Indore (Madhya Pradesh): A woman who bought a mobile phone from an e-commerce website and opted for the EMI option for payment could not pay an instalment as the bank had wrongfully deducted money from her account and had not informed her about it.
The woman moved consumer court, and it found the bank guilty and asked it to refund the deducted money and also pay Rs 10,000 as a fine. The woman had bought a Samsung Galaxy S-10 costing Rs 73,990 in September 2019.
She opted for the EMI option filled in all bank details and successfully deposited the first instalment. She also had a fixed deposit linked to the account from which the EMI was being deducted.
However, in May 2019, the bank started deducting Rs 295 from her account claiming that it was a charge for premature encashment of her fixed deposit. Surprisingly, she was never notified about the deduction and the bank continued to debit the money till September 2019.
She came to know of the monthly deduction when her transaction for the next EMI failed and the e-commerce company lodged a complaint, reducing her CIBIL score. She told the bank that she had not withdrawn her fixed deposit prematurely, so the amount should not have been deducted.
The bank officials assured her that they would check whether it was a technical error or not. However, when there was no reply after a long wait, she approached the customer care section of the bank. She claimed that the regional branch officers had neglected her complaints and had also misbehaved with her.
The bank sent a letter to her stating that nothing could be done. The bank refused to take responsibility and said that the complainant had insufficient funds and was trying to defame them. However, the court asked for photocopies of the passbook and other bank statements along with the affidavit.
The consumer court found the bank guilty of wrongly deducting Rs 2,065 from the complainant's account. The court ordered the bank to repay the deducted amount along with Rs 10,000 for mental and physical agony. The bank was also asked to clear and correct her CIBIL score and issue a certificate in her favour within a month.
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