Tuesday, May 4, 2010

“JAAGO RE”….CUSTOMER AWARENESS(Part-I)


I am the one who believes that awareness does not come by reading books or adding higher qualifications alone. It comes by our observation and our own experiences of life as well as those of others. Such experiences good or bad becomes a part of awareness and remain at the back of our mind for ever. Those who put such experiences into practice grow and mature while the others suffer. Awareness does not mean ‘preaching’, it means keeping one selves abreast of the happenings around, far & near.
Nowadays every one talks of consumer rights and RTI (Right to Information) but have we ever bothered to use them at some point of time, at least once? Shopping establishments, Banks, Post offices, Government offices and all public utility service offices come under the preview of Consumer court or the RTI Scanner. The consumer/ customer availing above services fall in two categories- active and passive. The passive one takes everything for granted. For them ‘Where is the time and who will take all the trouble’ is normal mantra. But one should be sensitive enough to raise a voice against wrong even if the attempt fails. If you are not aware, how the people can be taken for a ride can be judged by some of my own experiences which I would like to share in public interest.
BBMP is popularizing its website through which one can pay the property tax on line. This year I tried to pay the taxes using the website but due to some technical flaw, my debit card payment was not accepted. As the tax form number was already generated with all the requisite columns filled up automatically, I took out a printout and went to BBMP office to pay through cheque. The concerned clerk flatly refused to accept the computer generated form and asked me to get another form available with them to be filled up by them (needless to say, they were charging Rs.50/- for filling the forms). He did not budge from his stand so I had no choice but to meet the officer in charge. The officer, a lady reluctantly told me that the website facility is only for those who want to pay through credit card and not for those who pay by cheque or cash. My plea to her that the website has columns for cheque or cash payment broke no ice! I requested her to go through the website or to get the clarification from their higher ups which eventually she did. She was asked to accept my tax form (even after the clarification, the clerk did not sign the tax paid receipt probably thinking it to be risky. He asked me to take the signature of the lady officer in charge!)
In another incidence, I went to a recently opened Mall. Inside a hyper market I wanted to buy Jockey brand briefs. On a saver pack of two, it was printed save Rs.10/-costing Rs. 149/-after discount as per the sticker. After coming home and just out of curiosity, when I removed the sticker, to my surprise there was another sticker beneath in which the cost was mentioned as Rs. 139/-.It was clear now that the ‘Save Rs.10/-‘ offer was a hoax. They had jacked up the cost. Immediately I sent a mail to the company’s customer care center who promptly gave a reply on 25th March stating-
“We are in receipt of your mail. We thank very much for the effort taken by you to bring this issue to our notice. We will look into this matter very seriously and solve this issue at the earliest.”
As no “serious action” was taken, again on 20th April I sent a reminder to them and still as on the date of writing this blog (4th May), waiting for an appropriate response from them.
You all must have come across several advertisements, hoardings and banners in front of textile shops like “Buy one, take three free” sales. After going through all such shops, I have found that under the scheme a shirt costs in the range of Rs.1500-2000/-and you get 3 free shirts. But in reality, have you ever come across a sale where you get 3 shirts free on a single shirt costing say Rs. 400/-? NEVER. If you try to buy the same shirt singly without free offer, you can get it for Rs. 300-400/- so, think before you leap on a buying spree.
Point here is not fighting for a savings of few rupees but its all about exercising your right in demanding what is legitimately yours. Fight with those who are here to fleece you, take you for granted thinking that you know nothing. Several NGOs and even Government departments are coming out with tools like Consumer act/RTI act and slogans like ‘Jaago Re’ for the benefit of public and to make them Aware & proactive.


 

9 comments:

  1. Hi Thanks for the informative blog post about our rights as consumer. As we are living in an era where consumerism is at its peak, little bit of knowledge about rights of consumer is very much essential. Examples given in your post are eye opener for people who are victims of such frauds but remain as mute spectators. People of South Canara and Udupi districts are leading by example in consumer rights protection and left no stones unturned as are as finding remedies to the agony of consumers. Keep blogging.
    Regards

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  2. By email from A. D e v a R a j u
    Thank you for your thought-provoking article on social issues. Entering into BBMP offices is like going to hell. There is no mercy towards the customers and their intension is to grab or drag as much money as possible from the public.
    After having invented email through which one can pay property tax, some people
    are relieved from this tragic task.I once again congratulate for having made an attempt to make the people aware of their rights.

    ReplyDelete
  3. By email from G.S. Srivatsa
    Nice one on consumaer awareness. Reg. the BBMP tax I was witness for a person who faced similar problem recently. He immediately called over phone to some higher authorities and paid the tax in the downloaded form itself. Now-a-days bcoz of computer generated forms the officials of BBMP have lost their extra income, hence they are refusing.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi
    This is one area even government is trying to wake people - jago grahak jago ad.They are advising consumers against their MRP ! Delicious Irony.
    I must confess I am guilty of passiveness myself. If I was in your place for the form, I would have given in! My husband is more proactive and likes to take panga where I would like to slink off.
    Now with emails, I do try to send complain mails and my success rate is about 60%. Mostly I get the same computer generated mail, but there have been times when action has been taken.
    Banks seem to take matter more seriously than consumer good people.
    One latest case was our mediclaim by United India. we have not put any claims for last 10 years. This year our agent told us that we could refunds on our regular health checkups, which we do as a routine without any doctoor's slip. He assured us that wont be a problem, as regular tests ( Blood sugar, Cholestrol, albumin etc) dont need doctor's prescription.
    So my husband duly wrote a letter attaching a photocopy of the bill. It was only about 800 rs, and we wanted to check the speed also about the settlement of claims.
    After a month we got a letter that they wanted original recipt.
    That was dispatched too. After a month I sent an email enquiring about the status. We got the reply that they wanted doctor's prescription and original reciept!
    So I wrote back telling them we had already sent the original and did not have another. and there was no Doctor's prescription.
    Silence!
    My husband took it up with the agent, and it was finally through him that this amount was settled after 7 months. Makes us wonder what will happen if there is an emergency!
    Thank you for taking a timely issue. I will try to be more active, and resist the urge to be an ostrich!
    shobha Mathur

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi
    This is one area even government is trying to wake people - jago grahak jago ad.They are advising consumers against their MRP ! Delicious Irony.
    I must confess I am guilty of passiveness myself. If I was in your place for the form, I would have given in! My husband is more proactive and likes to take panga where I would like to slink off.
    Now with emails, I do try to send complain mails and my success rate is about 60%. Mostly I get the same computer generated mail, but there have been times when action has been taken.
    Banks seem to take matter more seriously than consumer good people.
    One latest case was our mediclaim by United India. we have not put any claims for last 10 years. This year our agent told us that we could refunds on our regular health checkups, which we do as a routine without any doctoor's slip. He assured us that wont be a problem, as regular tests ( Blood sugar, Cholestrol, albumin etc) dont need doctor's prescription.
    So my husband duly wrote a letter attaching a photocopy of the bill. It was only about 800 rs, and we wanted to check the speed also about the settlement of claims.
    After a month we got a letter that they wanted original recipt.
    That was dispatched too. After a month I sent an email enquiring about the status. We got the reply that they wanted doctor's prescription and original reciept!
    So I wrote back telling them we had already sent the original and did not have another. and there was no Doctor's prescription.
    Silence!
    My husband took it up with the agent, and it was finally through him that this amount was settled after 7 months. Makes us wonder what will happen if there is an emergency!
    Thank you for taking a timely issue. I will try to be more active, and resist the urge to be an ostrich!
    shobha Mathur

    ReplyDelete
  6. You have gone deep in analysing the problem of cheating by so called big brands and Hyper malls otherwise in our country every business man is trying to cheat un suspecting customer in his own way? Really there is aneed for a big Consumer Movement were every Grahak should participate.
    A K Verma
    www.askvastu.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. Very informative.
    However, it is very difficult to read a 'wall of text' of this manner.

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  8. Very well said!! One has to be vigilant of such schemes, especially in Malls. And those shops/products which have offers for all 12 months...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Thanks for this really informative post. In today's world we get so busy in our lives that we don't bother to fight for even our rights. Such informative posts help increase awareness and act as motivation to fight for our rights.

    ReplyDelete