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Online shopping brings in a galore of consumer complaints
These days it is not the middle-age and the retired employee who is making the rounds to the District Consumer Forum office at Nampally but the younger lot, mostly college students, visit the forum with complaints of defective goods purchased online.
Hyderabad: These days it is not the middle-age and the retired employee who is making the rounds to the District Consumer Forum office at Nampally but the younger lot, mostly college students, visit the forum with complaints of defective goods purchased online.
On an average the District Consumer Forum I, II and III receive 40-50 complaints per month, out of which 40 per cent pertains to online shopping.
The complaints range from defective goods, quality of goods, late arrival of the product and the company not sending the promised gift along with the product.
T Simhachalam, president, District Consumer Forum I & II says, “With a steep increase in online shopping, the number of complaints too is increasing for the last few years.”
Recently, an engineering student approached the forum when he was shocked to find a stone instead of a mobile phone in the parcel.
Senior officials say the problem with online shopping is the seller is anonymous in several cases and there is no address but just a website. Senior officials say according to the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 documentary evidence becomes paramount but with online shopping, it is less.
An official said that they feel sorry for many youngsters who visit the office with complaints as redressal of grievances in the case of online shopping is difficult and time consuming.
In the case of many big online companies such as Flipkart, Snapdeal, Amazon and several others, they do not have a counsel in Hyderabad and that makes it even more difficult.
The District Consumer Forum once it receives the complaint sends notices to the company but in a majority of cases they do not comply. Suing a retailer in a different country is difficult and there is an issue of cyber jurisdiction, says an official.
Sadly, in many cases, people try for some time and give up. For instance, T Avinash, a BBA student of Vigyan Jyoti Institute of Arts & Sciences says, “Within a month, the phone that I bought from Flipkart started giving trouble and there are multiple problems from battery to display. I tried for two months and finally gave up hope of redressal.”
What complicates matters is the lack of a geographical location or address in online shopping, consumers finds it difficult to resort to traditional methods of grievance as there is just a website.
