WEFE Broadband Bhubaneswar - Fraudulent withholding of security deposit

Vide an application cum service contract dated: **.**.**** with WEFE Broadband, Bhubaneswar, (reference number: WP ****), I enlisted its internet service at Surya Nagar, Unit-*, Bhubaneswar, under the scheme "Home ***" by making upfront payment of Rs ****/- (comprising of Installation charge of Rs ****/-, Refundable deposit amount of Rs ****/- and Rental or Internet use charges for ** days commencing on **.**.**** of Rs ****/-). As can be seen on the first page of the Application cum Contract form (copy attached) against the heading "Service Information", the scheme of service is Home *** (Residential) Wireless with TOPUP Recharge, indicating thereby that it is a prepaid monthly recharge scheme as per which Rental or Internet use charges have to be paid upfront in advance for availing the internet service for the next ** days. Accordingly, after initial advance Rental (Internet use) payment for ** days, if internet service is sought to be continued beyond the current period of ** days, then TOPUP Recharge payment of Rs **** /-for another ** days of internet use has to be made before the expiry of the current period, and so on and so forth. If not recharged, internet service is automatically withdrawn by WEFE from the next date following the expiry of the current period, as a measure of business expediency. As and when the customer desires to use the internet service again, he has to make a TOPUP Recharge payment of Rs ****/- in advance, upon which internet is provided for a period of ** days with effect from the date of such recharge, and not otherwise. Thus, under the scheme, upfront recharge payment is a prerequisite for availing internet service for the next ** days. In other words, by making the TOPUP Recharge payment in advance, the customer instructs/authorizes WEFE to provide internet service for the next ** days. Hence, the question of any voluntary/unilateral TOPUP Recharge by WEFE without any upfront advance payment and without express instruction/authorization by the customer, does not arise, and similarly, the question of outstanding unpaid dues towards internet usage to the WEFE does not arise under the scheme. During the course of availing of internet service from WEFE covering a period of about ** months from March **** to January ****, I had missed due to forgetfulness to make TOPUP Recharge payments on a few occasions before the expiry of current period, as a consequence of which WEFE had promptly disconnected/cut off internet service to me. For restoration of internet service, I had to make upfront payment of Rs ****/- towards TOPUP Recharge, following which internet connection got restored from the date of payment upto a period of ** days. The last time I made TOPUP Recharge payment of Rs ****/- was in January **** for the period upto **.**.****. Since I left Bhubaneswar for a very long outstation tour towards the end of January **** and didn't require internet facility from February **** onwards, I did not make any advance TOPUP Recharge payment for the period subsequent to **.**.****, assuming that following non-payment towards TOPUP Recharge for the period subsequent to **.**.****, WEFE would, as per the scheme, disconnect/cut off internet service, as it used to do in the past. On return to Bhubaneswar after many months, I decided to wind up my account with WEFE and, accordingly, requested it vide my email dated **.**.**** to refund me the deposit of Rs ****/-. Vide its reply email of same date with attachment of purported data usage particulars, WEFE informed me, inter alia, that I need to pay outstanding internet usage dues of Rs ****/- for the period **.**.**** to **.**.**** before issuance of refund of Rs ****/-. Such demand by WEFE is, prima face, wrong and, as such, not acceptable for the reason that I had neither made any advance TOPUP Recharge payment nor instructed WEFE to supply internet facility on credit/postpaid basis beyond **.**.****. Furthermore, I had no immediate information/communication, whatsoever, from WEFE to the effect that it had done TOPUP Recharge beyond **.**.**** on credit basis. Such email communication by the WEFE clearly indicates its malafide intention and dishonest conduct to illegally appropriate a major percentage of my refundable deposit of Rs ****/- by adopting unfair trade practices. The pertinent question that can be posed at this juncture with reference to a hypothetical situation where WEFE did not retain my refundable deposit at the commencement of the service , is would it have on its own supplied internet facility to me beyond **.**.**** without any advance payment towards TOPUP Recharge by me? Well, the answer will be an unambiguous NO, because there will be no scope for the recovery of the questionable TOPUP Charges from the customer for having activated internet service without his prior instruction/authorization , and WEFE as a business entity will not like to incur any loss. Hence, it is manifestly illegal and unfair on the part of WEFE for seeking to recover any outstanding internet usage charges from me. Even otherwise, I vehemently deny the use of internet facility, if any, after January **** since I was away from Bhubaneswar for a long time, and that the possibility of use of internet facility by two other tenants living in the same residential building by somehow accessing my password, can not be ruled out, for which I cannot be held liable.
It is also pertinent to state that while enrolling for the internet service by WEFE, I had, on the apprehension of possible dishonest and unfair trade conduct in future by WEFE, taken precaution to have certain exploitative and unconscionable terms and conditions struck off/deleted by the WEFE representative before I put my signature on the Application cum Contract form. It could be noticed on the back side(second) page of the Application cum Contract form that the term relating to the conditional release of refund of the security deposit was struck off. Similarly, the condition regarding giving guarantee by the customer for WEFE's equipment fixed on house rooftop was also deleted on the reasoning that the customer would have have no control over the vagaries of nature like storm, wind, sunlight heat, etc. One more exploitative condition was also got deleted. Under the circumstances, I have made myself free from all fetters for the purpose of obtaining refund of full security deposit of Rs ****/- from WEFE, which has hitherto been illegally retained by it. To sum up, WEFE is an unscrupulous and dishonest commercial entity which has cheated me and put me to pecuniary loss of Rs ****/- by resorting to unfair trade practice.