Filing a case in consumer forum court

Harassed Customer? 

        Many times we all would have felt that companies providing products / services are taking customer for ride, and not providing the value for the worth paid to them. That could include, bad products & not returning your money, bad services yet refusing refunds / return and many more such cases.

       What we typically do in such cases? Call customer care, write emails, take it to social media (FB/ twitter post). Many times these things works! and we get what we wanted (refunds / pending services etc). But there are still instances where we are denied of what we ... as consumer .. should get for the amount spent. So if you are facing this situation ... read on to know your rights (as a consumer), and how you can take action legally (reaching out to CONSUMER FORUM COURTS !)

      First things first, official link which covers section12(1)(c) of the consumer protection Act, 1986

      Next, what baffles anyone ... what should I do to file a case. It should be very tedious, requires a lawyer, costly affair .. etc etc. Good news is .. all of this is wrong !! One can file a case on their own (without a lawyer) very easily, and can represent their case in court too (again, lawyer not needed !).

Filing case in Consumer Forum - steps required!

1) Create one case application using this format.

NOTE : This format is created for filing case in Bangalore Urban District Consumer Forum, you will need to use the name as applicable to your location / jurisdiction.

2)  Collect all documents that you want to submit as evidence (like Bill copy, email conversations, phone bills etc etc).

3) Create 4 sets of above material (case application + all evidences). Pin up all case + evidences together (so to get 4 sets !)

4) Get a Demand Draft for ₹ 100, favoring "President, Bangalore Urban Dist. Consumer Forum" (or use what is applicable for your location / jurisdiction).

5) Submit them (4 sets of docs + DD) at the Consumer Forum office.

For Bangalore : 

Bangalore Urban Dist. Consumer forum,

Cauvery Bhavan, eight floor, K.G. Road, 

Bangalore-560 009. 

Ph: +91-80-2211137

For rest of Karnataka, read here.

Once your case documents are submitted, you will be provided with case number and case hearing date (this might take 2 to 3 days, they typically ask you to call them up to get these details). Typically, 1st hearing will be between 10 to 15 days after case submission.

Useful Tips

1) Be objective, and to the point (no dramatics like world has fallen as you are denied by this company). State facts with dates.

2) Asking compensation could be tricky. For any amount (total of refund amount + compensation) more than ₹ 1 Lac, then amount for DD would change (so look for that). Also if amount claimed is more than ₹ 20 lac .. then case goes to higher court (and not district court) .. so be wary of that too.

3) If you have a very strong case & claiming high amount, you may consider talking to lawyer and share compensation benefits with them.

(I wish I have these while filing 1st case .. and by now I have filed 3. Won the 1st one, submitted other 2 yesterday .. thus writing this blog before I forget. I will Update this blog with the result of other 2 cases later!)

Update: I won both the cases I filed while I created this blog post.

DISCLAIMER : I am writing this from my experiences of filing these cases, some details might differ from places to place, so please do not hold me accountable for that :-)

Finally .. do share you experiences (in comments) .. and also let me know if you found t his useful (or suggestions for improvement).

Lets teach these hot-headed-companies that consumers are the kings (and queens) .. and cannot be taken from granted !! Cheers!

All for a cause

An usual Saturday morning for me begin past 11 am, but last Saturday (22nd Dec 2007) was different and much special!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Contrast to any of a vacation, I was not only awake by 7:00 am, but also was ready for action that was coming my way at Forum Mall by 8:30 am.
Well if you are thinking that Forum is a popular hangout lace for Bangalore, then no award for guessing and I am talking about the same place :-) and if you are wondering that what the heck I was doing there that early............. read on :-)

Last weekend we (we as in bunch of enthusiasts calling ourself WinningAspirations) had put up a fund raising stall for PAPCP (Parents Association Of Persons With Cerebral Palsy And Associated Disorders). This was the very first activity for me as a part of this highly energetic & self motivated group WinningAspirations, which comprises of bunch of techies (I know Bangalore is full of them, but these are somewhat different as they have an zeal to go an extra mile & contribute for the society and our nation).

The stall was also an showcase for the work these special children of PAPCP organization. The main attractions at the stall were handicrafts made by these children (with the help of special instructors & volunteers) like paper bags, greeting cards, candles etc, and also their imagination painted on canvas. I would sincerely like to thank people of Bangalore who had shown great interest in these articles and made this fund raiser a great success. Exceeding everyone's expectation, we were able to raise more than 40K in just two days (again thanks to Bangalore ki janta)....................

This whole experience was a great learning on its own, but it had given a deep sense of satisfaction & motivation to carry such activities in future. Hats off to all the guys who had put in their efforts for this.