As long as things go smoothly, our system works. But let there be a problem and one is up against the most people-unfriendly scenario possible.

Our mobile bill (my mobile phone is an add-on to KM’s) was vastly over what’s normal, and we have given complaints twice, and both complaints have been registered on the Airtel site.

Now every day, several times, honey-voiced "customer care executives" call up on either phone, asking why we have not paid the bill. Increasingly, we are irritated by having to repeat our complaint, which the Airtel people say is not showing up on their system, so "could you tell us the problem, please?"

Yesterday I finally told one operator that I had no intention of wasting my time repeating the details of how we have been overcharged, to every Tom, Dick, and Harini who calls. If our complaint, which is registered, is not showing up on their system, that’s their problem, too, not ours. I asked her to set right the overcharging and call me back.

Silence so far.

But…I don’t want our mobile phones to be cut off, so today I will probably have to go and stand in a loooong queue at the Airtel office and meet someone and reiterate my woes all over again….

Most mobile service providers, I have seen, first canvas actively to get as many customers as they can, then the network gets saturated, and then the level of service drops sharply….rather a metaphor for what we are doing to our city, too!

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