Man loses Rs 55,000 to online fraud while buying mobile phone; CDRC grants relief

Team Udayavani, Jan 27, 2023, 11:13 AM IST

Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission granted relief to a man who lost Rs 55,000 to online fraud while purchasing a mobile phone.

The commission ordered the accused firm to pay the lost amount along with an additional Rs 15,000 as compensation to the aggrieved customer.

Measurement issues, quantity discrepancies, customer service fraud, and other issues are handled by the consumer commission, which also offers relief to those who have been wronged.

Details of the case

Harsha Mente, a software engineer at MRPL, Suratkal, purchased a mobile online and paid Rs 55,000. On June 17, 2020, he received a parcel but it only contained a charger and earphones.

Harsha immediately called customer care who promised to resolve the issue in the next 5 days. However, there was no response from the team.

He kept calling the customer service executives for about 6 months. He later contacted the CDRC and registered a complaint in October 2022.

The three-member bench of the Commission took up the case. The commission mandated that the accused company reimburse the consumer for the lost funds as well as an additional Rs 15,000 in damages.

“In the last two years, I have made over 200 calls to the online firm’s customer service about the case. I had to explain my situation each time because each call was answered by a different customer service team. My mental peace was also affected as a result of this. The Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has now resolved the issue,” Harsha said.

Out of the 13,965 cases that were registered by the end of December 2022, the D.K. District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has settled 13,516 of them. 2,242 of the 2,320 cases that were registered in Udupi up till September 2022 have been resolved.

Gangadhara Naik MT,Assistant Administrative Officer, D.K. Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission said, “Many different forms of complaints, such as covid health insurance fraud, are being filed in the district. According to the revised notification,  Customers can receive free commission service for unfairness or fraud in goods or services worth up to 5 lakhs. Rs 200 for services worth between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh. 400 for services ranging from Rs. 10 lakh to Rs. 20 lakh. A fee of Rs 1,000 should be paid for services costing up to Rs 20 lakh to Rs 50 lakh.”