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Alternatives to resolve MakeMyTrip Consumer Complaints

In our last post we saw how anyone can file a consumer court case against any company. Though the procedure is not very complex but still it can be very lengthy sometimes. We receive a lot of complaint everyday against many companies but there is one company which receives complaints frequently and that is MakeMyTrip. So, we thought why not to explain how you can file consumer complaint against Makemytrip and try to resolve it without approaching consumer court directly. That means we are going to tell you alternatives to resolve MakeMyTrip consumer complaints without going to consumer court! Please read on to know complete details.

The first obvious alternative for you to resolve MakeMyTrip consumer complaints is to contact the company itself. You can file your MakeMyTrip complaint here https://support.makemytrip.com/MyAccount/MyIncidents/NewComplaint and hope that someone from MakeMyTrip will get back to you very soon. You need to have your MMT booking ID handy in order to submit your complaint. If they don’t give any attention to it then you can try the next alternative.

The next alternative is to approach MakeMyTrip at their social media accounts – Facebook, Twitter and Google+. You should post your complaint and about your experience publicly at their social accounts to attract their attention. For your convenience we are providing direct links to their social media profiles:

https://www.facebook.com/makemytrip
Twitter.com handle @makemytrip
https://plus.google.com/+makemytrip

But if you still don’t get any response from them then you should try the next option which is Voxya. As you know, Voxya is a unique platform for resolving consumer complaints against brands quickly. We use social and business network to resolve your consumer complaints. We help consumers in fighting against injustice, fraud and lousy customer service.

You can file a consumer complaint very easily at https://voxya.com/file-consumer-complaint . Once your complaint is filed, we will start social media campaign and try to contact company officials via email. Most of the time this simply works because no company wants to portray a bad picture about their support. Also based on your choice, we will draft & send a professional legal notice to the company via registered post. Moreover, if you want then Voxya can also prepare your case documents and can help you to approach Consumer Court. So, what are you waiting for? These were few simple alternatives for you to resolve MakeMyTrip consumer complaints.

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How to file a Consumer Complaint in Consumer Court?

Consumer Protection Act 1986 empowers consumers to file their consumer complaints by visiting the Consumer Court at the district, state or national level along with the documents required for filing the complaint. As the Act has provided a very simple procedure for filing the complaint so anyone can do this. Thus, you do not need any lawyer to file a consumer complaint in the consumer court. Lets see how you can file a complaint in consumer court in India in this step-by-step guide.

Eligibility of filing Consumer Complaint

You should be Consumer
First of all you should check whether you are eligible to file a consumer complaint in Consumer Court or not? The Consumer Protection Act says that only consumers are eligible to file consumer complaints. In layman’s language, anybody who buys a product or avails a service for a consideration (partial / full payment or a promise), either for his personal use or to earn his livelihood by means of self employment, is a consumer in the eyes of law and so he is eligible to file a complaint. It is not necessary that the consumer himself has to file the complaint. Even his wife, husband, relative or his legal representative can also file complaint on his behalf.

Be within Time Limit
Secondly, it is important that a consumer complaint should be filed within two years from the date on which cause of action arises.

Attach Supporting Documents
Thirdly, you should have convincing evidences, proofs, bill and invoice etc. in order to support your complaint. Without compelling evidences to prove injustice or inconvenience or loss on your part, your case is most likely to be rejected by the court.

Jurisdiction of Court
Finally, you need to ensure that your case falls within the jurisdiction of the particular District / State commission where you are planning to file the consumer complaint. Usually, you should file consumer complaint in the district where the goods or services were sold, or where the office of opposite party or his residence is located. Apart from this, you also need to ensure the correct jurisdiction based on your claim in the case :

a) If the amount of claim is less than Rs. 20 Lacs, then the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has got the jurisdiction to hear the complaint.

b) If the amount of claim is more than Rs. 20 Lacs but less than Rs. 1 Crore, then the State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission will entertain the complaint.

c) If the amount of claim is more than Rs 1 Crore, then the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission will hear the complaint. However, a dis-satisfied consumer can directly approach National Commission or can appeal against decisions of the state commission.

Once you are satisfied that you fulfill all these above conditions then filing complaint is a straight forward three step process :

Step 1 : Draft Consumer Complaint

First of all you should collect name & addresses of all the opposite parties. You can easily get this information from the invoice or bill which you might have received from them. Your complaint should explain the problem which you have faced and clearly state the relief which you are seeking. It should also mention the compensation, damages, cost, refund or interest amount. However, if you are too lazy to draft your complaint yourself then you should file your complaint at voxya.com and we will draft a professional complaint on your behalf.

Step 2 : Send Legal Notice

After you have drafted your complaint, it is now time to send a legal notice to the opposite party. Sending a legal notice to opposite party is mandatory before filing a formal consumer case. This is done in order to provide an opportunity to the opposite party to settle the case and to send a signal that the consumer is seriously planning to file a consumer case against the opposite party. You should normally send this legal notice to opposite party via registered post and wait for altleast 30 days for any response from the opposite party. If the opposite party refuses to resolve the complaint or simply neglects the notice, then you can approach the consumer court. Please note that if you have filed your consumer complaint at voxya then we will send legal notice on your behalf and you need not to do anything.

Step 3 : Approach Consumer Court

Filing a formal Consumer Complaint in Consumer Court does not require any special preparations. As previously stated, you do not require any lawyer for filing the case, so you can do this yourself. Just mention all the details of the case on a plain paper, attach annexures and submit it in four copies, plus additional copies for each opposite party. Looking too complex? Don’t worry, Voxya.com can prepare consumer case documents for you.

Please note that if you are filing an appeal in Consumer court then you need to provide Certified copy of the district forum order and have to deposit Rs.25,000 or 50% of the award or compensation amount, whichever is less.

Required Court Fees

You need to deposit the required court fees for entertaining your consumer case in different courts. The amount of court fees is determined on the basis of the total value of goods or services and the compensation claimed.

For District forums
Up to Rs.100,000 : Fees is Rs.100
Between Rs.100,000 – Rs.500,000 : Fees is Rs.200
Between Rs.500,000 -Rs.10,00,000 : Fees is Rs.400
Above Rs.10,00,000 and up to Rs.20,00,000 : Fees is Rs.500

For State forums
Above Rs.20,00,000 – Rs.50,00,000 : Fees is Rs.2,000
Above Rs.50,00,000 – Rs.100,00,000 : Fees is Rs.4,000

For National Commission
The fees is Rs.5,000

Once you are ready with your formal written complaint and have arranged the necessary fees then you just need to sign the documents and submit them in the consumer court personally. It usually takes only 2-3 hours in filing a complaint in the court.

Thats it! Hope you like the guide and will keep sending your valuable comments.

 

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How to identify fake ecommerce websites easily?

It is really difficult to identify fake ecommerce websites in India. We receive lot of consumer complaints against fake ecommerce websites running in India. These websites are online scam that offers very exciting deals to lure customers at their online shops. Once a customer decides to buy something from them and makes payments, they will simply vanish with the money or will deliver a very sub-standard product. Their modus operandi is to simply grab the money and do nothing or deliver a duplicate/fake/low quality product against the money charged.

Though these fake websites are in large numbers but the problem is that you can not do anything against them. Firstly, some of these websites will not have any contact details available so there is no way to contact them. Moreover the money lost is somewhat low so you will forget the scam and move-on with your life very soon. Secondly, some of these websites are smarter than the rest. Instead of doing nothing, they will go one step further and will send you a very cheap & zero value products. This makes the problem worst. Now you can not claim that they did not deliver the product you ordered and there is almost no way to prove that what you received was actually sent by them! They are smart so they know that if somehow they will get caught, they can prove that they delivered the goods to you. And in their defense they can always say that courier company was culprit who changed the goods somehow.

Having said this, we believe that the best solution is to identify fake ecommerce websites early and not to buy from them because prevention is always better than cure. So, lets see how we can easily identify these fake websites by closely looking at them :

1. Low Quality Product Images

If the website, from where you are planning to buy, is using low quality or generic product images then thats a bad sign. Usually, good ecommerce websites will always use high quality product images to present their products nicely. But using small, old or distorted images for products is a clear sign of danger. Similarly, if the images are having watermark of some other brand/website then also it shows the un-professionalism of the website.

2. Unbelievable Cheap Prices

If the prices displayed on the website are too low compared to other similar websites then it could be scam. Normally, prices can not be lower than the market price and so every ecommerce website will be selling at about same price. Also, sometimes these fake websites will show you a special deals that is too good to be believed. For example if you buy t-shirt of Rs.500 you will get headphone worth Rs.900. These kind of deals are apparently scam and so it makes it easy to identify fake ecommerce websites.

3. No Social Activity

If you are unable to find any link to their social network accounts like Facebook, Instagram, Google+, then chances are that they are fake. Now-a-days, ecommerce is not possible without social validation. Every company uses social media to promote their products and get viral. If they do not have social presence or they have very less likes in Facebook or only few tweets in Twitter then chances are they are not genuine. But beware, sometimes these websites will “buy” fake likes and can have large number of likes showing at their page. Once again, a very large number of likes, not in-parity with their brand size, shows something is fishy.

4. Missing Contacts

You can identify fake ecommerce website, if you are finding no information about them at their website. There are no contact forms, no support phone numbers or customer support area provided at their website? This means something is not right. We suggest that you should try to contact them by whatever is listed on their website, in order to verify them. If you are unable to reach them before buying from them, then that is a clear sign that you will not be able to contact them if something goes wrong after you buy from them.

5. Cookie-cutter Website Design

There is also very easy way to identify fake ecommerce websites. Most of them will use cookie-cutter web design at their website. They will use pre-made free templates with some free Content Management System like WordPress. You can identify them by closely looking at the texts in their important pages like privacy policy, refund policy, about us, terms & conditions etc. If you find dummy texts in their pages, making no sense, then that means you are at the fake website.

6. Bad Customer Reviews

Before buying any product from any website, try to search for them on internet. What you see? Are you seeing a lot of hate posts and reviews in Google and Facebook? That is a clear sign of problem. Also, you should check customers reviews/comments at Facebook that will give you an idea what kind of problem you should expect after buying from them. If they are genuine, they will reply to almost all complaints posted against them. If people are complaining more about wrong delivery, no delivery or duplicate products then its time to leave such website.

Lastly, if you have already been cheated by these fake ecommerce websites then do not forget to post your consumer complaint at Voxya.com. You can raise your voice and get support of other customers by posting your complaint at Voxya. We will do everything to get attention of the brand & customers to resolve your issue.

Hope you will now be able to identify fake ecommerce websites easily and will stay away from them. Please share this post to let others know and get benefit from it.

Disclaimer: We have compiled this list based on the consumer complaints filed at our platform and based on our experience dealing with them. Please note that exceptions are always there. Use your judgment in deciding when to buy, what to buy and from where to buy.

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Handling consumer complaints on social media?

Your customers can leave negative comments on social media and that can harm your brand reputation quickly. But responding correctly to consumer complaints in social media can infact help you increase customer loyalty and retention. We have successfully resolved many complaints by using social network. But if you think that your complaint was not resolved by Voxya then read this article instead, to know why it was not resolved.

Anyways, here are the tips to correctly handle consumer complaints in social media :

1. Quickly Acknowledge Mistakes
When a customer posts a consumer complaint on social media, don’t take time to reply his complaint. Infact you need to reply quickly without wasting any time. Also, you need to acknowledge mistakes because if you have made a mistake, it’s best to accept it. But remember to be very positive while acknowledging mistakes. So both the things are important – being on time and acknowledging the mistake.

2. Take Conversation Offline
When customers are angry its better to talk offline through a telephone or email. You can ask customers to provide their email or phone so that you can talk to them personally. Infact this will help you to take conversation offline. If you are not doing this then other customers can join in the complaint on social media.

3. Give Personalized Response
While handling consumer complaints, you should build rapport by personalizing your response in social media. Usually, this can be done by including customer’s name and complaint details in the reply. A personalized reply will convey that you have actually gone through the complaint and really wants to help.

4. Show Transparency
Explain what you are going to do and how it is going help in resolving the consumer complaint. The resolution process should be very clear to the customers. Also, do not forget to provide a genuine escalation plan to resolve the issue in the minimum time frame.

5. Go the Extra Mile
When customers are not happy, you need to go the extra mile to help solve their problem. You can soothe emotions by offering replacements or rewards. This will demonstrate that the relation with that customer is more important than an one-off monetary loss.

6. Don’t Remove Complaints
You should not delete consumer complaints that are posted by angry customers in your social media. Infact deleting them will prompt them to post more negative comments to vent their frustrations. However, you can delete negative comments if the customer is more frustrated than the issue demands.

So, these were the simple tips to handle consumer complaints and re-gain customer trust in your social network. What are you waiting for? Go and start improving 🙂