Cheap Labor has lot of benefits for the consumer but it can be an annoyance too. Take Airtel billing chronology for example:
- You will get an SMS saying “Your bill dated 13 March is being generated. You will be able to access your bill information on 16 March. We thank you for your support.”
- This will be followed by an SMS “Your bill dated 13th Mar amount xyz is due on 31 March”
- Airtel can mail the monthly statement using the postal service. No, that won’t do. Why not hire a courier service to deliver the statement. After all labor is cheap.
- At the apartment complex, the security will call you and ask you if you want to accept the letter.
- The courier will ring the bell and require you to sign and accept the letter.
- A short while later Airtel will send an SMS with the message “the bill has been delivered to the account holder. This is for your information”.
- A short while later, Airtel will call you and ask you if you received the bill.
If you have Airtel landline as well as multiple mobile numbers, you can imagine the barrage every month.
In between you will get SMS from Airtel that says:
“WORRIED about your future. Cast away all your worries. Dial 1754 from your Airtel landline and talk to renowned Astrologers, Live!!. Call at Rs 6/min. T&C apply”.
I wonder why they need to qualify it with “Live!”. At 6 Rs/minute, there better not be a dead astrologer on the other end. What would be the T&C? — Don’t bank on the predictions?.
But I digress.
I have mentioned Airtel here but I would be surprised if other operators don’t follow the same procedures.