With the changing of centuries, the trends are also changing. And with the change in trends, the markets are also changing. The theme "Let the buyer beware" has been changed to "Customer is the King."
And this little change in the theme has brought a disastrous change in the marketing practices. A consumer is now the king and has all rights to sue a marketer who uses unfair means of trade.
But from a long time, people have tried to avoid the courts as much as possible. This was because the courts not only took their times but sometimes would also make holes in their pockets.
Seeing the decreasing trust of people in the judiciary, the government started a new league of courts made just for the trade practices and to secure the customer. It also ensures that a minimum amount of money is spent and merely no time of the plaintiff is wasted.
With the coming of times, the government has taken necessary steps to bring us a step closer to our judiciary. Now, each person can file a case in consumer court without giving a second thought.
Many laws have been passed to protect consumers from ruthless exploitation. Some of they are:
Etc.
There is a series of required procedures to file a complaint in consumer court. But before that, you need to know which court is right to appeal in.
You need to pay a small amount of fee as well to get your proceedings on a move. The fee as prescribed by the government is as follows.
| Sr. No. | Amount of fee payable. | |
| District Forum | ||
| (1) | Nil | |
| (2) | Rs. 100 | |
| (3) | Above one lakh and |
Rs. 200 |
| (4) | Above five lakh and |
Rs.300 |
| (5) | Above ten lakh and |
Rs. 400 |
| State Commission | ||
| (6) | Above twenty lakh and |
Rs. 2000 |
| (7) | Above fifty lakh and |
Rs. 4000 |
| National Commission | ||
| (8) | Above one crore rupees | Rs. 5000 |
Before filing a complaint in the consumer court, you need to make sure that you have all the necessary documents. These may include:
Notice to the Company
Firstly, you are needed to send a legal notice to the company. Be detailed about your grievances and fill in the exact price of loss occurred. The notice can be printed on an A4 size paper. Make sure that you add the tracking feature with the post to generate a proof of the company receiving the notice.
File your complaint
There are some procedures to file a complaint in consumer court. Let's have a look.
Once the fee has been paid, your complaint gets successfully registered and you get the date for the proceedings. The winning or losing all depends upon how good your evidence is and is these evidence able to state the defendant guilty or not.
Courts are there to help us, but lets first ourselves be active and see to our rights and responsibilities to become responsible buyers and citizens.