LPG SMS booking facility for IOC & BPCL and IVRS for HPCL customers

Shri Murli Deora, Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas launched here today the innovative customer service initiatives of three Oil Marketing Companies(OMCs) by sending an SMS on IOC’s SMS booking number. He also unveiled the IVRS (Integrated Voice Response System) mechanism of HPCL. With this the consumers of domestic LPG have been provided a platform for quick and smooth booking of LPG Refills. They will not only get acknowledgement but also get information about cylinder delivery. The facility has been initially launched in Delhi and would be expanded in a phased manner to cover all towns of the country having population of over 5 lakhs.


The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Jitin Prasada dialed the unified six digit toll free number of all the three OMCs to mark inauguration of the new number for registering complaints towards effective grievance redressal. This replaces the earlier separate eleven digit numbers of three companies thus making it easier for customers to remember and make use of the facility in a more meaningful way.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Murli Deora emphasized that the steady efforts have led to better services in the marketing of petroleum products during the recent years. Complementing OMCs for the improvements, he pointed out that there are areas where more need to be done towards improving customer care services. In his address Shri Jitin Prasada underscored that these initiatives will go a long way in leveraging benefits of technology to the customers. As part of Vision 2015 finalized about two months back, he said that main thrust of these initiatives was to pan out the outreach of services and products to common man especially in the rural areas. Shri Prasada also called upon OMCs to acquit themselves in a way that their customer friendly face is more and more visible. He reminded thatwhenever there is shortage of LPG, it the the common-man who suffers through late and uncertain delivery schedule.

(A) SIX DIGIT TOLL FREE NUMBER

• There is now a common, consumer friendly, six digit toll free number for the customers of the three Public Sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) namely Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL). This six digit number ‘155233’ replaces the earlier eleven digit numbers which were not only difficult to remember but were different for the three OMCs.

• Through this single common number any customer can query and register their complaint in the call center being operated by all the three OMCs. The Call centers are operated region wise to facilitate the customers to lodge complaints in local language. Customers are given a registration number and those who wish to know about the status of the complaints can call up the centers at the same toll free number.

• The service will be stabilised by the companies in coming days throughout the country

(B) SMS BOOKING

For sourcing LPG cylinder refills, Customers are required to register their requests. Refill calls are presently registered traditionally by consumers through personal visit and telephone, which remain a matter of concern for the customers. While analyzing the data on complaints being received by OMCs, it has been observed that a major chunk of them pertains to the refill booking and against not providing the acknowledgement of bookings. To effectively address this issue, it was felt necessary to have a system of registering the booking and providing the registration number without any manual intervention.

Alongwith the Toll free number, booking of LPG refills through SMS/Integrated Voice Response System (IVRS) was also be launched in Delhi on 31st August, 2009.

With today’s launch the service will be expanded in a phased manner in the city and the towns with over 5 lakh populations by the OMCs

The bookings can be made to

i. 54625 for IOC (Vodafone, Airtel, MTNL, Idea & Tata Users)

ii. 52725 for BPCL (Vodafone, MTNL, Idea & Tata Users)

and 57333 for other mobile users.

The consumer will get as confirmation on SMS giving Booking Number, time & date of recording and another SMS after the delivery against the booking is effected, saying “The LPG refill booking that was booked has been delivered.”

The above method has following advantages:
(i) Customer is sure about his booking as he is provided with the booking reference. He can make a query on the status citing the number anytime after booking.
(ii) If customer has not got the refill but has received a message that refill has been delivered, such customers can contact/complain for non-delivery of the refill.
(iii) This method can check wrong deliveries of refill and will help in arresting diversion.
(iv) Booking for the refill is possible 24X7.

IVRS of HPCL is an exclusive 24x7 facility and the IVRS refill booking system for Delhi is 9990923456.