Indian Consumer

Credit Cards - Terms and Conditions

I found this interesting article..

Credit cards: 23 pages of Terms & Conditions!

ATMs and Transactions

There have been a lot of complaints on ATM transactions that failed, but the consumer's account is still debited. The following are some of the recent comments I have got on this subject:

Anshu Grover

I had withdrawan Rs 400 from Bank of Baroda using ICICI ATM card. It was shown : Unsucessful transaction . But money is debited from a/c . I lodged complain with ICICI .More than 2 months passed . Nothing happened . If any concern person is reading all these comments they must do some action on irresponsible banks.

Abhilash

two days before I used my HDFC card to withdraw money from SBI ATM The ATM machine said transaction Time OUT but the amount (Rs 10000) was debited from my account.is there any chance for getting money? i laredy raise complaint

Home Stay Problems in Bangalore

Hello,

I am a Bangalorean and would like to share my hellish experience my husband and I faced at a home stay resort in Karnataka.We have moved to the Consumer Court and I would like to send you a copy of the complaint so that other gullible people will not go through the same experience we underwent. We were conned by the false claims and beautiful pictures on the home stay website and actually discovered the reality when we went there. Through your website, which is a great way of educating and highlighting cases of consumer grievances, we want to reach out to more people.

It must be emphasized that the “Home Stay” industry is unregulated, unmonitored and has seen unbridled growth in the past 2-3 years and several fly-by-night operators looking to make a quick buck using any means whatsoever. Since demand for weekend outdoor getaways is growing, a lot of unscruplous people are milking the situation to their advantage.

Do let me know your email ID so that I can mail you the complaint...
Thanks
Regards
Priya

Priya, Pls add info as comments in this post. The whole idea of this blog is to allow people like you to get the information out to others. If you want more information to be added to this post, pls use the Contact Me link to send me the information you want added..

ATM Sharing between Banks

The new RBI proposal on sharing of the ATM network between banks is a very good move as far as consumers are concerned. One of the advantages of ATM sharing being that consumers of the not so big banks can have wider access to ATMs. Obviously, there is going to be a fee associated with withdrawel using a external ATM, but atleast there is going to be a clear specification of the cost involved so that you can make an informed decision. RBI has also recommended that there be no charge for balance enquires.

Do note this is still a proposal and not every bank is interested in this yet.

IRCTC Tickets

I got this via comments

I had made online Ticket booking on www.irctc.co.in but there was failure in booking for two occasions on the same date. However my bank account shows that the transaction was successful (statement proof available).
The IRCTC failure notice regarding tickets didnt come to my mail nor I can trace it with IRCTC website. I have lost Rs1692 in this process.
When i sent mail to e-tickets help desk, there was no reponse from their side.
Please advice how i can get back my amount.

I have used the irctc site a lot. Though it has issues with slow pages and often being down, I have never had a problem with the payment part. Usually when something like this happens, the refund usually comes in a day or two. The only time I had a problem, a mail to their helpdesk did the trick. Maybe you should call their helpdesk and also your bank.

Business Credit

I got this in one of my comments:

I run a small ad agency and recently released an advertisement for a school called India international school and gave them 10 days credit period for payment to the release. The Chairman had promised and committed to pay my dues within 10 days and now is absconding. Nobody from the school is responding. what should i do ?

Well I dont know if this falls under the gamut of Consumer laws. My guess would be this is a business dispute and you will have to take it up with the school as this is a part of a business contract. Contact a good lawyer.

Mobile Phones - Where it pinches

Got this from Barnali via a comment on this blog...

I wish to get help from you on my problem. On 18/8/05, I purchased one Sony Ericsson mobile phone model number J200i. After using it for around 1 month, it started giving problem. Often the mobile starting getting hangned. I told the retailer.They collected my phone  and told me that they will send it to the service center. After around another 1 month, they returned it to me and told me that from now it would operate well as they had checked it. After again operating for another 1 month, the phone again started showing the same problem. I again approached the retailer. They, this time, told me to take the mobile myself to the service center and told that they could not help me. Afterwards, I was advised by my doctor for bed rest for my sickness for 3 months. In this time I sent mail to customer support, Sony Ericsson. They told me that they were contacting the Service Center for my case history and it might take some time.They  also wanted my service tag number and IMEI number. I provided all detail to them. It is now more than 45 days and  as I am trying to get them through e-mail,they are no longer responding to my mail.At this point I want to know the legal steps that I can take against the company and also the retailer.

I think your best bet is to go to a local consumer forum to see what options you have.

Clubs - Commitment to Customers

Here is a comment from Abdul Hafeez. I have no idea how these clubs work, but this seems to be a clear case of ignoring a customer.

I had applied for Membership from The Country Club on 12th November 2005 and paid Rs.15,000/- for same day by credit card. The sales person who approached me for applying was so polite before the process could complete. Once I became the member there has been no correspondense from Country Club except for receiving my temporary membership card. I was told that I would get the permanent card within 2 weeks and person from country club came and collected by photo's for the same. Since then there has been no communication    /update what soever. Salesperson (Mr. Prasanna Kumar) has given the cell number which does not belong to him. Whenever I call the Administration / customer care office the response I receive from them is very negative and sometimes they say that I will have to speak to Prasanna only to know the status. There are so many offers which country club is making for new year eve. But I have not received any such offers / nor permanent membership card.

Even the manager are so irresposible there that they do not have the courtesy to call me back and inform me about the status my card. it is over 50 days I have paid 15000/- but not even one rupee benefit I have got from Country Club.

Abdul, I have no idea on what legal position on this, but I am sure you need to approach a local consumer forum and take this up.

Problem with ATM Withdrawals

Another problem from a consumer using ATMs

I wish to bring to your notice a serious issue with ATM transactions (in particular ICICI).

I used my HDFC Debit Card to withdraw Rs6000 from an ICICI bank ATM located in Hyderabad. After punching in my PIN and the amount to withdraw, the ATM worked on for a while and finally the Transaction was declined. I was stunned later to find that my account was debited with Rs6000 even when the cash was not dispensed. I raised a dispute with HDFC bank to co-ordinate with ICICI and solve the issue.The transaction slip was also attached, which shows clearly that "Transaction Declined". My problems increased, when an HDFC employee called and told me the issue will take 35-40 working days to be resolved. I was bluntly told that my card was a MasterCard and that it will take 40 days, and no further explanation was given why it will take 40 days.

I consider this as a complete lack of empathy to the customer and his problems. Who is to blame ICICI or HDFC?. I don't know whom to approach to complain about this issue.

We are at an age of sophisticated machinery and hi-tech and yet a simple audit of the particular ATM machine balance on that date is supposed to take 40 working days, even when all the details like Transaction slip copy, Date of transaction, time, amount etc details were given.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions to solve this issue or at least other means to make people aware of such problems.

Keshav R.Narla
Ness Technologies

Thanks for the Mail Keshav, and this is the way to make people aware of the problem...

Credit Card on the Web

How many people know how to handle a merchant who is not fulfilling a service request and who had been paid via Credit Card? As a matter of fact, I was not very sure till I went thru some trouble.

The main point to be kept in mind is, once you authorize a credit card transaction, your bank, will not reverse it. So if you buy something on the web and pay via credit card, once you click that order button, the money is out of your card. If the merchant does not send you the product ordered, your bank will not reverse the card charge (and hold it from your merchant). It is for you to talk with the merchant and either get the charge reversed or get the product delivered. Or you can file a case against the merchant and take the legal route.

It become even more complex when buying online as if you are using any of the smaller sites, you most probably have only an email id to track and what happens if you do not get any replies for your emails?

You will actually have to pay your bank and try and take legal action. I did go thru something similar, but the merchant I had bought from used ccavenue, a credit card processing agency to accept CC payments. So I got in touch with them and they in turn talked to the merchant and resolved the issue. But still, this is an area that is a cause for concern for me and this is the first time I have had a problem shopping online.

But I am going to be more cautious from now on when I do online purchases. So should you be...