08 April,2009 03:56 PM IST | | Kumar Saurav
Cellular operators' agents threaten relatives and friends of users to pay outstanding bill amount
"Your friend has an outstanding phone bill and you better pay it." This is not a case of mistaken identity. Recovery agents of cellular operators have now started harassing relatives and friends of subscribers who haven't paid their bill on time.
In one such incident, Rajesh Kumar, a South Delhi resident received a call on April 7 (from the number 9910903016) from a man claiming to be an Idea Cellular Ltd representative. The representative demanded that Rajesh should pay the bill on behalf of his cousin Vivek Gupta who had gone out of town. "He asked me about the whereabouts of my cousin. When I told him that he is in Bangalore, he said, 'Jo banda apna bill nahi pay ker sakta hai, uski itni aukaat hai kyaa ki woh Bangalore jaa sake? Idea ne kyaa khairaath mein connection baante hai? Aap bill pay karo nahi to hume nikalwana aata hai,'" said Rajesh. However, when we contacted Vivek in Bangalore, he said that he hadn't authorised the phone company to ask anyone else to pay his bill. "I have not authorised anyone to pay the bill on my behalf. Had it been the case, Rajesh would have signed the guarantee letter," said a disturbed Vivek, on phone from Bangalore.
But Rajesh is not alone. Barun Chandra, a multinational employee and an Idea user, too has a similar complaint. "My name was in the reference list of one of my friends. And the friend had an outstanding bill. So recovery agents from Idea asked me to pay the bill. They threatened me with a police cases if I refused to pay up," said Chandra.
Vice-President (Corporate Affairs) of Idea Cellular Rajat Mukherjee refused to respond despite repeated calls made to his company. Even the representative who declared herself as a corporate personnel at Idea, refused to speak after the case was narrated to her.
"When I delayed the payment of my phone bill, all the contacts in my call log were threatened to pay up on my behalf. It was such an embarrassment," said another victim Hamid Ali, a media professional.
Legal experts say the cellular firms are at fault and a case of defamation should be filed against Idea Cellular. "Under no circumstances can a phone operator ask the relatives of a subscriber to pay the bill. Also, a case of inflicting mental agony and harassment can be filed. The victim can also seek compensation," said advocate Ashish Sharma.
However, Idea is not the only cellular provider using goons to extract pending bills from users' friends and family.
Names of victims have been changed to protect their identities.
