Vodafone Care is no longer Toll Free

Vodafone India has changed the status of it's Care lines at the number 111 from Toll Free to paid. The paid status is only applicable to calls which are connected to the call center personnel so they won't charge you for browsing through the computer DTMF interface. The charges for contacting the care lines are at 50p per 3 minutes.

The reason for this change is probably part of their strategy to reduce the number of fake calls being made to customer care lines. Fake calls to care lines are a pain-in-the-a** to people handling these calls. You should hear some of the recordings which have been released.. it made me feel sorry for call center personnel. The frustration that they face is magnified by the fact that they can't talk back to the kind of emotional harasment that they face from most of these fake callers.. if it were me i'd be seriously pissed off!

With this new tactic in place I guess things might turn out to be better for them.

Crappy customer care recordings

The other day i was using Vodafones computerised customer care to
enquire about some new offers that i'd heard about. But since i'd been
relaxing to music until then, instead of using the usual nokia
headphones, I had plugged in a pair of hifi neodymium equipped phones.
And i was able to notice the difference in sensitivity and sound
reproduction in a different kinda way.

As soon as the recorded voice started playing I was not only able to
hear sales pitch but in the background there were a whole lot of guys
talking. Turning up the volume i was even able to hear a guy shouting
at another guy in hindi and another person giving the "welcome to
customer care" dialogue. =)
It's like a Kinder Egg. You can hear different sound bites for each
offer. I wonder if i'll be able to find something interesting in
there..