Parvathi’s Story

Paravathi is a 28-year-old coffee farmer from Araku who spends her days at a small roadside shop with other coffee farmers.

A couple of months ago, a UPI agent on a bike approached Paravathi and the other coffee farmers about a UPI-linked speaker subscription. He informed them that the subscription cost was INR 60 per month.

The farmers believed the UPI-linked speaker was a good idea, as it would enable them to receive payments via UPI, a popular mode of payment among tourists visiting Araku.

Paravathi had been using the speaker ever since and even bought a power bank to charge it, as her shop had no electrical connections.

Recently, she discovered that the subscription amount was double what the agent had promised, leaving her shocked and confused. She began looking for a way to cancel the subscription, as it was too expensive for her to bear.

After searching through the application for a few minutes, she found the helpline and managed to get in touch with a customer care representative. Upon hearing her problem, he tried to convince her to keep the service through a series of negotiations, offering to reduce the charges to INR 49 per month.

However, Paravathi was adamant about canceling the subscription, feeling betrayed by the agent's lies. Realising he couldn't convince her, the representative informed her that the only way to cancel the subscription was to return the speaker to the head office in Noida, as there was no official drop-off point in her location—a cost she would have to bear herself.

Paravathi eventually ended the call, wondering which was worse: bearing the cost of returning the speaker to Noida (a one-time expense) or paying the subscription fee, which would accumulate over time.