Unfair...
Hi. Hutch Announcement on per SMS charges on 14'th Feb - Local SMS: 25p, National SMS: Rs 1, International SMS: Rs 5. This is for your information.
This is the text message that I received from Hutch a few days ago. And I consider it absolutely unfair that the company charges money for sending an SMS on Valentines day. And not only on Feb 14'th, I was charged money for sending greetings on Christmas, New Year, and Pongal.
In prepaid plans, every subscriber is entitled to sending 100 free local messages per day. I usually exhaust my daily limit before 6 in the evening. But thousands of subscribers don't send even a single message on normal days. They use up their limit only on festival days when they send SMS greetings to relatives and friends. Hutch, Airtel and Aircel are now charging messages on festival days on the pretext that their networks are getting congested due to the large volume of messages. This is true but a lame excuse nonetheless. Instead of upgrading their networks, companies are resorting to underhand tactics to earn extra money. The free SMS facility that they so proudly advertise on their brochures and advertisements has no meaning if they introduce hidden charges like these. Why doesn't TRAI (Telephone regulatory Authority of India) do anything about this?
Cellphone companies made a killing in the early days when call rates were 16 rupees per minute for outgoing and 8 rupees for incoming. Now they should decrease their rates because of the ever growing base of subscribers. India is the fastest growing telephony market in the world. The huge number of new subscribers every month justifies rock bottom call charges. The cell companies should realise this and refrain from unethical practises.
26 people have commented:
these days SMS has become a business, a new way of looting ppl...
when the networks dont follow you..switch to expressing urself! :P
@brute:
Yea, they are not even giving free SMS when we need it most.
@krithika:
lol, right....
everything is bug business these days.add valentine's day to the list of all the other festivals.
@starry:
It seems every festival is a huge pie and every company is trying to grab a piece of it. One way or the other.
thats not fair.. Did you check any other plan from different company?
it's a money-driven world that we live in.
Keshi.
hey !
thanx for stopping by !
well, u know , i dont have even a single sms free tho i have a prepaid connxn
@mommyof2:
All plans are the same, they screw us in new and innovaive ways.
@keshi:
I don't mind them being money driven. What irks me is that they try to cheat me to gain profits.
@Deepa:
That is sad. You shouuld check with your operator. They must be having some plan with SMS free.
Gosh! Thats ridiculous...ofcourse something needs 2 be done 2 curb this day light looting by these service providers!
Yeah :( Tht was very bad..Tey actually shud give more concession like 100+100 sms :( Instead they r chargin ... :(
Maybe we should all resort back to the old fashioned ways - like sending letters! But then that's still a 45 cent stamp! SO really, we've always been charged for things like this, it has just changed in form!
-Amy
When I called up Hutch Care...you wouldn't believe what those stupid people said!! "Public holiday ma'am!!! I mean since when has valentine's day become a national holiday???
@has to be me:
Yes, the regulatory authority seems to be sleeping on this one
@PK:
Absolutely, with such a huge market, they can certainly afford lower rates
@Amy:
Sending letters is certainly a better idea. The point is that the mail service doesn't cheat us. It doesn't impose any hidden charges after advertising free postage. The Cellular companies do exactly that.
@Sindhu:
The hutch care guys don't know anything. They are just a call centre with minimal training
wow, are u serious? thts ridiculous! total rip off, if u ask me!
yeah the reason for that cheating is cos this world is too money-driven.
:)
Keshi.
Oh yes...i see your point! They're capitalizing on our laziness and busyness...because really, who has the time or energy to write a whole letter, buy a stamp and send it anymore :) Or is it just me??
-AMy
Hmm, I guess life is unfair after all...
@soul:
Hi, long time no see...you seem to have taken a break from blogging..
@Keshi:
Every organization works with a profit motive. That is not wrong and I don't disagree with that. But the companies overstep their bounds when they try to cheat us or deliberately mislead us. What I wrote about is one of those cases.
@tohou:
Nobody writes personal letters anymore, at least no one with computer literacy and internet access. But official communication is still done through post and I don't know about you, but I prefer to send real greeting cards to my friends and family rather than the e-greetings.
@Orchid:
Yup, bingo...
I second krithika's comment :-)
Thats robbing during broad day light man....
But here they charge us for receiving SMS too... :(
@harish:
Bang on...
@KK:
REceiving SMS?? Are you in roaming? Even if you are in roaming, charges for receiving SMS are too much
I am not in roaming... its the regular charge :(
Post a Comment