- Q 1. A consumer has made a request for termination (closure) of the service. How long has he to wait? What about rentals and other dues?
The service provider shall terminate the connection within 7 (seven) working days of receipt of customer’s request. Termination/ closure of service should not be withheld on account of pending dues or any other reason. It is further clarified that no billing or charging should be done beyond seven working days of receipt of customer’s request. Also, the respective service providers are required to refund security deposit within a period of 45 days after closure of the connection. In case security deposit is not refunded within the stipulated period, service providers are required to pay interest to the customer at the rate of 10% per annum for the actual delay beyond 45 days.
- Q 2. What is the time limit within which a billing/ charging complaint has to be resolved?
A billing/ charging complaint has to be resolved within 4 weeks. Any credit/ waiver/ adjustment, arising out of such resolution of complaint has to be made to customer’s account within one week of resolution of the complaint.
- Q 3. In case the fault is not rectified within the certain period, is the customer entitled to any relief?
Yes, in case of Access service (wireline) and Broadband (wireline) service, if fault is repaired after three (3) working days, the customer is entitled to rent rebate/ validity extension as follows:
• A post-paid subscriber will get a proportional rent rebate, credited in the next bill, for actual number of days during which the fault remains pending.
• The validity of tariff offering of prepaid subscriber shall be increased for actual number of days during which the fault remains pending.
- Q 4. What is the time limit for disposal of an appeal by the appellate authority?
The time limit for disposal of the appeal by the appellate authority is 39 days from the date of filing of the appeal. The Appellate authority is required to consult the Advisory Committee having a representative of TRAI registered CAG while disposing of the appeal.
- Q 5. Is there any time limit for making appeal to the appellate authority?
Yes, the appeal has to be filed within 30 days after expiry of time limit prescribed for redressal of complaint. However, the appellate authority may entertain any appeal filed after the expiry of 30 days.
- Q 6. If the complainant is not satisfied with the redressal of the complaint at the Call Centre level, who should be contacted?
The complainant should contact Appellate Authority of the service provider and lodge his appeal. There are no fee charges for filling the appeal. The contact details of Appellate Authority are available on the service provider’s web site. A customer can register his appeal with the Appellate Authority of service provider also by dialling toll free no. 198.
- Q 7. What is the time limit for redressal of complaints at the Call Centre?
The Call Centre has to redress the complaints as per the provisions in the QoS Regulation where no parameters are prescribed, complaints relating to faults/disruption of service have to be rectified within 3 days and all other complaints with 7 days.
- Q 8. Can TRAI help a consumer in resolving individual complaints?
The TRAI Act, 1997 does not envisage handling of individual consumer complaints by TRAI. As per the Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations, 2012, a Subscriber is required to take recourse of the two tier mechanism of call centre and the Appellate authority of the service provider for having the grievance redressed.
