Dialog GSM is the dominant mobile phone operator in Srilanka with over 60% of market share. The company offers many different postpaid/prepaid packages, value added services, infotainment services and more. This post aims to discuss problems faced with their billing system and how Dialog responded to miscalculations.
Dialog billing system is designed and managed by Millennium IT (MIT), which is a highly reputed IT firm in Srilanka. It's needless to say that Dialog billing system is a highly complex application as it has to bill calls of 3 million+ customers. As with any software system, it's not perfect. The following experience was sent to us by one of our readers.
"I purchased a Dialog Super 503 package along with a Super 101 package back in 2004. It was a really cool package coz outgoing between the two connection was Rs 0.50 any time of the day! That was a damn cheap price at that time (and it still is today) so I went for it without hesitation. I normally don’t check my bill through phone. But suddenly I got a message from 8896 saying that my credit limit has exceeded and that my connection was liable for automatic disconnection #@#&@*. Guess what, all my calls to Super 101, which were supposed to be Rs 0.50 were billed as 'Dialog to Non Dialog' outgoing and were charged at Rs 10 per min peak and Rs 5 per min off peak . I contacted Dialog customer care and was told to lodge a complaint. I lodged a complaint and I was told that they would get back to me once they figure out what the problem was. I had to pay a colossal amount for the first month but I was assured by Dialog that any excess amount would be waived off in next bill. After around a month customer care contacted me and guess what, my call records were fixed! All the excess payments were waived off and they apologized for the inconvenience caused. A rare bug in the billing system detected my super 101 as a non Dialog number it seems. Overall I think Dialog handled the issue in a professional manner and there was no lasting harm done. I've been using dialog since then and have never run into that problem again."
Have you had similar experiences? Discuss them here.
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my experience is da exact opposite of to the above said. my dad got me a dialog connection and da first month bill was ok. but frm da second month bill i was charged for using GPRS and MMS but my phone is a normal mono phone and doesnt hav GPRS or MMS. whem my dad went to question abt this da fellow theri said dat its been recorded dat i hav used and have sent sum where around(as i can remember)40 MMS's and hav been using GPRS for more than 5 hrs. my dad got pissed and told dialog to show a detailed bill and they said i had to pay 100 bucks to get a detailed bill and then my dad paid it and got a detailed bill in which was stated dat i sent MMS's during a period dat i didnt use ma phone coz it broke and i didnt use it for around 2 weeks till i got another phone. and also in da other times i had sent it mentioned. and also i hav taken calls and spoken for hours. and my bill was(guess how much?) 8900 rupees. and ma dad told he wants a investigation done on this matter and dat guy their told dat dat was not possible and to pay da bill or he would take leagal action. even though ma dad is a lawyer is just paid da bill and on the same day disconnected da connection and came. on da same day wen i and ma dad was there at dialog a women who works at a NGO was also their and complained dat she also had a new connection and had a unexpected amount of da bill. i think dialog is doing sum other underground work!!!
but since this incident ive been using mobitel and i dont hav n e problems and nw i use to take calls and i dont get a bill more than 1500.
DIALOG SUCKS!!
My experience is similar but limited. I'm using my organizations company package with Dialog.
Remember when they introduced * calls? Someone made a big harrangue about it and Dialog issued a statement that those ppl hv used it *before* the intended period.
H/e I used it well after it was operational - just to experiment and when I checked the detailed bill online Dialog * calls were billed "Dialog-To-Non-Dialog" and charged at appropriate rate.
It was just a few rupees loss to me (or rather my company). But I pursued it to the max and after few weeks they apologized and wiped away my entire bill for that month.
Before that they gave 1000 and one excuses, even putting their online bill tracking to doubt!
Most of my colleagues do not check their bill - because company foots the bill - but one thing I notice when I bother to check is that I seem to hv sent countless messages when I actually send very few - but how can I prove it?
Their online bill is update only 2-3 days later - so there is no way to check real time. Only if someone maintains strict records of their phone usage for a period of time will we be able to crack this nut.
My guess is that their billing systems are far from perfect - and you and I (maybe sometimes them) might be paying for it.
In January 2008 Dialog disconnected both my numbers (one super 500, one 100. 100 pkg is coupled with 500) while I was well within my credit limits. In fact the 100 package had a negative outstanding balance. When reported they were cluless and reconneted both mumbers in a hurry.
In my Februay 2008 bills they have overcharged some of my calls between the coupled numbers. When reported they took 3 days saying still investigating. Finally said they will give me a waiver within next 2 billing cycles.
I STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT EVERY ONE WHO GETS A DETAIL BILL TO GO THROUGH IT. YOU MIGHT FIND THAT DIALOG HAS BEEN OVER CHARGING YOU FOR A WHILE
dialog used to be really good back then in 2002-2003 n i think until arnd 2006.. t totally is crap now.. i have a super 500 package n i dun check d detail bills coz it goes to a different address so i have no idea bou that.. bt i have a dialog broad band connection as well.. man they have a lot of hidden charges.. n their service is not all that good now.. simply crap..i am very very disappointed about them.. those days even the customer care people were very helpful and all but now all of them are with God knows from where they get those freaking accents.. i just don't understand a thing.. sorry if this offends anyone but i am just so so disappointed..
nE,
Join the club. Anyways you can check the detailed bill online from www.dialog.lk. (My Dialog - Selfcare thing). To register an account you will need the NIC number of the registered owner.
As for broadband, do they really put you in a slow user category if you download over 4gb a month as mentioned in the FUP?
there are more billing errors as dialog introduce the per second billing.
1. they say 1000 d2d mins are free, but they still add that in the bill. They say they will give a waiver at the end of the month, but the tax component will be still charged.
2. the d2d for supplementary numbers supposed to be just 10 cents/min , but they are charging at 1 rs / min.
none of dialog customers should opt for the summary bill that they promote saying to "save the green". The only thing dialog want to save is themselves by hiding the detail bill, so we will be as helpless as the (KIT) pre paid ppl