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Saksham Chauhan   22 August 2024

Case in consumer forum

I have an account with Airtel Payments Bank. They put my account on hold and did not inform me. I realised it after sometime that they have put my account on hold. 

I emailed them and they replied that my account has been put on hold because of fraudulent transactions. I requested them for the details but they kept on ignoring it and asked me to visit a banking point to get a biometric transaction done.

I raised the grievance with nodal officer, grievance officers, principal nodal officer of Airtel, but everyone just asked me to visit the banking point. I denied saying that I need a home visit, which they initially denied and then mentioned that they had sent someone to my place to get the biometric transaction done. I was clearly lied to.

Then I raised a complaint with the RBI Ombudsman, after which they became active and I received requests to visit a banking point or arrange a home visit. But I kept on asking why my account was put on hold. I requested them the transactions that were marked as suspicious. However, they stopped replying and I got no resolution from them. 

I finally visited the banking point and got the account unlocked. It has been more than 2 months and RBI has not addressed my complaint. To this day, Airtel has not replied as to why my account was put on hold. 

What are my legal options here to punish Airtel and claim a compensation for not furnishing details of putting my account on hold? I even sent them a legal notice, but no response again. 



Learning

 8 Replies

Dr. J C Vashista (Advocate )     23 August 2024

Your grievance is already stated to have been heard and allowed by RBI Ombudsman, what is the orders passed by Hon'ble Ombudsmand ?

Saksham Chauhan   23 August 2024

I haven't received any response from the ombudsman. 2 months but no resolution to my complaint. They have not closed the complaint either.

Still, can I register a grievance that Airtel hasn't informed me of any transactions that were marked suspicious yet?

Dr. MPS RAMANI Ph.D.[Tech.] (Scientist/Engineer)     23 August 2024

Ombudsmen do not work seriously these days. They often side with the banks. With online transactions consumer protection has become very weak. You get replies from 'donotreply' email ids.

Saksham Chauhan   23 August 2024

So, what can I do in this case? 

T. Kalaiselvan, Advocate (Advocate)     23 August 2024

You gather the evidence of all such incidents and approach consumer commisison with a complaint against the airtel bank for deficiency in service as well as for compensation for mental agony

Dr. J C Vashista (Advocate )     24 August 2024

There is some misconception qua functioning of Ombudsman, since they are working properly and efficeintly and do not take side of Banks, provided the complainant is pursuing his / her grievance.

File a consumer complaint simultanously as advised by learned senior expert Mr. T Kalaiselvan, which I concur.

Dr. MPS RAMANI Ph.D.[Tech.] (Scientist/Engineer)     27 August 2024

An Ombudsman complaint and a Consumer court complaint cannot be placed together. If the Ombudsman compalint is closed, a separate Consumer complaint can be made.

P. Venu (Advocate)     27 August 2024

Perhaps, the best option is to file a complaint in the jurisdictional civil court. Yes, there are procedures involved and time -consuming, but would be effective.


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