Vodafone cites upgradation to delay blocking hapless customer’s SIM

If you lose your phone and want to block your number, you cannot possibly do it when the particular telecommunication network provider is upgrading its system. And believe it or not, this has been stated by Vodafone — one of India’s leading telecommunication network providers — to one of its customers. 

In such a case, after a Delhi-based journalist lost her phone on Tuesday and visited the Vodafone outlet at Connaught Place to block her SIM card, what she learnt was absolutely bizarre. She was told that they could not block her number or assist her in any way as they were upgrading their server for the next 24 hours! Here it is important to mention that this upgradation process was for five days, from September 18-23. 

Speaking to Millennium Post, the victim said: “I lost my phone this afternoon (Tuesday) at the Indian Women’s Press Corps. I called on my number thrice after I lost it but it was not reachable. Realising that my number can be misused by terrorists or anti-social elements, I thought of blocking it with immediate effect. I was shocked when they expressed their inability to do so till September 23 as they were in the process of upgrading my system.”

She further added: 

“My reminder to them that I have been categorised as a priority customer for giving them good business did not help either. Eventually, they accepted my request and said that I could try and get a new SIM card on Wednesday.” 

Questioning the system, she said: “Would they have applied the same rules if a Cabinet minister or a senior bureaucrat or for that matter, the Prime Minister himself had lost his phone. This is not to say that I am comparing myself to the Prime Minister. I am making a simple point. Should Vodafone be allowed to overlook potential misuse of lost phones running on its SIM cards during five-day long system upgradation process? Are our security agencies in the know of this absurd system upgradation during which Vodafone can merrily sit on requests for blocking SIM cards?” 

However, a case under the relevant sections has been registered at Parliament Street police station and the mobile phone has been kept on surveillance.