Airtel charging me thousands for their mistake in SMS notifications

The detailed version of this problem is available here.

Airtel send me SMS on 12th saying that my free data offer will get deactivated in 3 days.

Airtel send me SMS on 14th saying that offer expired.

I used Internet on 13th expecting it to be free.

Airtel is charging thousands of rupees for 13th usage, saying that the offer expired on 12th itself and they don't have a log of such an SMS that i received on 12th and 14th. The total usage for the month is less than 2GB and the chargeable usage is around 5930KB only. Detailed calculation is here.

I presented myself at the Airtel head office at Santhome, Chennai and showed the SMS messages from the phone. Talked with all levels of Customer support executives and emailed them with proof. Everyone, to whom the problem was escalated, is taking two days and being passed to someone else. The cycle is going on...[read more here]

[update] This issue has been resolved. You can know more here.

Airtel's FREE data offer for Nokia N8 is not FREE - Billing Problem

Here is my experience with Airtel that charged me thousands, for an offer that was told to be free.

As soon as I bought my new Nokia N8, I requested for FREE 2GB data per month that Airtel was offering for 3G. This offer was applicable for two months. The first month went fine and my usages were treated as FREE.

On the second month, I received an SMS saying that my free offer will be deactivated in 3 days. Below is the screenshot of that SMS.

As i knew that i didn't used Internet much, i went ahead and used internet on 13th. On the next day 14th, I received another SMS notifying that my free data offer is no more and from now on normal charges will apply. Here is the picture of that.

A video showing both these SMS messages are available here.

So far so good. But, when the bill was generated, the usages on 13th and 14th were not considered FREE. The bill amount was more than 9k.

Here, in the bill, it shows my Internet usage details. The total usage for that month is well below 2GB.

See that the 13th usage is not being considered as FREE, below.

The total usage for the month itself is much less than 2GB.

when the 13th usage is reduced from the charged usage (13 to 19 Sep), the real chargeable KB is roughly 5930KB only.
Total usage for the month: 1126070KB (1.07GB)
Usage until 14th Sep 5:18PM: 1120140 KB (1.06GB) - less than 2GB
Chargeable usage: 5930KB

What is happening ever since:
I've been talking with tens of customer support executives, sending emails with screenshots of SMS messages to nodal officers, appellate officers and so forth. Among the discussions, i  was told that my offer actually expired on 12th Sep 2011. Then, i had to ask why these false SMS notifications. They don't have a clue.

Few of them doesn't understand the problem while others came back saying that there is no problem with the bill. Then I will have to explain the whole thing again since they are just verifying the bill, not considering the messages in to the consideration. When i explain again, they will say we need time and push it to someone else. After 2 days, the other one will comeback saying that you bill is calculated correctly. The cycle goes on....

To solve things, I was told to physically be present at the Airtel head office and show the SMS messages; went there and showed the SMS messages. They told that it will take 24 hours to resolve. After 24 hours, again someone called back saying that the bill is right; I explained, support asked for again 2 days time, as a last attempt.

Inferences:

At this point, based on the experiences, these are the inferences that can be pulled out.

1. SMS notifications are not trustworthy. As customers, we should not believe that these notifications are valid. Don't take any actions based on these notifications. AIRTEL DON'T HAVE LOGS FOR NOTIFICATIONS THAT WE RECEIVE. In doubt, call customer care and confirm.
2. Airtel Customer Support Team works for the process, not for SUPPORTING CUSTOMERS. They just want to close any issue in hand by following the process. They don't try to understand the problem.
3. Duration based offers are always vulnerable for customers, since they are not being executed properly. If you are going for a duration based on offers, think again!

Waiting for the decisions, will share the conclusions as updates...

UPDATE: Someone from Delhi customer support called today (Oct 17th) and told me that my usage is 16935 which is above 2GB. I had a hard time explaining her that 16935 is the amount, not the usage. I had to request for an execute who know how to decipher their own bill. This is getting worse....
UPDATE (Oct 18th): One of the appellate members came back with an email saying my FREE offer expired on 13th Sep 2011, mentioning nothing about the false SMS notifications that i received and it's effect. Called appellate team again and had to explain about the problem, again! After 40 mins of talk, the support guy told to wait until 24th Oct for a resolution. Waiting....
UPDATE (Nov): The above call turned fruitful. Airtel understood the problem and was escalated as a mis-communication. My next month bill had adjustments to accommodate for the above issue. The adjustment is not exact as per my calculation (slightly less), but i don't want to go behind that. Anyway, I'm happy that my billing problem has been resolved and learned a lesson on trusting the SMS communications blindly.