On a back to back controversial events of Freedom 251, here comes another one, adding to the list of such controversies.
Ringing Bells has been accused of "fraud" and non-payment of dues by its customer service provider - a charge refuted by the smartphone company.
On the other hand, Ringing bells accused the BPO company, Cyfuture, of having failed in handling the huge traffic of customer calls.
Cyfuture Founder and CEO Anuj Bairathi said, “We were always sceptical of Ringing Bells and their business model. After several rounds of discussions with their management team and when they showed us names of senior politicians visiting their launch event, we decided to take up their project.”
The specified call centre number has received a number of calls in the beginning days of the phone’s release in the market and even Ringing bells was happy with our service, Bairathi said.
“However, when we started asking for our payments, which were to be made to us on a weekly basis, they started making false allegations and abruptly decided to terminate our services citing unsatisfactory services.
"This is a clear case of cheating, fraud and breach of contract. As per the contract, Ringing Bells had specifically assured us of a minimum lock-in period of one year and no termination before a year," he added.
Responding to the issue, Ringing Bells spokesperson said, the customers approaching helpdesk were unable to connect and the company directly received thousands of complaints from customers in this regard.
Ringing Bells President Ashok Chaddha said, “We had outsourced this job to Cyfuture BPO. Telecom companies confirmed that the helpline was receiving a volume of approximately 12 lakh calls per hour.
It came to our knowledge that the BPO company was not able to handle the traffic. We are looking into the situation to serve our customers better.”
As per their agreement, Bairathi said, in the event of termination due to unsatisfactory services, Ringing Bells was to provide a 30 day notice-period and make all pending payments.
"They are also not taking our calls. We plan to take all necessary legal recourse, including filing a police complaint to fight our case. We have started talking with police and file case by tomorrow.
There will be ruckus at our company if we lay off 100 employees hired for Ringing Bells project," Bairathi said.
In just three days, Bairathi said, 100 people were hired, who handled lakhs of calls for the Freedom 251 mobile phones.
After being doubted on the possibility of the selling phone at such low cost, the Telecom Ministry is eyeing upon the development with Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad saying that the company would face action if it fails to deliver the promised smartphone.
The online payment service provider of the Ringing Bells, PayU Biz, has kept money in an escrow account and will release it to the company after its ships the Rs 251 mobile phone.
By Phani Ch
