How to file a case in consumer forum online in India?

Ankita Katdare

Ankita Katdare

@abrakadabra • Oct 26, 2024
As digitisation in India is at its peak, I feel that, now more than ever, consumers are speaking up about their complaints over the Internet. Thanks to the quick access to mobile phones powered with 3G or 4G data plans, when you go through a rough phase because of an online or retail store purchase or are dissatisfied with the service received, you think about one of the two things -

1. I am going to take this up with the higher authorities. (aka - Ask your manager to meet me.)
2. I will blog or tweet about the whole episode or leave negative reviews about it on any available platform. (aka - BURRRN!)

Just yesterday I was talking to my neighbours listening to their rant about the lift issues our building is facing, when the Uncle said - I'm going to take this up with the consumer forum. He later added, 'Beta, do you know how to file a case in consumer forum online?'. That's when I realised I never thought of doing that. We definitely needed a post about this on our forum.

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A quick search on the internet showed me that - You don’t need to engage the services of any Advocate to file a complaint in the consumer forum in India. You can do it on your own.

How to file a consumer complaint online?

The Govt. of India has an official website called - <a href="https://consumerhelpline.gov.in/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">consumerhelpline.gov.in</a>
You have to fill up a consumer registration form here - <a href="https://consumerhelpline.gov.in/user/signup.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">consumerhelpline.gov.in</a>
There's a way to track complaints online as well - <a href="https://consumerhelpline.gov.in/user/track-complaint.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">consumerhelpline.gov.in</a>

I'm still not sure, about the whole process, but wanted to check if anyone here has given it a try? Also, there seem to be other ways to register a complaint -

You can call to register your complaint 1800-11-4000 or 14404
Timing: All Days Except National Holidays (09:30 AM To 05:30 PM)

OR
SMS on this Number 8130009809.

Has anyone here tried this or the offline actual procedure before? Please let us know.
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  • Amit Jha

    Amit Jha

    @amit-1sokrN • Nov 2, 2017

    Customer satisfaction is one of the biggest things on which a company should focus on. But sadly after sale service is pretty bad for most of the companies in India. I would like to share my experience here.
    Recently a few months earlier, I and my friends planned a trip to the US for our conference and we booked our tickets via Cleartrip. Unfortunately, the tickets were canceled by the airlines and we requested Cleartrip team to arrange for some alternatives.
    Despite our several requests and inquiries, the team showed no progress on the matter and we were left with only 10 days in our hand with no arrangements whatsoever. We took the steps as mentioned by #-Link-Snipped-# and we literally tried everything to burrrnn them but nothing seemed working for us. Finally, we made a complaint using the consumer forum website and they provided us some email where they requested us to cc them in the emails that we sent to Cleartrip stating our grievances and requests.
    I don't know what worked for us but as soon as we involved consumer forum in this game, our request seemed to escalate. Finally, we got our issue resolved within 4-5 days and we successfully made it to the US. The threat of Consumer forum is really pretty big. It really gives a chill in the spines of those companies who neglect to meet their customer's expectation.
    As far as I know, Consumer forums are pretty active in India and they do help the consumers who are in distress. Let me tell you that if your complaint is genuine and the company doesn't process your request within a particular time frame, consumer forum reserves the right to take the matter one step ahead by even canceling the company's trade license in India. So if your problem is genuine, you won't return with empty hands if you turn to consumer forum. Our problem is we are still adjusting ourselves and get condoned with the situations. The lack of information on things like these makes us weak in front of these giant companies. It is also our duty to know what to do and when to involve consumer forum in a certain process. So its my request to people out there - Jago Grahak Jago!!!!
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  • Rucha Wankhede

    Rucha Wankhede

    @rucha-9ej7h4 • Nov 2, 2017

    Funnily enough, this question reminded me of a scene from the movie Jab We Met. The one where Kareena is self-righteously arguing with the a packaged water vendor on the station, when he refuses to return a measly change of money. She states confidently,' consumer court ko report kar dungi'. 😁

    Jokes apart an year ago I had an opportunity to file the complaint online. New users need to sign up first, so that a user-Id and password is created. The lodging of a complaint is made easier by a drop down list of sectors, segments and brands, that includes all brands registered with the Department of Consumer Affairs. All the details regarding the type and nature of complaint, personnel involved, compensation sought are to be mentioned.

    Once through, all complaints are allotted an electronically generated number. This can be used for tracking the status of your complaint until resolved. You don't need to create different log-in Ids for filing multiple grievances. One log-in id serves the purpose. The last time I checked, complaints can be filed in English and Hindi. Don't know if it has changed now.
    It is quite an easy process, you just need to follow the process mentioned at the online site. Everything is in accordance with the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 and Consumer Protection Regulations, 2005. Hope this helps.
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