KOCHI The change in Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) for booking LPG cylinder refills seems to have left large sections of its consumers confused.
The IOC changed its region-specific IVRS refill booking number (99618 24365) to a nationwide uniform number (77189 55555) on November 1. Besides, refill booking is now restricted to only one registered number linked to the consumer ID unlike in the past when it was possible from any mobile phone or landline number.
‘‘Though the move had the good intention of ensuring that the cylinder reached the targeted beneficiary, the sweeping changes have served as a double whammy. The sudden change in booking number that has been ingrained in consumers' memory coupled with the restriction of booking of refill only to one registered mobile number has left many consumers, especially the aged, panicky," observes Jogesh Joseph, manager of an Indane gas agency here.
OTP-based registration
Many consumers who do not have a mobile number registered against their consumer ID could not book refills. The consumers either have to do online the One Time Password-based registration of the mobile phone or do that with the help of the agency, making a mobile phone a prerequisite for access to cooking gas. The booking could be disrupted if the consumer's registered number is not functioning.
A senior IOC official says refill is not being denied on account of not registering the mobile number. "We are allowing spot booking as a stopgap solution while the delivery boy with the help of a mobile app maps the mobile number instantaneously."
The new system also spawns many unintended complications like the registered phone number being shown in the name of a person other than the consumer. "This could happen either because the refill was booked in the past from a different number and thus got automatically registered against that consumer ID or because the number was previously used by someone else and was surrendered only for the service provider to reissue it," says Mr. Joseph.
Four-digit DAC
Under the revised system, the consumer also needs to share a four-digit Delivery Authentication Code (DAC) received as SMS with the delivery boy, and only once this code is entered in the system does the transaction gets completed. "However, we have specifically asked our delivery boys not to insist on DAC at households where only the aged are present," says Sunil Abdulrahman, manager of a Tripunithura-based gas agency.
"The system has more or less settled in the city limits unlike in the rural and high range areas where some problem still persists. However, it will be normalised in another month or so," says the IOC official.
