NEW DELHI: Around four lakh complaints have been lodged against e-commerce companies with the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) in the past 11 months, the consumer affairs department informed Rajya Sabha on Tuesday. Data show that more than half of these are related to deficiency in service, delivery of wrong, defective or damaged products, paid amount not being refunded, and delay in delivery.
The department said around 92% of the grievances have been disposed of. Officials said this shows how the NCH has been successful in addressing consumers’ problems, and this is one of the main reasons why the helpline is becoming more popular. Consumers can register their grievances in 17 languages through toll-free number ‘1915’.
The grievances can also be registered on the Integrated Grievance Redressal Mechanism through various channels such as WhatsApp, SMS, e-mail, Umang app, and NCH app and web portal, as per convenience.
The department said that “1,004 companies, who have voluntarily partnered with NCH, as part of the ‘convergence’ programme, directly respond to these grievances according to their redressal process, and revert by providing a feedback to the complainant on the portal.”
It also informed the House that the Central Consumer Protection Authority has issued 45 notices to various coaching centres for misleading advertisements, and imposed a penalty of Rs 61.6 lakh on 19 coaching institutes and directed them to discontinue the misleading advertisements and unfair trade practices.
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