10 reasons to hate WaridTel
I can recall I got my first cell phone back in 2002. It was a Nokia 3310 
with a UFone connection for which I had to pay 2500 PKR 
After a few months of use, I shifted to Mobilink for poor network quality of UFone and used it for a couple of years. It was in 2005 when I shifted to Warid for its amazingly low call rates, good coverage and better sound quality. I have been using Warid since then, it’s been more than three years. I liked Warid when I got it, I loved it when I used it and it became a cult for me in the year that followed. I shifted to Warid PostPaid when I graduated and got a job and it was then that I started to detest it…. And now, I just hate it.
You may wonder, why I would hate it when it is third largest operator in the country with 17% market share. In one sentence, I hate them because they don’t care. Here are a few reasons why I loathe WaridTel.
Outgoing calls are blocked on 90% usage of credit limit
Outgoing calls are blocked on your number when you have used 90% of your credit limit. I could not understand why the hell they need to do this when I still have 10% of my credit limit still in account. Moreover, with that 10% of the credit still in your account, if you fail to recharge your account in a week, incoming calls are blocked as well and the callers get the cute reply “apka matlooba number kisi kay istemaal me nahee.”
Billing Systems that don’t take the money you are willing to pay
Warid is worst when it comes to billing systems. You have the option to pay the bills through:
- Warid website using any credit cards – never worked !
- Walk into a franchise to pay the bill – most of the times you get to hear “sir, system down hay, ba’ad me pata kar lain”
- Alfalah Credit cards by calling Alfalah helpline – This is the worst option. Imagine your Warid service is blocked when you’ve used 90% of your credit limit, you call the bank to pay your bill by Alfalah credit card and they say “sir, mazrat ke saath hum apka bill wasool nahe kar saktay, apko apne warid number se call karna hogee”
You feel like killing yourself – your service is blocked when you haven’t even used your entire credit limit, you want to pay, but they can’t take your money and make you suffer staying unconnected. Bizarre!
Customer Support that sucks
The only reason I shifted from Warid PrePaid to PostPaid was to have an easy access to the helpline. Majority of the prepaid customers had no access to the helpline for the priority given to the postpaid customers, until June 2008 when they started charging the calls to the helpline which lowered the burden allowing prepaid customers to get in touch with the agents. I never liked the priority given to the post paid customers especially when a pre-paid customer can be a more regular customer paying more amounts of bills.
It’s good that now every subscriber, whether post paid or prepaid has an access to the helpline but problems with Warid customer support remain. Once you are in touch with an agent, it’s time to absorb the absolute stupidity and illogical arguments of the agents. The only solution they have to each and every problem of yours is “sir, apki complaint forward kar di gayee hay, 48 hours me apka masla hal ho jayega [aur tab tak takhliyaa]” No matter you are dying to make calls or receive calls, they just don’t care and give you the same pathetic statement robotically. They were never able to explain to me why do they need an electricity bill to verify my address when they were provided a telephone bill.
Facilities for post paid that don’t exist at all
Postpaid customers are assumed to be executive users of a network and are expected to get benefits and advantages over the pre paid ones. I am sick of getting the messages saying Zem It ! all the time. How the hell can I Zem It when I am a post paid subscriber. I could hardly notice any cool package for calls or SMS targeted specifically for the postpaid subscribers rather most of the packages are only for the prepaid users.
Warid spams a lot
Yes, that’s true, they care for you so much that they have solutions for your boredom and loneliness. They do their best to keep your Inbox screaming all the times “No space for new messages”. I am getting 4-5 messages daily advertising the stupid Zem It campaigns.
International calling in post paid which is a costly dream
Can you imagine a prepaid customer can make international calls with 10 rupees easy loaded into its account while a post paid subscriber can’t do so even if he/she has paid 3000 as security deposit? Ridiculous! They expect you to pay an extra 2000 PKR security deposit to allow you to make international calls or send text messages.
Slow GPRS that reminds you of “10 rupay me 5 ghantay” wali ISP
I have used the GPRS of every mobile operator available in Pakistan and I’ve found Telenor to be the best at it. Warid simply sucks ! You pay Rs. 1.27/64 KB and you get annoyingly slow internet. All other networks are offering 15 PKR / MB with much better speed.
Call and SMS rates too high
One of the reasons for the success of Warid was its low call rates as compared to the Mobilink – their rival in the then monopolistic telecom industry of Pakistan. Now, when we have a competitive industry, Warid is still charging almost the same rates that they introduced 3 years back. This has made them lose the market share to Telenor who have occupied 16% of the market share. When you can get 10,000 SMS for 90 PKR on Telenor, you get 2000 on Warid for paying 165 PKR !
Customer Care that is in the TVs, billboards, papers and magazines only
The worst thing about Warid is the way they treat the customers. “We Care” is just a marketing slogan, in reality they don’t give a shit to the customer. I have some very bad experiences with them in this regard. I had a Warid prepaid SIM which I used time to time, as per need. I was shocked to know that my number has been issued to someone else when I did not use the number for three months. This is interesting to note that as per their policy, the SIM remains valid for a period of one year even if its not in use and after that they can re-assign it to someone else. My number was issued to someone else without even notifying me. They really care, but for the leads not for the existing customers !
Warid is a cancer in the telecom industry, and as you very well know, “cancer la-ilaaj hay” so be careful and remember “ehtiyaat wahid elaaj hay”
Way to go Ali! A really hard slap on their face….I have also encountered exactly these issues while using Warid’s postpaid connection for 2 years and now migrating to prepaid soon InshAllah to Zem It with a ZEM connection and not ZAHI
i encountered exactly same things. Wht’s mean of postpaid if we r using our own security[pre-paid] :S . I am ths posting it to facebook.
That is so true!!
Fortunately i haven’t yet experienced the same problems while paying my bills however I have made exactly the same complaints regarding international calling, preference to prepaid customers over postpaid in terms of special offers etc. and why should prepaid customers have to pay to access a helpline?? And more amusingly i got the same response from their agents! LOL!
I hope some high up in warid gets to read this blog!
But the way these UAE businesses be, it warid or wateen, do business one gets the impression they have a lot of money and don’t really care about how their businesses are managed (as both are done in an appalling manner, a similar hundred point blog can be written about Wateen) or their customer satisfaction.
What i don’t understand is, why don’t you just port your number to another network rather than consume your time posting this blog?
warid sucks big time… i have been using them for 2 years but they just dont care about the customers…. this is the best piece of writing i have got in these times… corporates liek warid must be hated and consumers must know about these bullshits….
Just got a call from WaridTel. Had a long conversation with the CSR. I haven’t talked to someone that sweet at Warid Helpline
He agreed to few of my complainants as highlighted above but argued over the others stating these are company policies. My answer to that is, Policies can be wrong, and they really are.
That’s very true illogical achievements slogan on TV for foolish marketing styles. They have the biggest drama for international calls that if someone will dial 111 before dialing international code the call rate will be reduced but as a matter of fact the voice quality will become worse this is how Warid is dealing with the “Greatest customer care”.
Agree 100 % !
Warid has gone nuts, I just hate their service. Their is nothing good that remains. I have a feeling that Warid is being just another Mobilink in the telecom industry. People shifted to Warid from Mobilink for its low call rated, now that they have customers, they just don’t care about them and have kept the same rates and pathetic services because they know they have a lot of customers.
Warid Sucks ! If you thinking of shifting to Warid, dont do it.
If you are a Warid user, stop being a loser and port your number to Telenor. I did, and I am very happy !
I found a workaround to the billing problem: pay your bill via scratch card. two options:
1. Immediate payment: In SMS, write EB (space) 16 digit voucher number and send message to 129. charges for SMS are 2.54. The bill is usually verified and paid within a minute.
2. From the IVR menu, there’s an option as well, but I am not quite sure, I think it’s press 1 then press 4, but I could be mistaken. This works even when your outgoing calls/sms are blocked. Keep in mind that it takes almost 30 minutes to verify the number, but it works.
I have an account in Standard Chartered bank. As soon as I get the 70% sms, I log into the account, purchase a warid 500 card and enter it using the SMS method. Saves a lot of time than going to the nearest franchise, getting in line and the system down problems.
Well, I will have to agree with Ale here. Warid has ofcourse lost the trust of its customers. I have been using it since it was launched and now I am shifting, because its too bad. Its not always what problem a customer is facing but also that how the company treats me and whats the brand image of the company.
You know whats the worst thing about warid tel ?
Everytime you call the helpline to tell them an issue, they always try to prove you wrong giving you filthy statements in robotic tones saying policy yehi hay … hum kuch nahe kar saktay ..48 hours bla bla bla ….
and one more thing… you are not yet done with one issues that they keep you asking “sir waridtel ke baaray me kuch aur jan-na chaheen gay” … oh you fool agents, first let me handle one issue then i’ll let you know k muje aur kya jan-na hay … i have a feeling that they just want to make as many calls as possible to get comission or to make sure the number of calls they must make criteria is met…. they are dying to get the call hang up ASAP… poor chaps ! I am shifting as well .. thanks for encouraging me to do this , ale !
@Suleman Amin
Well, porting is not always a good option. The network you are shifting from always give you so many bad allegations that you get irritated and drop the idea of porting.
I tried to shift from Warid to Telenor a few months back and they didnt allow me saying name speelings ka masla hay … next time they said you had to add 000 before the SIM number that you mention on the form. So they are playing dirty tricks to retain the customers
– Ale, great job on this post and I really appreciate your blog… its cool ! and the new look is awesome
Ale, apparently you’ve touched everyone’s ‘dukhti ragg’
well, this post is meant for all those who want to shift from ZAHI to ZEM…
I had been asking the CSRs for this thing for one yr n the reply was: u can shift from prepaid to postpaid but not from postpaid to prepaid. by the time the idea of switching to zero line rent(ZLR) package came to my mind, it was no more thr. they said it is no more issued to new customers n only ones who initially got ZLR can be facilitated by that.
thanks god, the mobile number portability MNP was introduced. i called warid helpline again to ask them to change my package from ZAHI to ZEM. As anticipated, they said its not possible. I said, im switching to another network. He said, its upto you. I said, what if i come back to warid would i be prepaid or postpaid connection. He said, it will be prepaid!! I started laughing n said “aik banda jo aapki company k saath rehna chah raha hai aap usko ZAHI say ZEM per janay k liay itna khuaar kra rahay hain, baad mai usko warid pay port krnay ka plan change ho gya tu aapka aik customer to gya. y dont u faciliutate the one who wants to stay with u. the answer was ’sir company policy yehi hai’ lolzzzzzzzz”
i hope this is the funniest of all the above posts
Well, Javeria…
) they said “ye to nahe ho sakta” and when they were asked to show where is this policy stated, they were all blank. Warid is just playing dirty tricks !
That is very true and I have heard similar stories from a few friends telling when they wanted to shift from postpaid to pre-paid (so that they can ZEM IT
after reading all this just can’t understand why everyone is shifting after two years or more… i started using warid when it was launched and then switched to other operator two months later. switching from zahi to zem is not the solution bro as the backbone is same.
three years warid was launched still they dont have any answers to the complaints. and after using it for three years we are still using it … no answers
Baddu, its because the MNP is not an easy process. As Samreen pointed out, they always give you false allegations and apart that everyone is lazy to go for this process which is hectic and boring
Ale,
This is a well written article. I would like to add to the 10% credit limit “feature”. I think they have used their banking expertise (Alfalah) to figure out how much money they can HOARD from their customers for free! If you can’ t use that 10% of your credit limit ever, you basically have DONATED that money to Warid, and the only case where you will get it back is if you cancel your account.
15 million users. Pakistan’s largest post-paid user base. 10% of every post-paid customer’s credit limit (at least Rs. 200). That amounts to millions of rupees that Warid has virtual ownership of!
I myself am a user of Warid post-paid and the only reason I’m using it is because the voice quality is good and I’m too lazy to change my number or go MNP.
u r all right…but u can only write, no one of you have no courage to protest infornt of warid office and tell them these are problem in your company and we r quiting to use warid sim…do it and see the results.
alam,
There are million of better reasons to protest for … doesnt sound liek a good idea to protest in front of warid office for these issues. We better just need to shift to other network …. when the disappointed user will make this shift, this loss of customers will make warid realize what wrong are they doing… and that would be right way to protest for this
03008495363 this is Agha anees..any one having problem about mobilink portablity can discus with him directly as he is from Mobile number portibality team of mobilink
[...] to be honest, I have been a fan of them since then. That’s why I was pretty surprised to see this article about Warid Post-paid services. I’ll summarize the 10 points for the author to hate his [...]
i am 200% agreed with the followings issues. i have only experienced the Warid Zem connection.. but i am also not satisfied with their Customer service as well as their rates. they have not revised their general rates. they only emphasise on the night packages… which is not a good approach.
My two cents on Warids frustrating customer service, I have been trying to have their Warid Mobile Email installed for 2 weeks, everytime there is a new issue, i.e change your package, your software needs updating etc etc
Secondly their blackberry service is only for blackberry handsets, if you take any other handset which has been endorsed by blackberry themselves! they refuse to activate the service, Blackberry itself says SE P series and Nokia E series is compatible with its service whereas these buggers do not offer it, the reason , company policy!
In the west the customer is always right , In Pakistan the coporation is always right!
You know that the group is going to publish a newsapaper and launch a TV channel.
They have not been able to make a mark in cellular industry. Recently, Wateen, another child company of theirs, have resorted to sell the calling card again after facing a failure in the WiMax operations.
I don’t know how this Newspaper and TV thing is going to work when the previous operations are yet to be run in a professional way….
Dear author,
I publish a monthly technology and telecom magazine, would like to publish your blog by your name, permission awaited.
thanks,
A nice post however the solution is easy.
the customer protection courts can however solve many of your problems while giving you a nice penalty from the company. The lawyers only charge a percentage of amount won so if you dont win the case you dont have to pay. also the verdict is given within 30 days and all you have to do is appear once whereas the company lawyers and there representatives (usually managers)from customer quality and marketing etc. will have to appear a lot more.
If you really hate the cheap tactics being followed by these big corporates in order to avoid the services they have promised while they happily steal your money thinking you can do nothing about it, going legal is the best way forward nowadays.
You cant be so lazy as to not get back to the company when its so easy. Also it does not require people to sue the company in groups as every individual case is given a priority so if 8-10 people sue seperately, warid’s team will be in a lot of trouble. i am already in the process of taking trend mobiles to court. Good thing i dont use warid and dont plan to in near future. Good for them aswell.
For more information you can send me a mail and i will furnish whatever information i have form my experience.
thats a good idea usman … i am ready to sue warid if process simple, as u described …
who else is wid me?
I fully agree with the blogger. I am also a subscriber of warid post paid and suffering for the last about 2 years. very often the fone becomes inactive because the limit has exceeded 90%. Sometimes even after payment of bills the connection becomes dead for many hours without no reason. Whenever you launch a complaint the answer is that we have forwarded your complaint. i have tried many times to pay the bill at franchise but could not succeed except for once or twice. Thanks for them that now u can pay the bill through scratch card and it has now become easier to pay the bill. Whenever I tried an international call from my warid postpaid there is always a message that the I am not authorized to make an international call. SMS rates are too high i.e 1 rupee for sms while most of the services charge only some pisas for sms. and much much more……
Really liked the article. Completely true
.
warid help line service has been shut. they deduct ur money and dont fulfil ur query. how poor they r and their service is.
I have a story for you. About a month back, I got tired of paying the outrageous international calling rates to Warid and put in a request to port my number to uFone. The first time the request went through, it was rejected because Warid had put in my CNIC number incorrectly. The second time the request went through, it was rejected because I had an outstanding balance of Rs. 1400 (against a Rs. 5000 security deposit). In the meantime, Warid hit me with line rent for another month of service. The third time the request went through, it was finally completed. Now the fun begins…
I put in a request to have the remaining balance of my Warid security deposit refunded. The clerk at the Customer Service center told me that I would have my refund within 15 days. 15 days later when I didn’t have the refund, I called the Warid help line only to find it that it would take 30 – 45 days. Today, it’s been 50 days and there is still no sign of the refund, but when I call the Help line they tell me that the pay order has been delivered to the service center that I put in the request at. When I visit the service center, the only thing that I am told is that the pay order has not been received yet and it will take another few days for it to be received there.
Here’s my questions
Why can’t you just refund the money in cash when I port my number and have already cleared my bill?
When your company policy on refunds is 45 days, why don’t your service representatives know that so that they don’t mislead the customer?
Why can’t customers make complaints about Warid Customer Service to Warid itself? When we tried to complain to Warid, they told us that they couldn’t register a complaint about their own service. Would you rather people flood PTA with their complaints?
When will the Pakistan Telecom Authority (PTA) realize that they are not protecting the customer at all and only providing cover to the mobile companies to further harass their customers?
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