for what is right and truthful. This is an incident I just happened to come across this afternoon at a local Mobile dealer store in one of the most busiest areas in the city of Ahmedabad, India.
I have recently arrived in India from my over 2 year long education trip to London, UK. Although I have stayed in India ever since my birth before I left for my further education, I was never involved in buying a mobile phone sim card in the past and so there was very little I knew about the formalities (document submission, etc.) and the cost for purchasing a new pre paid (aka pay as you go) connection in India.
Back in London, sim cards used to be completely free, and because I was alone (without my parents) in London, that was the first time I really looked on internet on ways to get a mobile sim card and felt really normal to see that the sim cards alone are completely free in UK and they come with no credit, and can be ordered for free online on any mobile network provider's website like T-Mobile, Orange, O2, etc.
However, now in India, I was charged Rs. 40 (£0.50) for a new sim card that came with zero balance. to those living in UK this might be a very small amount and may not even be something that needs to be taken into consideration, however it is not so for those who live in India, where the GDP per capita (as per the wikipedia) is just $1,410. On top of this I was asked to submit a copy of Photo Identication proof (Driving License, Passport, etc.) which must also have my current address on it and also two passport sized photographs. Now I know some of you reading this might be laughing at me, specially those to whom this is a very normal process that everyone has to go through when they are buying a new mobile phone conneection, however because I was never involved in such a process in India, and had seen a really relaxed and easy atmosphere in UK, this was a bit of a surprise.
I asked the guy at Reliance Web World, the reason behind charging my Rs. 40 and not even agreeing to give me a receipt for the amount I paid, he says, this is the normal activation fee, there are no needs for any receipts and they have never issued one in the past for this activation fee. however if I wanted to add credit to my new sim card account, they can issue me a receipt for that.
I quickly came home and went on Reliance communication website and was even more surprised when I found that the charge for a new sim card is actually Rs. 4 and that too gets you a credit of Rs. 1 so you can immediately make your first local call (within the state of Gujarat) immediately without any need for extra top up.
I felt cheated and looted, the concern was not the money, but the reason behind the actions of that Reliance Web World executive, who did this for his personal gain and now I have made my mind to send an email to Reliance complaints department about the same.
I hope to get some positive response out of it, as considering the amount of new connections that reliance services and even other telecom services get in a day due to the sheer size of the population in this country, this is a huge corruption market, where people may be earning a really handsome figure, and who knows some stores may be charging even much more than what that store charged me as it is situated in old city of Ahmedabad which is normally where lower middle class and fairly lower class people reside.
I have recently arrived in India from my over 2 year long education trip to London, UK. Although I have stayed in India ever since my birth before I left for my further education, I was never involved in buying a mobile phone sim card in the past and so there was very little I knew about the formalities (document submission, etc.) and the cost for purchasing a new pre paid (aka pay as you go) connection in India.
Back in London, sim cards used to be completely free, and because I was alone (without my parents) in London, that was the first time I really looked on internet on ways to get a mobile sim card and felt really normal to see that the sim cards alone are completely free in UK and they come with no credit, and can be ordered for free online on any mobile network provider's website like T-Mobile, Orange, O2, etc.
However, now in India, I was charged Rs. 40 (£0.50) for a new sim card that came with zero balance. to those living in UK this might be a very small amount and may not even be something that needs to be taken into consideration, however it is not so for those who live in India, where the GDP per capita (as per the wikipedia) is just $1,410. On top of this I was asked to submit a copy of Photo Identication proof (Driving License, Passport, etc.) which must also have my current address on it and also two passport sized photographs. Now I know some of you reading this might be laughing at me, specially those to whom this is a very normal process that everyone has to go through when they are buying a new mobile phone conneection, however because I was never involved in such a process in India, and had seen a really relaxed and easy atmosphere in UK, this was a bit of a surprise.
I asked the guy at Reliance Web World, the reason behind charging my Rs. 40 and not even agreeing to give me a receipt for the amount I paid, he says, this is the normal activation fee, there are no needs for any receipts and they have never issued one in the past for this activation fee. however if I wanted to add credit to my new sim card account, they can issue me a receipt for that.
I quickly came home and went on Reliance communication website and was even more surprised when I found that the charge for a new sim card is actually Rs. 4 and that too gets you a credit of Rs. 1 so you can immediately make your first local call (within the state of Gujarat) immediately without any need for extra top up.
I felt cheated and looted, the concern was not the money, but the reason behind the actions of that Reliance Web World executive, who did this for his personal gain and now I have made my mind to send an email to Reliance complaints department about the same.
I hope to get some positive response out of it, as considering the amount of new connections that reliance services and even other telecom services get in a day due to the sheer size of the population in this country, this is a huge corruption market, where people may be earning a really handsome figure, and who knows some stores may be charging even much more than what that store charged me as it is situated in old city of Ahmedabad which is normally where lower middle class and fairly lower class people reside.
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