How to Lodge complaint online with National Consumer Helpline portal?

Suppose you bought a TV and later you found that the shopkeeper had charged the price of TV more than its actual price. Or suppose you bought something and the shopkeeper gave you the lesser quantity you had demanded. 

What will you do if both cases have happened to you? In India to protect the consumers from these scams, the government has provided ‘National Consumer Helpline’. 

If the consumer feels something wrong has happened while purchasing goods she/he can register the complaint in ‘Consumer Forum’. 

Now the online registration of complaint is also available. Today we will talk about how to lodge online complain with National Consumer Helpline. 

Here is the step by step process- 

What is Consumer? Before talking about complain you should know what is the consumer? According to Consumer Forum, a person is considered as a consumer only when she/he satisfy the following conditions-

• The person should have bought the good in exchange for money.
• The person is using the good for personal use, not for commercial use.
• If the person has not bought the good but using that good with the buyer's permission is also called consumer.

What is Consumer Forum? Now we should tell you about Consumer Forum. Consumer Forum is the court in India which deals in cases regarding consumer disputes. 

This official body helps in maintaining the healthy relationship between the consumer and the seller via a helpline portal. 

If a consumer thinks she/he is deceived by the seller can knock the door of Consumer Forum. This body acts according to the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. 

This protects consumer rights by solving the case at a faster pace. But the consumer should have the proof of exploitation otherwise, it will become difficult for the forum to give the final decision in favor of the consumer.

National Consumer Helpline

Process- Now we will tell you how to lodge an online complaint with the National Consumer Helpline. It works in two parts-

1. Before submitting a complaint, you have to register yourself as a consumer or as a brand.
2. Only after your login and profile making process, you will be able to submit a complaint.

Registration- You can do registration as a consumer or as a brand. In this article, we will tell you how to register as a consumer.

Step 1- First of all go to the official site of National Consumer Helpline http://nationalconsumerhelpline.in/Index.aspx.

Step 2- You will see an option on the right side of portal ‘Log In’. For complaining, you have to log in first. Click on that option.

Step 3- If you are a new consumer then click on the option’ New Consumer Sign Up’.

Step 4- After clicking on that option a form will appear which you have to fill up. The required details will be like the following-

• Username- it will be required for logging in.
• Password- it will also be required for logging in.
• Title
• First Name
• Last Name
• Gender
• Language
• Profession
• Age
• Address
• State
• City
• Zip
• Mobile
• Email
• Check the box of terms and conditions
• If you wish to receive regular letters from the forum check its box too.

Step 5- After filling all the details click on the option create profile.

Step 6- Your profile will be created. Then you will be asked to log in with your created username and password.

This is how you can register yourself now lets us talk about the second part National Consumer Helpline- 

Lodging a complain- 

a) As a consumer-

Step 1- After logging in you will be two options-

• Register your Complaint
• view your complaint Status

Select Register your Complaint.

Step 2- At the next page, there will be given many required fill in the blanks. These fill ups are like the following-

• Sector- these are the sections in which you can file a complaint against. Select like bank or airlines. Suppose you select courier sector.
• Category- it will describe your complaint is all about. Select an option.
• Company- in this, you have to select the courier company like DTDC etc.
• State
• City
• Problem- there will be given many options like delay in delivery or damage in parcel etc. Select the one you are suffering from.
• Complaint- in this part, you have to write your problem in up to 2000 words. After writing it click on submit.

Your complaint gets registered on national consumer helpline. Note- First you have registered your complaint with the brand or company’s service provider. If the company doesn't resolve within 5 days then file a complaint on this portal. 

How to check the complain status-

Step 1- Click on the option compliant registration; there you will see an option how to check the complaint status.

Step 2- There will come two options fill the username and docket no. and click on submit. You will get the complete details of your complaint process.

Sectors- Now we will tell you for which sectors you can file a complaint. The sectors are the following-

• Airlines
• Automobiles
• Banking
• Broadcaster
• Broadband/Internet
• Courier
• E-commerce
• Electricity
• Telecom
• Insurance
• Medical Negligence
• Mutual Funds
• NBFC’s
• Share Brokerage
• Travel and tours
• Products
• Publications

In all these sectors you have to give the fill details related to your product in which you are having problem. Let us take an example like Airlines. The following details should be required-

• Name of airlines.
• Name of the passenger.
• Flight no.
• Return flight no.
• Sector (from,to)
• PNR No.
• Date of travel
• Ticket booked on through NET agent
• Agents address, phone no.
• If you are suffering from loss of baggage then PIR no. is required.
• Efforts were taken to redress.

consumer forum toll free number - 1800-11-4000,  SMS can also be sent to +918130009809 (charges apply) mentioning the name and city .

As you have seen like the above example all the sectors will require some details which can help your complaint to be solved with faster pace. Source: http://www.nationalconsumerhelpline.in/Index.aspx