- 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 days. They cannot charge rental or any other charges beyond the period of 7 days of request for closure made by the customer. Further, fresh bills shall be raised only after adjustment of the security deposit. The closure/ termination of service shall not be made conditional upon payment of dues/ bills/settlement of dispute. The outstanding amount of security deposits has to be refunded within 60 days of closure/ termination of service. In case of delay in refund beyond 60 days, a consumer is entitled to interest at the rate of 10% per annum for the number of days refund is delayed beyond 60 days.
- Q 2. What is the time limit within which a billing charging complaint has to be resolved?
A billing 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 consumer entitled to any relief?
Yes, in the case of basic telephone (wire line) connection, for delayed rectification of faults, the customer is entitled to rent rebate at the following rates: (a) Faults pending for more than 3 days and up to 7 days: Rent rebate for 7 days. (b) Faults pending for more than 7 days and up to 15 days: Rent rebate for 15 days. (c) Faults pending for more than 15 days: rent rebate for one month.
- 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.