Online shopping complaints and Consumer Protection Act jurisdiction - India Consumer Forum

Online shopping complaints and Consumer Protection Act jurisdiction

Who would not want to shop at the comfort of sitting in a chair thus avoiding cumbersome window shopping, handling of cash, carrying the product to home et al. Yes, we are talking about online shopping where you can choose the product of your choice online, make payment through your credit/debit card netbanking account online or pay cash on delivery (CoD). The product will be delivered at your doorstep. It sounds nice. But does the story end here? It does not and it may be the beginning of an ordeal.

With the emergence of e-commerce, online shopping is gaining great momentum in India. This is evidenced by the mushrooming some small and big shopping portals. To name a few India based shopping portals – Flipkart, Indiaplaza, Indiatimes Shopping, Timtara, Homeshop18, Letusbuy, Naaptol. But how safe are these shopping portals? Are consumers really satisfied with the services of these portals?

There can be a general misconception as to all these portals are selling products. However, the reality is none of these portals are selling products. They are only facilitating sales of products through their online portals. Their main backbone is the logistics of placing order with the merchant members and having it delivered to the customers.

Following are the pros and cons of online shopping:

Pros: Shopping from the chair, easy viewing of products and its details, pick and choose as per your choice, budget shopping, variety of products, no handling of cash, no queues, door step delivery

Cons: Risk of wrong or defective product getting delivered, delay in receiving the product, delay in getting refund, warranty issues and exposure of sensitive data to high risks of frauds and hacking, and limited legal remedy in case of any dispute.

In our view, the cons outweigh the pros, particularly the legal aspect in case of any dispute. Considering the cons listed above and based on the complaints being received by us, we can say with some confidence that it is better to do the traditional shopping for expensive items and try online shopping for items that cost few hundreds.

Let us now see the legal remedy in case of disputes.

Remedy under Consumer Protection Act:

The possible disputes are – wrong delivery, defective delivery, delayed delivery, cancellation of order and refund against cancellation.

We would treat the online shopping portals as dealers as they are the gateway for buying the products by way of display. Even the payment is also received by them for the products sold through their portal. So they definitely have a decisive role to play in the selling of products.

The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 laids down the following clause in respect of jurisdiction for filing complaints:

A complaint shall be instituted in a District Forum within the local limits of whose jurisdiction,—

(a) the opposite party or each of the opposite parties, where there are more than one, at the time of the institution of the complaint, actually and voluntarily resides or carries on business or has a branch office or personally works for gain, or

(b) any of the opposite parties, where there are more than one, at the time of the institution of the complaint, actually and voluntarily resides, or carries on business or has a branch office, or personally works for gain, provided that in such case either the permission of the District Forum is given, or the opposite parties who do not reside, or carry on business or have a branch office, or personally work for gain, as the case may be, acquiesce in such institution; or

(c) the cause of action, wholly or in part, arises.

Since not all shopping portals will have offices or branches in all cities/towns, a customer cannot rely on clause (a) and (b) above in case of a dispute. Clause (c) might assist him and he may be able to file a complaint in the District Forum that covers the area where cause of action arises.

There have been quite a few cases filed in the District Forums of Karnataka, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala against onling shopping portals. In Vinodkumar, Ernakulam Vs. Shoed Merchant, Mumbai & Ebay India, Mumbai, the District Consumer Forum, Ernakulam had entertained Mr. Vinodkumar’s complaint against Ebay and Shoed Merchant though his complaint was dismissed on a different ground and not for lack of jurisdiction. Mr. Vinodkumar successfully appealed the said dismissal order and was awarded compensation by the Kerala State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission. Similarly, consumers have been successful in their complaints against Naaptol in Karnataka, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh DCFs. This is good news for consumers as this sets precedent for handling online shopping complaints by Consumer Forums.

Oddly though, the Information Technology Act passed by the Govt. of India deals only with issues relating to hacking, privacy, regulating authority and punishments for wrongdoers. The act however does not focus on the interest of online shoppers, and is, therefore, of limited use to consumers who face problems while shopping online.

It is high time that we need to have proper regulations for online shopping. The government should either amend the existing CPA to expressly include good and services bought/availed online with procedure for filing complaints or pass a separate act something similar to Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations passed in UK.

In any case, based on the cases already handled by various DCFs, consumers can now fight it out in the District Consumer Forum for their grievances arising out of online shopping.



11 comments

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  1. I have payed 9490/- INR for my product on 30/10/2012 still i am waiting for my product many times i called them but no result carried out from there end.please help me HELP INDIA.

  2. I got fooled by 100bestbuy website by paying them Rs 5999 for some contest of Iphone-5 only to realise later that this website is a fraud and they fool everybody who get trapped. pl help me get back my money as since 28th January 2013, the day my money got cut from my credit card my all possibile way to reach this fraud website by mail or by telephone has gone in vain. After getting ito their trap I learnt that this 100bestbuy website has fooled enought people and they do so without fear as they are aware of our country’s weak law. kindly help.

    • Mujib Kazi on 26/02/2013 at 3:59 pm

    I would say that it was my mistake that I didn’t look at the reviews posted on various websites about timtara.com. My case was different in a sense that I did not receive an neither Email/SMS confirmation from timtara but thanks to HDFC’s SMS against the transaction done.
    Bought an Micromax A110 on 19/01/12 & still awaiting delivery. I have written to cyber crime, Delhi police & also CMO office Delhi. India is a country where PATIENCE is tried/tested to extreme so awaiting my turn.

    • bipul kumar singh on 25/03/2013 at 10:15 pm

    Hi,
    I did online shopping for Rs. 21000 through http://www.timtara.com
    where i was promised to get the produts in 3 weeks. But now after more than 1 months, i have not received my products. and when i m contacting them they just raised a ticket and saying me to wait for a week again n again, each time i am contacting them.

    so could you suggest me where to complaint about this so that i get my product or my money (with interest).

    thanks
    Bipul

    • trip on 06/09/2015 at 7:54 am

    This article is very immature. The writer is not having sufficient information and knowledge. Consumer protection act was enacted in 1986 and not 1983. Reading such artcle is simply wastage of time.

    • ICF on 06/09/2015 at 9:49 pm
      Author

    That was a typo and has been corrected. Thanks for pointing this out. We are sure you can definitely write more matured articles and reading them will not be a waste of time.

    • mani on 07/09/2015 at 12:44 pm

    hi…..
    am also recieved the call from shop on call..they said ur number got priced ..so we offer 12000 aqua intex phone for three thousand ..by case on delivery …but inside of cover there is some weast product …

    • Savi on 25/02/2016 at 4:37 pm

    Hi,
    I ordered one suit from uttamvastra on 19th of January.They send me suit on 25th of jan.After receiving I found it defected ,not same as mentioned on site and less measurement.I have filled all formalities to get money refunded which they haven’t returned yet.When I call to their customer care number, they always delayed and make fake promise that I will get it after 15 days , after 8 days .
    Suggest me what I should do?

    • Ritesh Maity on 20/05/2016 at 9:07 pm

    An amendment in the Consumer Protection Act is required since lot of people are option for online products.

    • Manash Chakraborty on 01/06/2017 at 5:34 am

    I bought a body groomer from amazon for Rs.1050. Now in spite of requesting for return the product nobody came to pick the item up. I called and naile amazon many a times. But without result. I got only fake promise.

    • Saksham Tayade on 30/10/2017 at 7:38 pm

    I ordered a washing machine worth INR 27000 on the site Flipkart and it arrived on dt. 17/10/2017 and the installation was due on dt. 20/10. initially but it didn’t arrive and I have complained a lot of times but there is no improvement. Please help me. Suggest me some solution.

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