
In May, Vodafone-Idea back announced the launch of a new AI-powered digital customer service and virtual assistant called VIC. The service is now live on the company’s official website, My Vodafone app, My Idea app and WhatsApp.
The VIC service has been developed by ORISERVE and the company claims that it can deliver instant responses on a host of user queries like bill payments, recharges, VAS, plan activation, new connection, data balance, bill requests and more. Moreover, the service is live 24×7.
ORISERVE states that the VIC service has been built exclusively for Vodafone Idea Limited. It is built upon cutting-edge AI, NLP, deep learning and other trailblazing technologies.
Today we are going to take a look at how the service works on WhatsApp:
Subscriber Only Stories
First, you need to start a chat with the VIC on WhatsApp, which can be done using multiple ways. First one being, when you receive an SMS from Vodafone Idea on your number with a link to initiate a conversation with VIC on WhatsApp. Other one being, saving the company’s numbers and starting a WhatsApp chat manually. The number for Vodafone Care is – 9654297000 and the number for Idea Care is 7065297000.

The system did not feel very intuitive when used. It seems to have pre-fed responses and does not reply in a customised manner when you send a query. After sending a query it will give you multiple options which you can choose from by entering the corresponding number.
Also Read: Jio, Airtel, and Vodafone plans with free Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar, Netflix membership
One good thing about this is that it picked my number from inside of my WhatsApp and asked me if that was the number I wanted to send the query for. After selecting YES I had to enter the OTP to verify.
The bot was quite fast in providing me with the answers. For every query I threw at it it had an answer. But after a few queries it started giving me repetitive answers. For instance, when I asked for a port out, it provided my the option to talk to a customer service representative or check out customised plans. After choosing the customised plans option, it kept on offering me the customised plans again and again when I wrote the query port out.
The service is helpful for a few services like check out or activate value added services, check data balance and more. But is not a replacement for a customer service representative as Vodafone claims. But, if you are stuck in a jam and need to get something done fast, using this instead of calling the customer care will surely save you some time.
- The Indian Express website has been rated GREEN for its credibility and trustworthiness by Newsguard, a global service that rates news sources for their journalistic standards.