Massive phone bill: Cell firm CEO booked
The MRA Marg police have booked Vodafone India’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Marten Pieters, and two others for extortion and cheating. It has been alleged that a customer’s mobile network was disconnected after he refused to pay for the international calls that he apparently never made.
On January 28, 2015, Shrikant Bhat, a lawyer allegedly received a “crude and impatient” call from a recovery agent to pay his bill even before he had received it. He was asked to pay for four outgoing international calls that lasted 360 seconds each.
Later, seeing the exorbitant amount – Rs 2,408 for four calls -- Bhat realised that he was being charged for international calls allegedly never made by him. When Bhat contacted Vodafone and asked for the number to be blocked, bill corrected and information on the international calls, nothing was done, according to the complaint. The Vodafone employees were adamant that there was nothing wrong with the bill but agreed to “adjust” partial amount.
A part from Pieters, two employees--Anushree Ashok and recovery agent Rakesh Yadav--were also booked for cheating and extortion.
While clarifying why the CEO was made a party to the FIR, the complaint stated that Pieters was directly responsible for laying down policies, guidelines and strategies. He is also responsible for investigating the qualification and behaviour of recovery agents, the complaint stated.
“When a customer base consists of 180.49 million subscribers, it cannot do away with the compelling necessity of transparency. Subscribers have no power to resist blackmail,” The complaint read.
When contacted, Vodafone’s official spokesperson said, “It appears the customer named in your query is in touch with our circle team regarding a billing dispute. It is related to collection calls being made by the agent of Mumbai Circle. Our circle team is in constant dialogue with the customer to resolve his grievances.
The MD and CEO of Vodafone India is no way connected to the day-to-day circle operations and has no role in this matter. We will co-operate with any kind of investigation.”
On January 28, 2015, Shrikant Bhat, a lawyer allegedly received a “crude and impatient” call from a recovery agent to pay his bill even before he had received it. He was asked to pay for four outgoing international calls that lasted 360 seconds each.
Later, seeing the exorbitant amount – Rs 2,408 for four calls -- Bhat realised that he was being charged for international calls allegedly never made by him. When Bhat contacted Vodafone and asked for the number to be blocked, bill corrected and information on the international calls, nothing was done, according to the complaint. The Vodafone employees were adamant that there was nothing wrong with the bill but agreed to “adjust” partial amount.
“The fact that all the four calls were made for exactly 6 minutes is a mathematical proof that the billing was fraudulent. Despite this, the Vodafone employees were adamant that there was nothing wrong with the bill. Also, they did not answer any of the queries raised,” Bhat said.
A part from Pieters, two employees--Anushree Ashok and recovery agent Rakesh Yadav--were also booked for cheating and extortion.
While clarifying why the CEO was made a party to the FIR, the complaint stated that Pieters was directly responsible for laying down policies, guidelines and strategies. He is also responsible for investigating the qualification and behaviour of recovery agents, the complaint stated.
“When a customer base consists of 180.49 million subscribers, it cannot do away with the compelling necessity of transparency. Subscribers have no power to resist blackmail,” The complaint read.
When contacted, Vodafone’s official spokesperson said, “It appears the customer named in your query is in touch with our circle team regarding a billing dispute. It is related to collection calls being made by the agent of Mumbai Circle. Our circle team is in constant dialogue with the customer to resolve his grievances.
The MD and CEO of Vodafone India is no way connected to the day-to-day circle operations and has no role in this matter. We will co-operate with any kind of investigation.”
