Friday, February 25, 2022

Vi Signed You Up For Bcafe Portal VAS & Deducted Money? You Can Get It Back

Vi - BCafe Portal VAS - 01
The other day, I received an SMS stating Rs. 15 had just been deducted from my talk-time balance & I have been signed up to Bcafe Portal. Was taken aback by this, since I did no such thing.
I Tweeted about the incident, tagging Vi's handles in it, expressing displeasure. Shortly, a representative from their Customer Care service called, assuring that the money would be reimbursed back. She also suggested that I opt to blacklist signing up for any Value Added Services [VAS], after learning I had no interest in them. She volunteered to do it on my behalf. Soon, I received a flurry of SMS, confirming the blacklist. Hopefully, I would be spared of repeat of such auto-sign-up of VAS in future.
Vi - BCafe Portal VAS - 02
A few days later, I received a call again from her, informing me that the deducted money had been reimbursed back. Checked the App & indeed it was done. Having a Twitter handle helped here.
Alternately, you may "Send a message STOP to 155223 (toll free)" using your Vi SIM to blacklist VAS. For reimbursement, you may call applicable Vi™ Customer Care Number. Some more methods to do so available here.
Vi - BCafe Portal VAS - 03
As I learnt, normally Vi does it for numbers that have no activity for prolonged period. Looking up for Bcafe Portal on Google, saw nothing but complaints listed in the search Results.
Folks have suggested not keeping more than Rs. 10 in the talk-time balance in unbundled fashion, so that Vi has no scope to auto-deduct.
Things eventually ended satisfactorily for me. Hope this helps others affected similarly.
Godspeed