DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM-II
Udyog Sadan, C-22 & 23, Qutub Institutional Area
(Behind Qutub Hotel), New Delhi-110016
Case No.262/2015
Sh. Sanjeev Goyal
S/o Sh. Tarlochan Lal
R/o H.No.A-1/703, Milan Vihar Appt.
Patparganj, Delhi ….Complainant
Versus
Matrix Cellular (International) Service Ltd.
7 Khullar Farms, Mandi Road, Mehrauli,
New Delhi-110030 ….Opposite Party
Date of Institution : 24.09.2015 Date of Order : 09.10.2017
Coram:
Sh. N.K. Goel, President
Ms. Naina Bakshi, Member
ORDER
Ms. Naina Bakshi, Member
The main prayer of the complainant is that the complainant be granted Rs.10 lacs as compensation on account of mental agony and harassment, intention of cheating and for lack/deficiency in services provided by the OP in USA as well as in India and to pay Rs.30,000/- on account of litigation expenses. It is submitted that the complainant was to visit USA (San Francisco, Las Angles, Las Vegas, Niagra fall and New York) from 06.07.2015 to 24.07.2015. All the air flights and hotel bookings were done from India before departure. Complainant bought a Matrix SIM 13027532092 from Delhi Airport on 05.07.2015 for 10$ post paid monthly plan. The executive of OP kept a Xerox copy of his passport and authorisation on credit card of American Express bearing No.374431828451018 for bill payment of complainant and told that the OP’s executive would come to his office after 25 July on his returning from USA to collect SIM and final bill. The executive of OP himself loaded the SIM, switched off the data use and asked the complainant to be careful while using the data in USA. The complainant got a SMS and mail from OP on 11.07.15 for unbilled usage of Rs.30,926/- for 437MB of data use. Complainant sent an email to the OP asking to clarify as to how the bill amount was calculated as the complainant had turned off his mobile data from the very first day and his mobile was also showing zero data usage and he was using whatsapp only in Wifi area but, however, the OP informed to him that they would not be able to provide the real time usage for data since AT & T network does not provide them the same. The complainant could not afford the charges of Rs.30926/- on his credit card as he was sure that he not used the data and so he was forced to block his credit card on 13.07.15. New credit card (374431828452016) has been issued to him on 04.08.15. So, the complainant was not in a position to use his credit card during his stay in USA. It is stated that on 13.07.15 the complainant informed to the OP that he took out the SIM of OP out of his handset as it may be used for fraudulently misuse for further false billing. The complainant sent numbers of emails to the OP but the OP only gave routine replies. The complainant was surprised to know that his billing cycle was from 7th June to 6th July which fact of billing cycle was not told to him at the time of sale of SIM. Had the billing cycle been conveyed to him at the time of purchase of SIM the complainant would not have taken that plan. The complainant wrote specifically to know if Rs.30926/- was also not due before damaging the SIM as per schedule on 05.08.15. The OP replied by email that no charge will be levied for not returning the SIM card. But when Complainant specifically asked for clarification on Rs.30926/- then it was told that SIM lost charge of Rs.350/- will not be charged. Copy of email is annexed as Annexure C-31. It is to be noted that the complainant never reported that his SM has been loosed. The complainant finally requested the OP on 08.08.15 to collect the SIM. The OP informed by email that there was change of policy as regard to collection of SIM. The OP never came to collect the SIM. The OP was using all tricks to make the complainant to damage the SIM. After receipt of final bill of Rs.240/-, Complainant wrote a letter on 26.08.15 to OP to clarify if the bill for Rs.240/- is a final bill and what is the status of Rs.30926/- i.e. the same has been waived off or were not there at all as data was not used for bill or data use will be issued separately. It was replied by the OP on 27.08.15 that there is no such charge of INR 30000 for data. The complainant received an email after receipt of final bill of Rs.240/-. Complainant again sent an email to the OP for knowing the status of Rs.30926/- i.e. the same was waived off or were not there at all as data was used or bill data use will be issued separately. It was replied by the OP on 26.08.15 that there was no such charges of Rs.30,000/- for data. It is submitted that the OP did not bother to be apologetic for harassment meted out to the complainant and not clarified as to how false bill of Rs.30926/- was sent to him.
OP has been proceeded exparte vide order dated 29.04.2016.
Complainant has filed his own affidavit in exparte evidence.
We have heard the complainant and have also gone through the file very carefully.
Complainant bought a SIM 13027532092 of OP from Delhi Airport on 05.07.2015 for 10$ post paid monthly plan for the journey from 06.07.2015 to 24.07.2015 to USA (San Francisco, Las Angles, Las Vegas, Niagra fall and New York). Vide email dated 02.08.15 the complainant informed the OP that their executive while issuing the SIM on 05th July did not told him that billing cycle was 5th June to 6th July otherwise he would not have taken that plan (copy Annexure C-11). The complainant again sent a reminder dated 05.08.15 to the OP (copy Annexure C-12). The OP vide email dated 28.07.15 informed the complainant that there was one more bill generated for complainant’s connection as the first bill consisting of rental for whole trip and the usage made from 5th July to 6th July (copy Annexure C-19). The OP vide letter dated 05.08.15 informed the complainant that the SIM card was not required to be collected now and no charge will be levied for the same and requested the complainant to break and destroy the SIM card provided by OP to avoid any misusage on the same (copy Annexure C-26). The complainant vide email dated 05.08.15 requested to confirm that the bill for data use for more than Rs.30000/- was not due (copy Annexure C-28). The OP vide email dated 27.08.15 (copy Annexure C-45) informed the complainant that there was no such charges of Rs.30,000/- for data and the final bill will be generated. The complainant sent a legal notice vide email dated 08.09.15 (copy Annexure C-48). The OP vide email dated 10.09.15 (copy Annexure C-49) informed the complainant that “the connection provided to you was AT & T and we are not the parent network for AT & T, hence for any details we are totally dependent on them and we need to agree and follow their terms and conditions. They also do not share usage details with us before the bill generation. We assure you that, if the same would have been available with us then we would have shared it with you. Further, there has been a change in our SIM collection procedure recently. There are some SIM cards which we do not collect and close the account without the SIM return, hence we do not see a reason for earning $10 extra by not collecting the SIM card because of bill is generated by the network operator’s end (AT & T) and the usage reflecting in the bill is auto captured. However, we sincerely apologize once again for the inconvenience caused to you due to the wrong message sent for the unbilled amount due to the technical error but we would not be able to provide any compensation regarding the same.”
OP generated the final bill for an amount of Rs.240/-. The complainant paid the same. With the paying of final bill of Rs.240/-, the complainant ceased to be a ‘consumer’ as defined in the Consumer Protection Act. Accordingly, we dismiss the complaint with no order as to costs.
Let a copy of this order be sent to the parties as per regulation 21 of the Consumer Protection Regulations. Thereafter file be consigned to record room.
Announced on 09.10.2017.
