| ORDER | BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, AMRITSAR. Consumer Complaint No. 658 of 2014 Date of Institution: 16.12.2014 Date of Decision: 15.10.2015 Tejinder Singh son of S.Amrik Singh, resident of village: Gujapeer, P.O. Dhariwal Kaler, Tehsil: Ajnala, District Amritsar. Complainant Versus - Idea Cellular Limited, C-105, Industrial Area, Phase 7, Mohali-160055 through its Director/ Principal Offdicer/ Authorized Person.
- Idea Store, B.L.D. Communication
 , Dera Baba Nanak Road, Ajnala, District Amritsar.
Opposite Parties Complaint under section 11/ 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 as amended upto date. Present: For the Complainant: None for the complainant. For the Opposite Party No.1: Sh. K.K.Thakur, Advocate For the Opposite Party No.2: Exparte. Quorum: Sh.Bhupinder Singh, President Ms.Kulwant Kaur Bajwa, Member Order dictated by: Sh.Bhupinder Singh, President. - Present complaint has been filed by Sh.Tejinder Singh under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act alleging therein that he has obtained post-paid mobile connection bearing No.98555-97127 from Opposite Parties for the last about 3-4 years and since then, he is regularly paying the bills issued by the Opposite Parties to the complainant. Complainant alleges that he received bill for the month of March-April, 2014 from the Opposite Parties, in which the Opposite Parties illegally and unlawfully added Rs. 45/- for sending messages to mobile phone of Vodafone company bearing No.99884-89981 at the rate of Rs.5/- per message. This mobile phone of Vodafone company also belongs to the complainant and it is unbelievable that a person would send message from his one mobile number to another mobile number. Again for the month of April-May, 2014 the complainant received another bill which the Opposite Party illegally and unlawfully added the amount for sending messages when in fact the complainant has not sent any such message. Again for the month of May-June, 2014 the complainant received another bill which the Opposite Party illegally and unlawfully added the amount for sending messages when in fact the complainant has not sent any such message. Not only this, the Opposite Party also illegally added Rs.49/- for down loading a game when in fact the complainant neither sent messages to other connection nor down loaded any game. Again for the month of June-July 2014, the complainant received another bill which the Opposite Party illegally and unlawfully added the amount of Rs.50/- for sending messages when in fact the complainant has not sent any such message. As the complainant had been continuously receiving illegal bills from the Opposite Party, so the complainant made a complaint to the Opposite Party No.1 company on 8th July, 2014, but with no response. The complainant also sent requests to the Opposite Parties through g-mail ID regarding sending of illegal bills to the complainant and not only this, the complainant also personally visited their Ajnala Office and requested them to rectify the illegal bills, but to no effect. In the month of Septemer-October, 2014 the complainant received bill for the Opposite Party in which the Opposite Party again illegally added Rs.344/- i.e. Rs.295/- for sending SMS at the rate of Rs.5/- per message and the remaining amount of Rs.49/- for downloading the game when infact, the complainant has neither sent any such messages nor down loaded the game. In the month of October- November, 2014 the complainant received bill from the Opposite Party in which the Opposite Party again illegally and unlawfully added Rs.145/- for sending 29 SMS at the rate of Rs.5/- per SMS when in fact, the complainant has not sent any such messages. Again the complainant visited the office of Opposite Party No.2 and made a complaint regarding sending of illegal and unlawful bills to him, but the Opposite Parties did not pay any heed to the request of the complainant. Alleging the same to be deficiency in service, complaint was filed seeking directions to the Opposite Parties to set aside the illegal and unlawful amounts added in the bills in dispute and to refund the amounts thereof alongwith interest with further direction not to issue excessive bills in future. Compensation and litigation expenses were also demanded.
- On notice, Opposite Party No.1 appeared and filed written version in which it was submitted that the complainant has not placed true facts before this Forum. Opposite Party No.1 further submitted that when ‘00’ is put before any local number, it becomes international number and the said number is picked by the computerized Main Switching Centre System of the Opposite Party-Company as international number. Said switch is operated as per international standards and practice all over the Telecom Service Providers. The complainant had mentioned ‘00’ before the number, then the Main Switching Centre (MSC) of the Opposite Party reads the said number to be an international number (ISD Number). It is further submitted that regarding the game downloading charges, the complainant was informed through mail and through telephonic calls that the amount of Rs.49/- had been charged on 21.6.2014 as a game was downloaded by sending SMS on 53010 from the complainant handset/ connection. Further, the charges for a total amount of Rs.876.82 paisa were reversed/ adjusted, till date, by the Opposite Party as a goodwill gesture towards the complainant. There is no error in the computerized bill and the same has been generated on the basis of the usage of the number of the complainant. While denying and controverting other allegations, dismissal of complaint was prayed.
- None appeared on behalf of Opposite Party No.2 despite due service, so Opposite Party No.2 was proceeded against exparte vide order dated 12.2.2015 of this Forum.
- Complainant tendered into evidence his affidavit Ex.C1 alongwith documents Ex.C2 to Ex.C13 and closed the evidence on behalf of the complainant.
- Opposite Party No.1 tendered into evidence affidavit of Sh.Manoj Madan Ex.OP1/1 alongwith documents Ex.OP1/2 to Ex.OP1/6 and closed the evidence on behalf of the Opposite Party No.1
- We have carefully gone through the pleadings of the parties; arguments advanced by the ld.counsel for the Opposite Party No.1 and have appreciated the evidence produced on record by both the parties with the valuable assistance of the ld.counsel for the Opposite Party No.1.
- From the record i.e. pleadings of the parties and the evidence produced on record by the parties, it is clear that the complainant had obtained post-paid mobile connection bearing No.98555-97127 from Opposite Parties. As per the version of the complainant, he has been regularly paying the bills issued by the Opposite Parties to the complainant from time to time. Complainant alleges that he received bill for the month of March-April, 2014 in which the Opposite Parties illegally added Rs. 45/- for sending messages to mobile phone of Vodafone company bearing No.99884-89981 at the rate of Rs.5/- per message. Said mobile phone of Vodafone company also belongs to the complainant, so the question of sending messages by the complainant from his one mobile phone to another mobile number does not arise. Similarly, in the bill for the month of April-May, 2014 as well as for the month of May-June, 2014, in the month of September-October, 2014, and October-November, 2014 the Opposite Parties illegally added the amount of sending SMS by the complainant from his one mobile number to another mobile number of Vodafone Company. The complainant lodged complaint with the Opposite Party No.1 through e-mail dated 16.7.2014 Ex.C6. Not only this, the Opposite Party also added an amount of Rs. 49/- in the bill of September-October, 2014 for down loading games. The complainant submitted that he did not down load any game. The complainant also approached Opposite Parties to refund these amounts, but the Opposite Parties did not pay any heed to the request of the complainant.
- Whereas the case of the Opposite Party No.1 is that the complainant has not come to this Forum with clean hands, rather he has suppressed the true and correct information from this Forum. Opposite Party No.1 had generated the true and correct itemized computerized bill according to the usage made by the complainant. Opposite Party No.1 submitted that when ‘00’ is put before any local number, it becomes international number and the said number is picked by the computerized Main Switching Centre System of the Opposite Party-Company as international number. Said switch is operated as per international standards and practice all over the Telecom Service Providers. The complainant had mentioned ‘00’ before the number may be due inadvertence, then the Main Switching Centre (MSC) of the Opposite Party read the said number to be an international number (ISD Number). It is further submitted that regarding the game downloading charges, the complainant was informed through mail and through telephonic calls that the amount of Rs.49/- had been charged on 21.6.2014 as a game was downloaded by sending SMS on 53010 from the complainant handset/ connection. Further, the charges for a total amount of Rs.876.82 paisa were reversed/ adjusted, till date, by the Opposite Party as a goodwill gesture towards the complainant. There is no error in the computerized bill and the same has been generated on the basis of the usage of the number of the complainant. Ld.counsel for the Opposite Party No.1 submitted that there is no deficiency of service on the part of the Opposite Party.
- From the entire above discussion, we have come to the conclusion that the complainant had mobile connection bearing No.98555-97127 from Opposite Parties. The complainant received bills from March-April, 2014 to October-November, 2014 from the Opposite Parties and in these bills, the Opposite Parties added some charges on account of messages sent by the complainant to mobile phone of Vodafone company bearing No.99884-89981 at the rate of Rs.5/- per message. Said mobile number of Vodafone Company also belongs to the complainant. The Opposite Party No.1 has submitted that when ‘00’ digits are put before any local number, it becomes international number and the said number is picked by the computerized Main Switching Centre System of the Opposite Party-Company as international number. Said switch is operated as per international standards and practice all over the Telecom Service Providers. The complainant might have inadvertently mentioned ‘00’ digits before the number, then the Main Switching Centre (MSC) of the Opposite Party read the said number to be an international number (ISD Number). So, the computer system charged Rs.5/- per such message may be due to inadvertence on the part of the complainant. But when this fact was brought to the notice of the Opposite Parties , the Opposite Parties reversed/ adjusted the amount of Rs.876.82 paisa till date, as a goodwill gesture towards the complainant. So, this amount already stands reversed/ adjusted in the account of the complainant. As regard the charging of Rs.49/- on 21.6.2014, it has been brought to the notice of the complainant by the Opposite Parties that on 21.6.2014 a game was down loaded by the complainant by sending SMS on 53010 from the complainant handset/ connection. So, all these amounts have been properly adjusted/ explained to the complainant by the Opposite Parties that is why the complainant did not turn up for the last 2 adjournments to put forward any arguments in this case.
- Consequently we hold that there is no deficiency in service on the part of the Opposite Parties. Therefore, the complaint is without merit and the same is hereby dismissed with no order as to cost. Copies of the order be furnished to the parties free of cost. File is ordered to be consigned to the record room. Case could not be disposed of within the stipulated period due to heavy pendency of the cases in this Forum.
Dated: 15.10.2015. (Bhupinder Singh) President hrg (Kulwant Kaur Bajwa) Member | |
