WhatsApp payments services: Users to get 24-hour customer support in India

New Delhi: WhatsApp's payments services which is slated to be rolled out in India in the coming weeks, may offer a 24-hour customer support for users in India.

"We will provide 24-hour customer support. Payments users can contact the support team via e-mail and a toll-free number (when the service is rolled out in India)," a WhatsApp spokesperson told news agency PTI.

The spokesperson added that the support will be available in English as well as three Indian languages -- Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati.

The spokesperson said WhatsApp has worked closely with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), bank partners, and the Indian government on the details of how its service works.

Under the updated terms, WhatsApp states that it will not provide refunds or facilitate chargebacks as once a user submits a payment, it is final.

Though there is no official word on the launch of WhatsApp's UPI-based payments service, industry watchers expect an announcement to come in the next few weeks.

The Beta version of WhatsApp payment services were rolled out in February this year. Testers said that they had found their WhatsApp interface displaying a large list of supported banks and they can see a payments feature appear in their WhatsApp Settings menu.

In order to configure the feature, users must first verify their phone number via SMS and then choose a bank.

After the completion of the configuration, the option to send a payment becomes available.

When it is launched, the new WhatsApp payments feature could give popular digital wallet platform Paytm, and other messaging services that already support payments, including the recently launched Tez from Google a tough competition.