Every problem doesn’t need one to go to consumer court, but I won’t stop anyone if they want to 
Having received many questions on a popular post on how to file a consumer court complaint (in Bangalore), I have decided to give some alternative and easier steps to take before thinking of filing a consumer court complaint.
If I see the maximum number of problems based on comments and emails received, they fall into these categories:
1. Defects found in newly purchased mobile phones. I suggest to follow up with manufacturer directly as part of warranty, unless this is something which is solely a mistake by retailer. Usually retailers will give a new phone in an unopened box, and many people are livid when they find on opening the box some obvious defect in the phone. Well, the retailer didn’t open the box and put the defective piece there so it is like one of those rare cases where you got the box with a defective phone. The right way is to call the retailer for advice on best way to follow up, because he might be able to expedite a replacement or repair. But don’t haggle with him if he says you have to follow up with manufacturer directly. That’s the truth: warranty is given by manufacturer and not retailer.
NOTE: mobile and smart phone related queries seem to be a common issue. But what I am seeing is that people haven’t done much homework BUT probably expect an easy solution after sending me an email. No, it’s not that simple. Read the terms and conditions of the retailer, the manufacturer warranty etc; try those solutions first; and then try the online govt portals below, and only after these don’t work start thinking about filing consumer complaint. Because a consumer complaint will anyway take more time to resolve, so it should be used for serious issues and you should be willing to spend a little effort and be patient for a few months at the minimum. If you don’t have a usable phone in the meantime, buy a new one and claim return and refund for the problematic phone in your consumer complaint.
2. Fees for a service taken in advance, service not taken by customer, but company not refunding the amount. I advise to follow up in writing with the company, and then with government consumer sites, and going to consumer court as the last option.
3. Telecom complaints related to mobile/data pack/3G/ internet/broadband/DTH: Mostly these are of the variety that a bill or extra charge has been levied for a service not consumed. Or the company has charged for repair of modem/router/settop box when it should not. These are again some of the problems solved most of the time by opening complaint on government sponsored consumer sites.
4. General complaints about defective product. Try government sites below, failing which consumer court.
The government sponsored consumer sites
The websites are operated under different ministries, and frankly I don’t see any information as to how they are related to one another or which one is better for what kind of complaints. Basically, it seems each ministry/department has got some budget sanctioned and they are operating their own site without much concern about if the same is being duplicated elsewhere or how best to coordinate among themselves. I right now don’t have the time to get into finding out which consumer site is for what purpose when we are already frustrated with pending consumer issues! But would welcome if someone can share their feedback.
1. CORE website http://core.nic.in/. This site is operated by Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and public distribution. I used to like it a lot initially and solved many small and refund issues through them, even though it used to fail in complaint submission many a time. Lately I have been completely frustrated due to the server busy error at their website almost all the time, and have stopped going there. Which means these days I derive my satisfaction vicariously when someone else files a consumer complaint or gets his/her problem solved 
2. National Consumer Helpline 1800 11 4000. I haven’t used it but got to know recently when someone commented about his own consumer issue. They also seem to be under Ministry of Consumer affairs but not clear why they need to duplicate what CORE website was already doing. They stress on the word helpline and provide toll free as well as paid phone and SMS based help. From their site:
National Toll Free No–1800-11-4000 Other users can dial- 011-23708391 (normal call charges applicable). SMS can also be sent to +918130009809 (charges apply) mentioning the name and city .
They do seem to have online complaint link also. I haven’t tried either one so far.
http://www.nationalconsumerhelpline.in/ComplaintFile.aspx
3. Banking related complaints. Though I haven’t received lot of such complaints yet, the banking ombudsman is an authority to approach for bank and credit card issues. I successfully got reversed late charges by Standard Chartered bank which were not late according to me since I used to pay around same time every month, but just before renewal of card (another standard trick) they had levied the late charges. The procedure to make complaint with them is that first you need to file complaint with the concerned bank, and on unsatisfactory reply you can go ahead and complaint to banking ombudsman. As of this date, they seem to have an online form for submission. I believe I had used it earlier to send an email complaint along with scan of the letters but don’t remember exactly whether I had send a hard copy also by speed post. Someone can confirm if the below website for online lodging of complaint works for them (it gives security exception so you have to make whitelist/exception for this URL in browser):
https://secweb.rbi.org.in/BO/precompltindex.htm
4. Insurance related complaints. Have received 1 query related to insurance. You can try complaining to company first, then IRDA (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority), and then consumer court if all else fails. For IRDA, many years back I had filed a complaint via speed post but not sure if they have an online form too.
5. TRAI (Telecom regulatory authority of India): For complaints more related to policy like about terms of service, service etc of all telecom and DTH issues, you can approach TRAI. I had approached them many years back about an issue with Tata sky alerts shown on TV, and they did follow up with Tata sky who replied to me on that issue. But in general, I don’t have much hope with them given they allowed mobile operators to run spam SMS and telemarketing operations through their networks for many years without imposing meaningful penalties to stop those spam SMS and phone calls.
In my effort to pay water bill I have remitted an amount of Rs 2559 in the account of Mobikwick an agency listed in the website of BWSSB. But the process of payment was blocked further by them. I could not pay water bill.
The mail sent to Mobikwick for refund was not entertained by them.
Please let me know how I can get the refund.
Difficult to say without knowing why they blocked payment. If the funds are there in Mobikwik then it should be possible to get refund if you follow the procedures:
https://www.mobikwik.com/refundpolicy
The key thing is if they say the fault doesn’t lie with them, then you can’t get refund, but you can use that balance to pay other bills. See last lines from above refund policy below:
In that case, it may be better to use that money for paying other bills.
I bought nokia 7(27,000) plus on Paytm and got a RIN soap in the nokia box. I am in Bangalore. I contacted support and they investigated for 10 days and decided not to give refund . I have filed case in consumer forum and got a complaint ID. What else can I do ?
Since consumer forum complaint is filed, you need to pursue that properly through stages of OP version/objection, your evidence, OP evidence/rejoinder, arguments, and final judgment.
Ideally such investigation lies in domain of police. Either you or OP should file a complaint to police. That the OP has not done so (seemingly from the details) seems to suggest they are putting the blame on you of telling lie about getting a RIN soap. But in that case they could have filed police complaint against you, but they didn’t.
Hello Sir, I bought a note 8 which is a water resistant phone and i did teste it was all good. My screen got damaged and hence I had replaced the screen in the authorised samsung service center. The service center guys confirmed they have tested water resistant. On 16 jun 2018 I wanted to take a vedio under water and as soon I put the phone in the water the phone got switched off. I am not sure if the service center has done the right jobin sealing the phone. When contacted they say liquid damage is not covered under warranty. In there website they have mentioned 1.5meter for 30 min in water is fine. Now they are asking 55000 for repair of the phone. Can I sue Samsung. Need your valuable advice
This is a confusing and contradictory information being given in their marketing vs the warranty. My suggestion is to grab screenshots of pages like below I have found, and based on that you can file complaint that they are indulging in dubious marketing to sell high-priced products, and in fact customer is inclined to test the device’s limits based on their tall promise of water submersible and what else, but ultimately if a problem happens after that they wash their hands off!
https://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/what-is/ip68/
https://www.samsung.com/us/support/answer/ANS00077679/
Their India website has the disclaimer clause on warranty after exposure to water:
https://www.samsung.com/in/support/warranty/
The point to contest would be that if the device is used within limits/conditions applicable for IP68 rating, then water logging SHOULD NOT happen and the fact of water logging (due to device’s poor quality maybe) can’t be used to deny warranty!
Submit a Complaint
I purchased an iphone 7 plus (128 gb) in september 2017.in 2 months i started having problems in voice calls. The voice was not properly audible to me and my voice was not audible to the other person due to some continuous disturbance. I gave the phone to the service center in my city. They asked me to collect it after 3 days. I went to there store on 4th day and still my phone was not repaired. I told them that i will compliant about them so in hurry they repaired my phone in 20 minutes. I again faced the same problem in one month. Last week my mobile was drenched in rain for 2 mins and it stopped working. If the phone is water resistant for at least 30 mins how could it not survive water for even 2 mins? When contacted the service center they told that warranty doesn’t cover liquid damages and to replace the phone i need to pay 31k. My question is why should i pay? It was due to the hurry work of the service center my mobile had water inside it as it was not properly closed from the time it was given to the service center. The mobile was not repaired properly from day 1 so the water went inside it. It is within warranty but nobody is helping me out. I have been sending complaints about the mobile since january.
>>When contacted the service center they told that warranty doesn’t cover liquid damages
You need to read warranty clause. As per my reading, they have cleverly tried to escape from liability after making tall promises in specs of product like IP67 rating:
https://www.apple.com/iphone-7/specs/
Given above situation, a case in consumer forum could still sustain if you argue about the high brand recognition and consequent high prices paid by consumers for apple products; and hence the above warranty clause is contradictory to claimed specs, a case of dubious marketing/advertising, and against consumers’ interests. You will also have to argue that the phone wasn’t used a lot by the time of this drenching to have gotten into condition of “normal wear” for a while. Given that it was purchased in Sep 2017, it may be difficult to argue on that though.
>> It was due to the hurry work of the service center my mobile had water inside it as it was not properly closed from the time it was given to the service center
It can be point but something difficult to prove that they didn’t close it properly, and if they didn’t close properly you couldn’t notice it earlier and take back to service centre.
I have taken the country club membership on 05th May 2018. After go through some research many complaints with their service. So I planning to cancel the membership, in the agreement they are providing 10 days cool of time for the refund after deducting the administration charges. I called them and also mailed to them for the cancellation. They are telling that your cancellation is processing needs to communicate and confirm with the concerning department. Everyday I followup but still they are responding the same. Is I needed to raise the complaints to consumer court or I needed to wait till May 15th. What I can do for this?
You can file complaint if they still haven’t refunded, or refunded the amount as per agreement.
Yeoman service to consumers.
Thanks for the useful info..
I ordered Pureit Ultima RO+UV Water Purifier(Hindustan Unilever Limited) with 10 liters of storage from Amazon,
I read the review of the product on Amazon and many people said that it was fully electricity based and even the stored water of 10 liters can’t be used without electricity supply, but it was mixed and confusing review as different people said different things..
So I called Pureit customer care number (18602101000) to confirm and clarify the same.
I asked them if the stored water of 10 liters can be used if there is no electricity, customer care representative said YES. I called again, another representative said YES.
So, I got the product delivered on 27th September 2017 by Amazon and placed the installation order with Pureit customer care to be done on 3rd Oct. The technician who came for installation said “its not possible to use the machine at all unless there is an electricity supply.If I want to use it without electricity, I will have to get an extra equipment for manual operation to get the stored water.”
1) I don’t want to pay any extra money as I was given wrong information about its functionality by the company’s customer care.
It is not about money, it is more about getting wrong information from the company.
I have written complain mail to the pureit.hul@unilever.com, but haven’t received any response from them. I have also spoken to the customer care number but no resolution.
Please suggest what should I do?
This is why I never rely on any phone conversation or verbal assurances by either marketing or customer support people. Just ask them to point to a webpage about product, or send a brochure by email, and see their response!
You can always file a complaint, though proving it might be somewhat difficult. But sometimes by making effort you can get relief.
Hi, I had booked a flat with a reputed builder almost 4 years ago and the work was not yet started around 1 year ago. Since i had financial difficulties i decided to cancel my booking. Its been more than 8 months and i haven’t received the amount. The terms and conditions on the booking form say 6months or finding a new buyer whichever is earlier. So In this case 6 months are already over and they are giving excuses for not refunding the money. Need advice
Many (most?) builders are a notorious set of people once your money is in their bank. Only filing complaint may work now.
2 months back I got ACT Fibernet Internet service in Bangalore. I have paid for 6 months of service. Haven’t had internet service for almost 15 days in the month of September 2017. When I contacted customer service they said it was some cable cuts. But, when the field representative came after 9 days it turned out that it was a power issue to the junction box in my neighbor’s house.
I now have the same issue. My neighbor has removed the power to the junction box and I dont have internet. Despite innumerable calls to ACT Fibernet they are not even sending a field representative to fix the issue. Everyday they give a deadline of tomorrow and if I request to talk to a Manager they say the Manager will call back but I have never received a call. I requested to cancel but on call-center representative said that I wouldnt get my refund. In case I decide to go with ACT again they will use that amount.
What should I do in this case? I feel that they are not adhering to their end of obligations of providing service.
Basically many companies operate on different principles once the money is in the bank and service is to be delivered in future. Your case fits under “deficiency of service” so you can file consumer forum complaint.
Whether refund is possible or not/and how much amount will depend on terms of contract. You should spend time reading that rather than talking to customer service reps who will be trained to always say “no” in these circumstances. Even if he says yes, it’s no use unless the terms of contract allow for refund. Basically if they can’t deliver the service they have not fulfilled the terms of contract and refunding should be honourable exit, but many companies won’t play nice (money is already in the bank) so you have no choice but to take legal route.
Hi Sir,
By seeing an add in Times of India regarding data entry job i went to their office on September 8,2017 by a prior appointment. The office name he mentioned was Smart Infotech. and its located #40/6,2 nd floor,11th cross,MKK Road,Rajajinagar,Bangalore-21.The guy named Mr.Anand told me about the software.The software charge is 5000 rs.and i payed full amount and against that he gave me one agreement also.The agreement is valid for 9 months from the date we payed.and after 9 months we need to renew it by paying 1000 rs.The charge for 1000 correct words (that we need to type in the software once we started it)are 4 dollar(200 rs).After installing the software in my system it was not at all working properly and i called him and told the problems.Then he told me to uninstall the anti virus.According to that i installed team viewer and by that he operated my system and he uninstalled the antivirus software(Norton).The link of the team viewer he sent to me via gmail.After that again he installed the software and i started to work.After some time the windows defender detected a problem and that software automatically get deleted.After that i told him that i will format my laptop and please install it later.After that 3 days later he installed that software again by Ammy admin.Again i started to work but the software was too lagging.Hardly i am typing 5-7 word per 10 minutes.On the day of his demo on their system each words were coming one by without any delay.According to our typing speed we can generate the words.But in my system its too lagging.Once i noticed these issues i took a video of the same and i forwarded to him via watsapp. After seeing this he told me that its very strange.its your PC related issues not regarding my software.Now he is telling that he will talk to his technical people and will let me know how to solve this issue.I dint know how much time will take to resolve the problem and will get any solution for this issue.Kindly give me an assistance regarding the issue.
It’s seems more of a private /employment contract related issue than something about Consumer Protection Act.
Hi
I have taken the services of WTFARES.com for my holiday travel to Spain & Italy from 11th Aug’17 till 28th Aug’17. The services included were Hotel accommodation, train/bus transfers, some sightseeing and Visa consultancy. I booked my flight tickets for the journey from Goibibo. The return leg of the journey was from Madrid to Bangalore via London. To be sure of visa requirements, I checked with the travel agent (assigned by WTFARES) regarding any transit visa requirements in London. I shared the ticket with him. He informed that no transit visa is required. Rest assured, I embarked on the trip. At the end of the trip, when I was checking-in at Madrid airport, the airline authorities denied the boarding pass on the grounds of London transit Visa not available with us. I tried to reason with the airline authorities but they cited the UK government rule of having transit visa mandatorily. I contacted my agent from Madrid airport and he again informed the same that transit visa is not required. But then airline authorities contacted British embassy security control, explained them the situation, shared our passport and flight details with them and concluded that visa requirement is must for our passports and flight. Ultimately, they did not give me & my wife the boarding pass and we had to miss that flight. Then, we booked a new flight from madrid to bangalore for the same day and travelled back.
We suffered the great loss due to same day booking of such a long flight.
I am asking for the suggestions on how to recover the losses because clearly this was not our fault, as we were relying on the visa consultant to give us the correct guidance.
Regards
Prateek
You have a good case for complaint and compensation if you can prove about the wrong advice about visa given to you. Also proof of contract that it contained services about visa advice, just so they don’t try to wash their hands off from that.
Hi Sir,
We have purchased a reputed property in Bangalore with Prestige builders through an agent known as Spaceyard.The agent informed that after we sign the agreement and make 10% payment within 90 days we would receive 1% from them.We signed an agreement in March 2015 and did rigours follow up with them and they have disappeared and doesn’t respond to calls or emails.We spoke with Prestige and they informed that as we don’t have any contractual relation or tripartite agreement, they are not liable for this.This has to b managed between buyer and agents. Then we argued stating that they are authorised agents of Prestige and shouldn’t the company be responsible for this. We tried everything and all goes vain.We have visited Police station for FIR and they too asking us to gather a lot of documents from Prestige to lodge FIR.We are running from pillar to post.My question is how much time do I have to complain under consumer forum and what steps should be taken.
You send send FIR to SP (and maybe cc to higher police authorities too) if the PS doesn’t take the FIR. Collection of documents is also responsibility of police as part of investigation, not just complainant.
Consumer forum has limitation period of 2 years, which can be condoned too. The limitation period will not start before first date when you communicated about the problem to them. It could as well be taken as your last communication date with them before you reach consumer forum.
Hello Sir,
I had given advance (25K) for booking a flat with GM infinite ( Global techie town in E city) builders in Bangalore. The advance was collected from me on the first day of visit to their site. The amount was paid using my debit card and they issued a receipt for the same. I did the due diligence for the property and the same is okay to go for purchase, but the clauses mentioned in the sale and construction agreement are which I could not agree up on. They were not ready to change any of it and says that they will abide by the RERA act. But I dont think that the RERA act will cover all the clauses.
Eg: There is a clause that If I blog or write any negative review in internet against their company the agreement stands cancelled and no refund.
Another clause is that even after fully buying the property including the club membership, when I sell the property to any one, they have the right to charge any amount which they feel suitable at that time to do the transfer of membership to the next owner. ( No cap for the amount)
They will start charging the maintenance fee from the date of hand over of the flat though all amenities will get ready only after 2 years from the date of hand over.
There is no time limit for providing occupancy certificate. They only says they will give it for sure.
There is a clause which says that they will pay penalty in case of delay beyond 6 months ( after 4 years of agreed time). But everything under the sun which can cause a delay ( like labour shortage, material shortage, legal issues etc. ) have been excluded from the reason for delay.
Similarly there are many such clauses which were not so customer friendly and can be trouble some in case of a in issue and get into a dispute.
Hence I requested them to modify the agreement, which they denied and sent me an email that they are cancelling my booking and the amount paid will not be refunded.
I have requested them to refund the advance paid by me but there is no response. already two reminders have been sent. I have not cancelled the booking, its cancelled by the builder and even if its due to delay from my part to make balance payment its due to clause in agreement which were not informed or discussed with me during the booking time.
In this case what should be my next course of action? If I have to get a legal notice served or file a case in consumer forum, will the cost of handling these will be higher than the 25K which I should be getting back?
Their contract is totally one sided and probably many terms of contract would be in contradiction with RERA.
You can send legal notice and then file consumer complaint. You can ask for 25K + cost of legal fees/compensation etc (I suggest 50K min so total prayed relief becomes 25+50 = 75K). Merely asking 25K is not enough and not desirable either.
Thank you very much for your reply. I will take it forward.
Hi,
As part of Australia Immigration, I gave Akkam representative an amount of 60K in cash on Jan 10th and then on Jan 12th for some personal reasons we told them we want to discontinue their services and asked for refund. Note that by this time there was not even a case file created at their side as we didnt start the processing. But they refused to give back the money and gave one condition that if we find a replacement for them they will return the money. Now after 7 months they continue to say the same thing.
We don’t have any close friends who are currently trying to immigrate anywhere and its not possible for strangers to contact or trust me when I ask them to enroll in their services so we cannot find replacement for them. I think its not right for them to expect us to find some candidate for them.
We are in a fix and we think its not right for somebody to hold consumers money when they are not availing or have ever availed any services from them. Please someone help me in this regard.
As per their refund clause in their agreement they are not entitled to refund any money but I have read that such one sided agreement clause can be termed void legally as all clauses should benefit both parties.
What would you suggest?
It’s difficult to say if it is one-sided without knowing the services to be provided, timeframe of those services, and so on.
Does this at least qualify for a case which I should pursue in consumer complaints forums and expect some relief?
Or do you think I am not entitled to any refund given I didnt use the services at all?
Payment is main criteria to be able to file consumer complaint, not usage of services. But you have to prove some deficiency of service. If you didn’t use the services and there is no refund clause, then your case will be weak, or it may be rejected by consumer forum at admission stage.
Sir,I applied for home loan from icici bank,in that process I paid 3001 rupees as processing fees.they rejected my application on technical reason.I asked for refund.they not returning.I approached to banking ombudsmen,he advised bank to refund with interest but bank not returned and saying its under their own banking ombudsmen team order.guide me how I will get my money back.
Not sure what is the technical reason, but keeping processing fee is justified when they have spent some time and effort on your loan application. Else it should be fully or substantially refundable. That’s the economics or business logic of it, their loan application terms may say something else (to their advantage) so you have to read it carefully, before deciding to go to consumer forum.
If banking ombudsman ruled in your favour, it seems like a strong case.
Hi,
I have a issue with my car. I purchased Renault KWID from Trident showroom in Mysore road on December 5th 2015 and on April 19th night 9 PM the car caught fire in engine part when I started the car and with help of neighbours I got rid off fire . Entire bonnet part was burnt by then.
When asked for cause of fire Trident team and Renault team are not providing the reason however Insurance team has approved the claim but when we see the technical report presented by Renault there is no accurate reason for cause of fire.
Concern:
Its almost two months that my car is in showroom and due to this I am having tough time travelling.
How can I trust the car is fine after service, there are chances of car catching fire as there is no reason for cause of fire.
Kindly help me with this issue. Can I file a complaint for this ?
Please reply
Insurance claim may still lead to a claim on your insurance policy and it will reflect on your policy and they will deny you no-claim benefit later, so basically you are paying higher insurance next year even if the fault was in car.
That apart, it’s a quality and safety issue also. If they make a fix without charging anything then it’s your choice whether you can live with that and hope the car won’t catch fire again. But this being serious thing you can ask them for a suitable explanation for why the fire happened. If they don’t give one then you can take it to consumer forum. Car engine catching fire is not one of those routine type of defects which can happen due to probability after usage and wear and tear, and not one that one can forget about as if nothing had happened.
I had given my laptop Hp pavilion g6 to a shop in Marathahalli. I had handed over my system on 21/may/2017 for a system recovery from original OS discs with a data backup. After a long delay of 7 days he provided it back with a pirated OS. I had no knowledge of that because he did not ask for my permission to install a pirated software. In 2 days the OS brokedown and my laptop was not able to switch on. I took it back to him, told him to do what i had asked previously i.e. original OS recovery via CDs. After 1-2 days he told me that my laptop has some issues with power supply and it needs to be replaced that would charge 1400/-. Initially denying to that but then i agreed to get it changed as i thought that might make the situation smooth and better for laptop. Then he again took too much time to repair it. He called me today ie 07june2017 and told that i can collect it as it is working well. But when i reached his shop his emplyees were there. I asked one to get it checked and when he started it, the issue was not resolved. It was posting same error as previously. Then i asked him that i can not give it more to your shop for further diagnosis. Then his boss called and told me that either i have to give him repair money or give that laptop to him for one more day.
When i denied his offer he told me i cannot take my laptop back to which i warned him that i will complain to police if he will not give it back.
Then he told him to go and complain as he is having too many contacts in police department. So as a last resort i have given him a time of 1 nore day to replace my older part and give my laptop back in running condition.
But i am not sure that i have done the right thing or not.
Please give some suggestions on legal point. If tomorrow i receive my laptop in a bad condition like hampered parts or not workable system, then what can i do in this situation.
Can i file a case in consumer court?
Can i take help from police?
Or is there any other thing that i can do to be on safer side.
For the record i have 2 receipt of repair request and phone conversation recordings from the point when he told me to replace the hardware (ic).
Whatsapp message delivered to him and read by him about my repair status and warning messages that i sent him. And he did not even once replied to those.
Please suggest.
Thanks in advance.
Police is required for cases where there is fraud etc. As of now it seems more like contractual dispute.
So if laptop doesn’t work then you may take it or leave it with them, and file case in consumer forum either way to get money back/laptop back/both as applicable.
hi – i have recently signed up for a cruise package with Lakshadweep Tourism and made the advance payment of 1.3 Lacs. The cruise was cancelled due to bad weather and the agency promised to refund the amount within two three days. They had also confirmed on email for the same. Despite repeated follow-up on phone/email, it has not been refunded till date and it is over three weeks. In the last week, they have stopped attending to emails, messages and calls. Appreciate some guidance on the next steps.
Send one final legal notice (you can do it yourselves) to their official email id or to postal address by speed post etc, and if no reply within 8-10 days (mention that in notice) you can follow up with consumer forum complaint.
Hello Sir,
I have purchased an iphone which is having 2 year warranty and one year insurance.
when my phone screen is broken, I consulted the service centre as they mentioned while purchasing. But while purchasing I was not given any info regarding the insurance people as they gave this 1 year insurance as offer. After purchase the service center had sent me warranty and insurance regarding mail.
in the insurance mail they just mentioned accidental damage is covered. But when I contacted the service centre , they are telling me that they have forwarded my mail to them and they rejected my request and telling its not a accidental issue.
For me they have not mentioned any terms and condition of their insurance and they are delaying their reply for this. Should I go to consumer forum for this?
Because of broken device usage, my mobile HW is also facing some problems. Apple is telling its not covered under the warranty so they are not responsible for this.
Without looking at the insurance document to know the terms, it’s not possible to decide what is covered or not. So you have to check that document or check on website. The terms have to be mentioned somewhere, else it’s a phony offer.
You can go to consumer forum if the terms of insurance don’t mention about broken screen not covered.
Hi I am MounesH, some four months back I joined a PG ( paying guest) in WHITEFIELD. They took 3000 advance from me and they told me that 1000 Rs maintenance fee will be charged. I disagreed to it and he also accepted that he will return full amount, but now he is not willing to give even single penny and he is forcing me and my other friends to leave before our time even though we have paid the amount. He is also saying that if we don’t vacate the room then some people will come and make us do. The advance slip is with me and it seems he will not return it so what should I do. I want to go to consumer court is it good decision or not
You can try consumer forum. I am myself not very clear whether rental agreements are covered under consumer protection act or not. I remember having read news about some cases like that and the opposite view too, but can’t find the relevant information right now. So I suggest to talk to consumer forum staff about it, just ask about the rental agreement part they may not be interested in listening to the whole story and it’s not their job either to comment on success/failure probability of a particular case.
Hello,
I purchased a site from Karnasree Builders who have their office in Marathahalli, Bangalore. The site is near the near Airport. I paid monthly installments of 9000 for 6 years from 2007 to 2013 (Net total around 7 lakhs per Site) and they were supposed to register the site after completing all payments in 2013. Thinking it is a good deal – I signed up 3 of my friends also for the same scheme.
It has been 4 years since and they have not yet registered the site.
As per their terms and conditions – those parties who have completely paid their installments can get a full refund in a buy back scheme. When we requested for a refund they issued a letter saying that Rs 1,00,000 will be deducted in administration fees and expenses. This was not acceptable.
We kept going to their office they keep giving excuses that it is election time and the area has got a notice that developments have to be made etc…
Recently when we went there – they offered us to go and see under construction flats at a different location saying if we like we can pay the difference and buy a flat. I went and saw the flats at Medahalli Village. It seemed good but the flats are priced way too high and I decided that I will not take up the flat.
Kindly let us know what next steps should be followed so that we can get our money back. And I would also like to know if the court suggests that we should get it back with compounded interest.
You can individually or jointly file case in consumer forum, and ask for refund with interest. I think compounded interest can be claimed too.
But you have to strongly deny that you had agreed for alternative terms or alternative flat etc because they will try their cheap trick to suggest that the contract terms were modified with agreement of both parties.
Hello Sir,
I had taken a tour package from iTraveller (Bangalore) for Srinagar for July end.
The situation in Srinagar was not good that time and I asked many time if I should postpone my travel.
But every time they said that they have talked with the local operator and he had confirmed the situation in good in the places I am going.
After reaching Srinagar, we were shocked to know that entire city was closed. We talked with the local operator and he said that he never approved for the travel. In fact, he said that the company told him that we are willing to travel at our own risk.
We had to come back same day.
For some month company replied to my mail saying they are in process of getting refund from the hotel but now they are not replying to my mail. Their executive is also not answering my call.
Can you please suggest me what should I do.
I live in Pune (Maharashtra).
Since they seem to be an eCommerce type of company, you can file complaint in consumer forum in Pune and send notice to Bangalore corporate address. Let them send a local Pune representative or lawyer to consumer forum in Pune.
If court officials ask: argue to court that if Bangalore company can send Pune customer to Srinagar and collect money, why can’t they send a Pune rep to Pune to fight consumer case there? It is a Pan-Indian business basically.
Hi,
Thanks for the reply.
The problem is they do not have a local office in Pune.
So I am not don’t if I can file the case in Pune.
If they don’t have a local office in Pune, how did you avail services in Pune and pay them money? Why one-way street only for customer?
I had filed a case on Panasonic in Bangalore while giving their Chennai address.. they sent local Bangalore rep to court. Don’t these big companies do business in all big cities? And even if they don’t have employees in every city, can’t they hire a lawyer in your city?
I have already given points about jurisdiction, you have to try it out… without taking reasonable action it’s more of analysis paralysis.
HI,
Thanks a lot for your suggestion.
I will go to pune court and will look for options.
Hello,
I have a Maruthi Alto Car (Bought and registered in Bengaluru) which i met with an accident around 5 months ago. However, the accident happened in Coorg (~300 Km away from Bangalore). As the car was not in a condition to get it back to Bengaluru, we decided to leave it for repair at the nearest Maruthi authorized dealer in Coorg (Madikeri), The dealer took more than 4 months to get the car repaired, which I believe is too much time for the work that had to be done. Moreover, I had to raise a complaint to the dealer’s head office which speeded up the repair work to an extent.
However, now that we got the car back, the repair work of many interior and exteriors are far from acceptance. I now showed the car at another authorized service dealer and he suggested to get it sorted from the same dealer where the car was repaired, as it will cost me again a lot of money.
I tried contacting the same dealer again and he refused to work on it any further.
Please suggest as to what would be the best way to get this sorted out.
Main thing to see is did the work correspond to amount spent? Was there a written work order or description on the bill about work done. Certain kinds of work have to be done to a minimum level and if not done to that level it is a case of deficiency of service, so you can approach consumer court in that regard after giving one final notice to service centre.
Other option is to take pictures of the car now, spend money to get repaired from other service centre, and then reclaim that amount along with compensation from original repair centre. The only practical problem might be the evidence of the bad job will be there only in pictures then.
Hi Vivek
I had bought air tickets from Yatra last year in July and we ended up missing our international flight back home in October last year on Air India. I called them and they said I need to file for a refund via the travel agent viz. Yatra. I called Yatra and requested this. I have been following up with them since the last 10 months but to no avail. Now the deadline that the airlines had (1 year from the date of journey) is past and there is still no clarity on this. How do I approach this?
Thanks in advance!
Airline is not liable to refund for flight missed due to customer fault, but they may do it depending on giving advance notice by customer. If you have communication from them (yatra and airline), you can file consumer court complaint. The issue if raised within 1 year should be taken to be within limit of 1 year. That they didn’t resolve within 1 year is their fault, not yours.
Hi, I am Dr LOHIT, currently working as a Psychiatrist in Dharwad, Karnataka.
I have taken an education loan at Syndicate bank. Periodically central govt comes with interest subsidy scheme. For my education loan I had approached bank in June 2015 for any subsidy scheme applicable for me, then bank people told there is no such scheme. Then in Sept 2015 bank had a circular for providing subsidy for previous unclaimed years. But bank failed to intimate me the same nor they applied themselves, this mistake has added to my loan an extra amount of 3,61,000/- . What should I do now. I got above information regarding subsidy from a website on education loan task force.
>>Then in Sept 2015 bank had a circular for providing subsidy for previous unclaimed years. But bank failed to intimate me the same nor they applied themselves, this mistake has added to my loan an extra amount of 3,61,000/-
If circular says bank has to apply for previous years, then it’s a mistake by bank. You can send complaint to banking ombudsman first and if that doesn’t work then to consumer forum.
I ordered earphones from Amazon.in by paying Rs.2309/- on oct9 2016. And they delivered to me an empty box on Oct 14 2016. and no earphones inside.
I informed Amazon.in within 10 min. of receipt of delivery.
They said they will replace with new earphones provided the same seller has them instock.
Otherwise the option is refund of whatever paid.
Now the same earphones are costing Rs.2999/- from other sellers on Amazon site. If Amazon.in is giving me a refund, I have to pay more to get the same earphones.
I asked Amazon for replacement and not refund.
And told them it’s their responsibility to provide me earphones for the same price either from the same seller or different seller.
They are not accepting to provide me from different seller, instead give me refund if the original seller doesn’t have them in stock.
So, I thought of lodging a complaint against them.
Is it right to proceed?
In my opinion, you don’t have any legal claim to get the replacement at original discounted price… if the deal doesn’t materialize due to whatever reasons (and it doesn’t seem amazon fault anyway that seller sent empty package), you get money back and wait for next deal or buy full price.
Read their terms and conditions, it will be mentioned somewhere about such scenarios. Problem is people want their rights without reading about what those rights are in first place.
Update 20 Oct 2016: though legally a contract is in place once payment made, they may have terms defined that in case of special circumstances (out of their control) they are only liable to refund. I don’t want to go into all those details unless someone reads the terms for themselves and able to convincingly say that there is no such condition defined. Only then you may have a case.
Hello Videv,
The best way i can explain is with the details and here are the information’s related to SNAPDEAL : Ordered a Redmi Note 3 Mobile in SNAPDEAL ONLINE SHOPPING on 20 Aug, 2016, Received on 23rd Aug 2016, Phone was completely dead after charging and not booting up and placed for replacement on 29th Aug 2016, Courier person picked up on 4th Aug 2016, But the product is reaching the warehouse since 4th Sep 2016 and still reaching for quality check.
I have been following up with snapdeal customer care with full of frustration since 4th Sep 2016 and im not getting proper response and always getting an answer that once the product reaches the warehouse and perform a quality check, they can able to tell something. This answer is always disappointing me.
For an example, got a call from Sonu/snapdeal- 01206650900 and I told that I wanted to talk any managers over there, he said he will arrange a call back from him in an hour. I told him clearly that 200% sure i am not going to get a call from him and I asked a email address to give a written statement over email. I didn’t get any call from snapdeal after that and i sent an email to Kunal.Bahl@snapdeal.com ( executive director) , still no response. My money got stuck in SNAPDEAL and they are taking their own time.
one more important thing is, this product is not having Refund policy but has 7 days replacement policy. I’m afraid of replacement because since 14th Sep 2016, i was asking for Refund NOT the mobile again if in case the same situation happens again, i can’t deal with the SNAPDEAL, they are adament to resolve the issues and least bothered about their customers and i’m one of the victim.
Most important worst part/drawback is : We cannot reach any persons in snapdeal or contact numbers or email addresses except customer care# 92126 92120, this number : 011-45371100 is out of usage). Big company with less information of contacts but still runs high, strange :-(.
Please guide me how to approach this online shopping personals to get back my Money.
Regards,
Prakash
>>SNAPDEAL ONLINE SHOPPING on 20 Aug, 2016, Received on 23rd Aug 2016, Phone was completely dead after charging and not booting up and placed for replacement on 29th Aug 2016,
not clear whether dead right from start or after using for few days. Because if it’s been used for few days then they may also like to check it out before applying 7 day replacement
>>one more important thing is, this product is not having Refund policy but has 7 days replacement policy. I’m afraid of replacement because since 14th Sep 2016, i was asking for Refund NOT the mobile again if in case the same situation happens again,
Policies are policies and no customer is forced to buy anything, so if you don’t like the idea of replacement rather than refund then you can stop using snapdeal in future. But for this transaction, you will have to go by the policies and if too much delay in processing replacement you can inform them in writing as last message and then approach consumer court.
Thanks for your information Videv. Yes, i missed out something there, i used it for some days and exactly on the 7th day after i charged my mobile, and i checked the mobile was not booting and just showing the Mi logo, i have mentioned this as phone is dead. I requested Snapdeal to take this issue at higher priority and somehow i got an email id csmanager@snapdeal.com after i dropped an email to this id, the followup has started fast. Finally, they called me and said the mobile has reached the warehouse and did the quality check and they started the procedure for replacement. I told them clearly that i do not want to face the same thing in future with snapdeal and i was totally disappointed by following with customer care and their response, so i need only refund not the replacement product. Snapdeal arranged for refund and i have received it.
I have shared one email id in my comments because their might be many customers who are facing this kind of issues when dealing with snapdeal and this might help them to fix it soon.
You may have been lucky to get refund instead of replacement, but I really doubt snapdeal will start doing it as a routine practice. It might have been a one-off thing done by them.
Dear Sir,
I did the booking yesterday morning on makemytrip.com for an international ticket, the booking got done and the payment debited from my account, and then suddenly the website said the booking failed.
I called their customer service hotline and spoke to the officer there and asked him to book a ticket for me, to which he said he cannotand told me that the sales team wil call me in 4hours time, the call never came and I called them in the evening and spoke to the supervisor who said the refund is already processed. The refund takes 1-3 weeks time. My money is locked in there and I need to book another ticket, the prices of the ticket are soaring .im short of funds.
Please guide me as to what I could do in this situation.
Regards,
Deepa.
You can take action against them for blockage of funds (even if the website terms says 1-3 weeks for refund), but otherwise the booking failure may be a genuine event out of their control. They may even say that 1-3 weeks for refund is out of their control, and some of that delay might be so, so it will require some arguing in court. I don’t remember exact number of days but Ecommerce companies like Amazon.in /flipkart process refunds much faster and I think it is within 4-5 days.
The upper limit 3 weeks for refund seems too high to me
Dear Sir,
Thanks for the reply,
Can I ask them compensation in some form?
Regards,
Deepa.
Yes of course. Ask 20-50K at minimum but I am giving that only as a guideline range since I had bad experience once when I asked for very less as compensation. It may not be taken seriously by company then.
Hello Sir,
For a grocery items purchase done at SHOP@RITE Supermarket, horamavu , Bangalore on 28/08/2016. The billed amount was Rs. 1030.00. I used my Debit card for settling the same. The first time after swipe duly the Pin number was provided on prompt and immediately received the SMS on my registered mobile number with bank, but the merchant claimed the transaction was unsuccessful even after seeing the sms on my mobile number. The merchant said I shall receive the refund back in to my account automatically from bank for the invalid attempt as the slip is not generated from the swiping machine. Hence once more time the debit card needs to be swiped. Again the process was repeated one more time the money was deducted from account and this time the slip was provided by him. This time the merchant said the transaction was successful.
Next day I confirmed with Local Branch of ICICI bank by getting a acknowledged statement showing two time Rs 1030.00 deduction from my account for a merchandise purchased only worth Rs. 1030.00. Now after my repeated pleas for refund the merchant is refusing to provide me the refund for the duplicate transaction done first time. He justify saying that the refund shall be given by bank NOT them.
Please guide my next step,
Have a written statement of account from bank as proof which shows the 2 debits, also you need the receipt of Rs 1030 for items purchased. Keep originals with you, use only copies initially.
>>merchant claimed the transaction was unsuccessful even after seeing the sms on my mobile number
What the merchant is doing borders on fraud/cheating… so that option of approaching police is also available to you. Slip not generated could be a problem in printing with the machine, what matters is that the machine shows the “Approved” message at which time the transaction is approved.
You can try threatening him consumer court complaint, if he doesn’t budge you can try police, and if that doesn’t work then actual consumer complaint.