I am a very frequent user of mobile and since the call rates have gone really down, I think most of the subscribers usually don't use ptcl, even if it is conveniently available. So is the case with me.

I had been getting sms's till a couple of days ago that my due date for bill payment had passed and I should pay my bill to avoid any inconvenience. After getting a few of those, I finally cleared my dues and paid Rs.5,000 at one of the Mobilink franchises.

Just now, I received this message from mobilink and this is the exact message.

"Dear Customer, your payable amount has exceeded your credit limit. Plz pay the dues of Rs.11573 to avoid inconvenience. Plz ignore this msg if already paid."

No its been over a week that I paid my bill, on Monday, the 14th of April, to be very precise and I was shocked to receive this message. The thoughts running through my mind were.....the franchise messed something up with the billing and I probably have lost my receipt also, so I would not even have any proof of the payment.

Having these mixed thoughts, I called up Mobilink and the customer services operator told me that my outstanding balance was Rs.6,375 and not Rs.11573. Relived I put the phone down.

So the tension is over, but the argument still remains, Mobilink boasts to be the largest cellphone carrier in Pakistan, but then it should also have its systems updated and such a mistake, expecially when you are directly addressing your customers by sending out sms messages to them, should not happen.

A big hole there in the billing and messaging inter-connectivity.