New Delhi:Tired of the non-stop promotional calls from Airtel, Subhash Chandra, a Mumbai-based businessman, recently blocked all the promotional numbers to avoid getting disturbed at odd hours. However, things did not go down well at Airtel’s end as the offended members sent a marketing executive to his house to explain promotional schemes and offers on a new Airtel connection.
“We at Airtel believe in providing services at your doorstep. After blocking our calls, Mr Chandra must have believed that we will be reluctant in offering our services, but we’re not the numero uno telecom operator just like that,” said the promotions manager at Airtel India. He further added that such home visits are frequently undertaken to ensure that there is no person left in the country who doesn’t hate Airtel.
Chandra, who works in night shift in a call centre, compensates for his sleep by sleeping all day. However, he would get calls from Airtel executives explaining him attractive offers to develop hatred for Airtel and its employees. The calls would not just disturb his sleep but also made him throw his mobile phone several times in frustration. “This is the sixth handset that I have bought in the last three months. To stop the calls, I’ve flung five phones on the floor and walls till date, rendering them irreparable,” said a sleepy Chandra.
The salesman who visited Chandra’s house is a professional convincer. “We have ranked our employees on the basis of their ability to convince. The more they frustrate the customer, the higher they are ranked,” said the HR manager, explaining the organisation structure.
When our team of five reporters visited the Airtel premises to investigate the matter, they offered us drinks and explained new plans introduced by Airtel. We were allowed to leave the premises but only after getting ourselves new Airtel connections, one each for every reporter.