Refill bookings just a missed call away for Indane customers

Only calls from registered mobile numbers will get confirmation message

November 09, 2020 12:35 am | Updated 12:35 am IST - CHENNAI

Further simplifying booking of refills of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders, Indane has introduced a missed call service. Consumers can dial 8454955555 from their registered mobile number (RMN) to book a refill cylinder and they will get a confirmatory text message.

“If it is not from their RMN, they will get a message saying the booking could not be made. This new system is under trial and yet to be formally launched,” said an official of the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd., whose LPG brand is Indane.

The company that has around 1.20 crore active LPG consumers in the State, recently launched a new IVRS system for booking refills. It has teething problems since it does not recognise alternative numbers. The earlier system allowed around five registered numbers to make bookings.

“When they dial the IVRS number, the preferred language still remains Hindi for many consumers. Many did not get the payment link and had to pay cash. People are not getting confirmatory text messages. Customers are impatient and yelling at staff if they don't get text messages,” said a distributor.

With Deepavali a few days away, the public sector oil majors Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum, have asked distributors to ensure supplies reach consumers.

“They worked on Sundays too this month. During the lockdown due to government restrictions, they could not do so,” said an industry source.

Usually, there is a 10% spike in bookings in the run up to the festival and industry insiders said that this year too the bookings were heavy for 10 days now. Commercial cylinder sales too were witnessing an increase.

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