Consumers' pet peeves: Mobile, card

Ranjan Lall Seal, who had an account with a private bank, was surprised to have a credit card posted to him from his bank. He had never applied for one. He did not use the card either. But the bank allegedly started debiting from his account, showing purchases that were made on his card. Before he knew it, his account balance was nil.
Sibashis Banerjee, a systems engineer, was shocked to see that he could not withdraw his pay from his company's salary account.His fault he had received a cheque for Rs 2 lakh, which he had never asked for. It was issued by the bank where he had his salary account. Though he wrote to the bank to withdraw the loan, it was credited to him and the bank started deducting EMIs as
repayment. Early this month, he suddenly found that the bank had sealed his account and slapped a legal claim on all the funds. Banerjee is at a total loss.
Ranjan, Sibashis and hundreds like them made a beeline for the state government's consumer fair that is on at Netaji Indoor Stadium. But here, too, they were in for a shock. The state consumer affairs department, which is holding the mela, is not accepting
complaints on the spot, unlike previous years. In earlier editions of the fair, the department not only took complaints at the fair but often managed spot redress as well.
Most of the aggrieved consumers who turned up at the fair had problems with either mobile phones or credit cards. Many claimed they had been issued and charged for cards without having applied for them. Poor mobile phone and internet service came a close third.
To their disappointment, however, the complainants were told to go to the consumer affairs department's office at Lindsay Street for mediation, and if it failed, a case in the consumer court.
Seventy-plus Chinmay Das, whose car had an accident last year, has been running from pillar to post to get his dues from the insurance company. He even hired a lawyer to get his dues cleared, but now he finds that the lawyer has started harassing him.
The elderly Kolkata was at the fair to lodge a complaint against the lawyer too. Das wants to be sure if the consumer department can help. The officials told him that he could file a complaint only if he has documents to prove that he paid the lawyer. Das does not have any money receipt from the lawyer, and went back crestfallen but wiser.
Mobile phone companies seemed to the target of a large section of customers for faulty services and inflated bills.
Amit Biswas of Howrah had earlier lodged a complaint with the consumer department saying the authorized service centre where he had given his mobile failed to repair it. For over a year he is trying to get the mobile repaired, but to no avail. He visited the fair to find out if he can lodge a case against the mobile company.
Many came to the fair to lodge complaints against realtors. Dr Swapan Sarkar of Dum Dum came to lodge a complaint against his promoter as he is yet to
get possession of his flat for which he had paid six year ago. The realtor is harassing, he said. He, too, was disappointed to learn that he could not file a complaint at the fair.
Consumer affairs minister Naren De said that consumers who are harassed can expect justice from his department. "But I am not aware of why the complaint registering mechanism had been withdrawn from the fair," he said, assuring to look into the matter. "Soon, we will launch special kiosks at prominent places where complaints can be lodged."