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Ever Been To A Consumer Forum, Read A Customer’s Experience

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By Jai Anand:

Reaching the Mehrauli Consumer Redressal Forum was not an easy task. Had it not been for registering a complaint, I would not have even tried. Thankfully, courtesy my GPS brain and good negotiation skills, I managed to make it in an auto-rickshaw.

Strangely, there was no security check at the entrance. Though the signboard was located right above a door on the ground floor, the office was on the first floor. This set me solving a crystal maze and I found two allies doing the same.

To talk of interiors is a sore to senses. An untidy structure with an entrance around three foot-wide, the forum was flooded with people of all sorts. Language both parliamentary and unparliamentary was doing the rounds. The lobby to walk was so narrow that it gave the feeling of walking in the crowded bylanes of Lucknow.

No Helpdesk

To my surprise there was no helpdesk at the forum. The only way for a complainant to figure out how he/she can file a complaint was by asking other complainants/lawyers inside the forum.

The administration was shabby and there was no help available for the consumer. It was a real horror and for a while I even thought of giving up my complaint.

Somehow mustering courage, I went forward and asked a lawyer the process of filing a complaint. His response jolted me further. According to him I first needed to write an application and then get affidavits attested.  Just to confirm, I asked another lawyer who added to my misery by stating that getting affidavits attested is a tough job and only a clerk can help.

The Bureaucratic Clerk

Being tall helped and I sighted a clerk at one corner. When I reached him he delivered another blow saying he could tell me the process only after 2:30 p.m. What was more humiliating was the fact that the same clerk was attending to others who had hired lawyers.

He was pretty gentle to them, helping them get affidavits attested, procuring documents and getting them dates. That left me with a sense that hiring a lawyer is the best way forward but on second thoughts isn’t the entire concept of consumer forums a waste if lawyers are needed for small cases like mine.

Mediation And Conciliation Center

I had come with a lot of hope, thinking that the consumer forum will come to my rescue against a leading education brand, only to feel disgusted after wasting hours. While I was wandering hopelessly in the lobby, a person inside a cabin called me and asked the details of my case. I narrated him the facts and for the first time since the morning got a satisfactory response.

He said his unit would help me out in resolving the matter. I was relieved. This was the Mediation and Conciliation center, another government body. Their mode of operations is quite simple. They listen to consumer complaints, ascertain the authenticity and then send a notice to the opposite party to appear at the center. The M&C tries to settle the case between the two parties out of court. Moreover, this is a free service and the affidavits that the aggrieved party provides need not be attested. The date of hearing is also given within a week or two.

The M&C center officials asked me to not worry as they had already cracked various similar cases in the favour of the consumer. They put my complaint in a file, scanned the proof of identity and address themselves, gave me a reference number and a date that was after 10 days. There were a few documents which I was not carrying. They asked me to mail the same across on an e-mail-id provided by them.

Conclusion

Just for the sake of experience, I visited Saini Enclave’s District Consumer Redressal Forum the following day and unsurprisingly, they also did not have a helpdesk. Thankfully I did not wait long enough to see whether there was an M&C center or not.

The government has put in place Consumer Forums to help the common man. However, one gets the impression that the whole process is not very consumer friendly.

 

File your consumer complaint here.

Filing a Consumer Complaint just got easier, slightly

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We are unhappy with our experiences with various brands on a daily basis but still shudder at the thought of approaching consumer forums for relief. A few days back, newspapers reported that the Supreme Court (“SC”) has said consumers could represent themselves in consumer forums through “agents” and not just lawyers (see this link). This decision has made the lives of complainants a bit easier.

Now, non-lawyers can represent consumers in consumer forums

Background

Consumers across India can approach consumer forums (fast track court rooms established to hear and resolve consumer disputes instead of getting caught in legal technicalities) if they have a complaint against a brand. Consumers can either appear before the forum themselves, or use a lawyer. In addition, consumer law provided an oft-ignored provision for an “agent” to appear on behalf of the customer. An “agent” would be someone who is not an Advocate and represents the customer before the consumer forum.

As one can imagine, the Bar Council of India, which protects the interests of Advocates objected to “agents” appearing on behalf of the consumers. In India, only Advocates can “practice law”. Therefore, the question arose, whether an agent when appearing before the consumer forum was “practising law”.

The Details

The rule under scanner was Rule 4(7) of the Maharashtra Consumer Protection Rules, 2000 which states that a consumer can either appear personally or through an authorised agent before consumer forum. In the year 1997, the Maharashtra State Consumer Commission had passed an order staying the hearing of the cases where authorised agents were involved. When this order was appealed before the High Court, it rejected the order of State Commission and held that the parties cannot be compelled to hire services of an Advocate and that an authorised agent can appear in consumer forums.

The matter reached the SC finally and the SC upheld the view taken by the High Court.

The Supreme Court considered the following points while arriving at its decision:

  • The key objective of the Consumer Protection Act is the speedy disposal of consumer disputes at a reasonable cost. Therefore, the law clearly allows the consumer to appear either personally or through an agent;
  • There was no conflict with the provisions of the Advocates Act;
  • There is a distinction between Courts and Tribunals – Courts being governed by Code of Civil Procedure and Evidence Act whereas Tribunals are not ordinarily governed by these provisions;
  • Other legislation like MRTP Act, Income Tax Act, Sales Tax Act also allow non-advocates to appear;
  • There have been instances where non advocates can appear with the permission of the Court;
  • To adopt a constructive approach, the Supreme Court interpreted the provisions of the statute and the Rules in favour of the consumer;

The SC also directed the National Consumer Disputes Resolution Commission (NCDRC) to frame rules which will govern the process of using an agent in a consumer forum.

Agent’s fees

Though the intention of the SC is that an agent be a representative who is a relative or a person well-known to the complainant and therefore, does not need to be paid, it allows for a provision that an agent may take permission of the forum to receive fees. However, the SC set a limit of 20% of the disputed/compensation amount as the maximum fees that an agent may charge.

One of the criticisms is that the 20% limit could lead to more success fees basis arrangement (which is illegal in India at the moment) or that 20% of the total compensation amount can be a prohibitively high amount.

We feel that such fears are unfounded for the following reasons:

  1. only certain people can become representatives (e.g. relative, neighbour, business associate or personal friend);
  2. the agent is appearing on an individual case basis;
  3. the complainant has to agree to pay the fees. If it is too much, he might as well hire a  professional lawyer;
  4. just because you ask for high compensation, doesn’t mean you’ll get it. Most likely courts will reject it. So, a smart complainant will never agree to pay 20% of the amount claimed.

These are general directions given by the SC. The detailed guidelines will surely address this issue.

The Akosha View

This is a great move by SC as it might ease the pain of all those who can’t represent themselves or find lawyers too expensive. We feel the consumer can now help himself or get an agent now who has some experience of consumer cases, rather than a full blown lawyer – at least for simpler cases. Additional advantage is that judges are usually friendlier towards consumers/non-lawyers representing in court (at least they are given more lee way in terms of technicalities).

All in all, we believe this judgement is a step in the right direction for consumer justice.

 

File your consumer complaint here.

A Day at the K G Marg, New Delhi District Consumer Forum

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Located in posh Lutyen’s Delhi, the New Delhi District Forum on Kasturba Gandhi Marg is a dismal sight. The entrance of the forum was no more than three feet wide and the first thing you would see are the endless stacks of files of consumer complaints. There are files of all shapes, colours and sizes. The files are accompanied by a thick layer of dust and cobwebs.

 

Story of a Hapless Consumer

At the entrance, I met Mr Arun Khanna, a consumer fighting for justice. He’s been in and out of the forum for the past year and a half. He had made the down payment for two cars with Peugeot (a French car manufacturer). The company refused to deliver the cars to Mr Khanna. He was also denied a refund of the down payment. He decided to approach the district forum. His complaint was looked into and the judgment was in his favour. The company was ordered to return Mr Khanna’s money. Meanwhile, the company filed for bankruptcy and the process of liquidation was started. Mr Khanna was not aware of this process and how he figures into the equation. He asked people working in the forum to help him but there was no feedback. He thought that the service was poor and kept him out of the loop.

Today, he returned to file a complaint against Sony Ericsson. His phone wasn’t functioning since the date of purchase and customer care was unwilling to help him. When I asked him why he returned to the forum after a bad experience, he said that he had no other option since the company had not been listening to him.

 

Unreliable Helpdesk

I decided to accompany him to the help desk. The woman there was not very responsive and even rude at times. He asked her about how to file a complaint, and if there was a set format. She replied, “Woh mujhe nahi pata. Aap yeh baaki complaints dekh lo. Jaise likha hai, waise likhdo.” (I don’t know. Look at the rest of the complaints and write yours accordingly.) He asked her if he needed a lawyer, she replied, “woh aapki marzi hai”. (It’s up to you.) Mr Khanna went to the court perhaps to find a better source of information.

 

“I’ve been fighting for almost two years to date”

I returned to the narrow entrance to find Ms Aarti, patiently waiting for her turn. She had been a victim of a fraudulent ATM transaction from her ICICI Bank account. A native of Agra, she has spent the better half of her three-year stay in Delhi running around in circles. She filed a complaint under the Banking Ombudsman Scheme. With no respite, she decided to file a complaint in the district forum. I asked her if she needed a lawyer. “No, I don’t. I can argue this myself. I’ve researched what I need to know. I’ll be fine.” (See our no non-nonsense guide to filing a consumer complaint.)

Crowded Court Room

After talking to Aarti, I proceeded towards the court. It was a large room. There were rows of chairs with impatient consumers and lawyers. The judges sat included the President CK Chakrabarti, Neelu Mittal and SR Choudhury. 15-20 people stood in front of that table, pushing and pulling each other.

 

They were screaming so that the judges could hear them. Somehow, I wrestled my way to the judges’ table through the shouting match. I approached the judges and asked them if it was possible to interview them. When my request was denied, I moved on.

2.5 lakh stuck in Housing Scheme

As I exited the court, I met a distraught Shivi Tiwari. She had paid Green City Buildtech an initial sum of 2.5 lakh rupees. Now, there is no house and no money either. She has appeared in court 16 times since 2009. “I will appear as many times as I have to.” Even today she remains strong and confident in her fight for justice. She put on a brave smile for a photograph too!

 

Quick Chat with a Consumer Lawyer

On my way out, I conducted one last interview. I met with lawyer Ashish Gupta. He’s been a consumer lawyer for almost two years now. He felt that the concept of consumer courts was sound. But in practical terms, there were many problems that needed to be addressed. Some of the bigger problems include slow procedure, understaffing and poor infrastructure. He also added that consumers can successfully fight in court because the set-up is informal, the judges are consumer-friendly and there is no place for hyper-technical procedure. “It’s not like people don’t get justice. Justice is delivered. Even if it’s late, justice is always welcome.”

Final Impressions

I entered the forum with high hopes. Like any idealist, my head is filled with ideas of how to make this world a better place to live in and how to shake up the system. But ground reality tends to dampen this idealist spirit. No one I met was happy with the system. Everyone seemed to be frustrated. But like they say, every cloud has a silver lining. This cloud fortunately, is no different. I found an unshakeable quest for justice that Mr. Khanna, Ms Tiwari and Ms. Aarti displayed and like Mr Gupta said, justice is delivered. Better late than never!

This article was written by Arunima Chatterjee, a NUJS, Kolkata student.

 

File your consumer complaint here.

Filing a consumer complaint – the no-nonsense guide

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Really frustrated by a company’s attitude? Read this quick guide to filing a consumer complaint.

 

We’ll keep it short – chances are, if you are reading this, you are angry right now.

If a company provides you with a faulty product or a deficient service, you are entitled to get relief. Before you decide to file a complaint, make sure you have done the following – spoken to the company ‘s customer care, escalated the call, tried reasoning, approached the industry ombudsman (if any). If you are still not happy, read on.

Step 1

Send the company a notice. A notice is a letter, hand-written or printed on plain paper which explains what exactly happened, what you are unhappy about, what you would like the company to do and what you would do in case the company does not resolve the issue. Here are some tips on writing this letter:

1. Do not misstate facts.

2. Specify all the details which would enable the company to resolve your complaint faster (who you spoke to, invoice number, request number, product id, , date of purchase etc.).

3. Do not use foul language or threaten. However, be firm.

4. Provide a 15 day period for them to resolve your complaint.

5. Make sure that you mention a line to the effect that if the company fails to resolve the issue, you would be forced to file a consumer complaint and take other action as well.

Step 2

At this stage, usually the company will call you back or email you and start taking your complaint seriously. If they offer you relief, or some kind of incentives, coupons, free product or service, do consider their offer seriously.

There is also the possibility that the company will not reply to your notice or reply to say that they would not be able to solve your complaint. In such a case, you are left with no option but to go to the appropriate forum .

Step 3

Process in Consumer Forums

Consumer Forums are divided into 3 levels – District Level, State Level and the National. If the total amount involved in your complaint (worth of the goods or services and the compensation you ask for) is below Rs.20 lakhs, then you will have to approach a District Forum. Typically, you have to file your complaint at the District Forum under whose jurisdiction the company or its dealer or its authorized agent carries on business. For understand where you can file your complaint, please see Understanding Jurisdiction of Consumer Forums. To find the address of a district forum, see this.

Typically it will take about 6-12months to resolve a complaint through the District Forum. If the stakes involved are high, either side may appeal and the matter may take longer. You have the option to appear before the District Forum yourself or through a lawyer. Usually people do not have the time to appear themselves, so they hire a lawyer. A lawyer can charge anywhere between Rs.2000 to Rs.20000 for a consumer complaint depending upon the complexity of the case, his/her experience, and your willingness to pay. If you would like to find a lawyer in your city, fill in the Akosha Find a Legal Expert form.

During the course of the case, you might have to appear 2-4 times in the District Forum. Don’t be intimidated by this – the judges are generally customer friendly and you are only required to state the facts.

Why don’t people file complaints?

Despite the ease of using consumer forums, a lot of customers don’t end up filing a complaint. It’s a quick cost benefit analysis – it sounds like too much time, money and effort to pursue it. Sometimes the stakes involved are not that great; also Indian customers have a chalta hai attitude. Once their issue is resolved, they move on with their lives. However, if you are really frustrated with something, it is important to know how to file a consumer complaint. And companies like ours, help you do this in a hassle free manner.

Conclusion

Just like the RTI, filing a consumer complaint is a powerful tool for consumers. If you are unhappy with a product or service, just follow this process and you should come out happy on the other side.

To more information, read Frequently Asked Questions about Consumer Complaints.

Have you ever filed a consumer complaint yourself? Do share your experience with us.

 

File your consumer complaint here.