IN a country like ours, given the widespread economic disparity, low education and ignorance, educating consumers about their rights remains a gigantic task. It calls for concerted efforts from every one. The Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Government of India, has undertaken several initiatives for creating consumer awareness in the country. The flagship project amongst them is the National Consumer Helpline (NCH) which operates from the University of Delhi and has completed eight years of successful operations. NCH has been mandated to provide telephonic advice, information and guidance to the public on issues related to consumer affairs and grievance redressal methods.

When the NCH was launched in March 2005, the call centre, then located in a small room in the Department of Commerce, Delhi School of Economics, University of Delhi, received around 1,200 calls in the first month. Eight years later, it has grown over tenfold with nearly 12,000 consumers from all over the country dialling in every month. Our office now is a fully equipped call centre with its team of advisors, counsellors and researchers, helping aggrieved consumers to get justice out of court.

NCH provides a national toll free number (1800-11-4000) which is used by consumers to seek information, advice or guidance for their queries and complaints. Consumers can also dial 011-27006500 (normal call charges applicable). In addition, consumers can also contact NCH by sending an SMS to 8800939717 mentioning the name and city.

NCH receives complaints primarily on the helpline’s toll free number, sms, on-line complaints logged in at our website http://www.national consumerhelpline.in, Direct walk-ins at the NCH office, and letters addressed to NCH, including letters forwarded from the facilitation desk at the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Krishi Bhavan, New Delhi.

 

Personalized service is offered by the National Consumer helpline, and for this we ensure that the counsellors attending the calls are adequately trained. We receive calls from across the country, covering a whole spectrum of products and services. The advice and guidance provided by NCH is both in Hindi and English. NCH has a dedicated team of people providing technology and information/knowledge about what the consumer expects and wants. It provides aggrieved consumers the name, address, telephone number, email ID and other contact details of the nodal authority of the company or agency for aiding in the resolution of complaints.

This is done in a three-tiered fashion. Tier 1: The details of the company/ organization which the consumer should approach are provided. Consumers are given the contact details of the relevant branch whom they should get in touch with. Tier 2: Information is concentrated on the regulatory authorities, government officials or mediators like ombudsman. Tier 3: The courts are brought into the picture only when the first two tiers are exhausted. Consumers are advised to approach the consumer forums, State or National Commission, as per the requirement of the complaint, only as a last resort.

NCH initiated an SMS service for aggrieved consumers to reach us 24 hours a day on mobile number 8800939717. All messages are registered and a call is made to the consumer the next working day. Inbound calls that cannot be attended due to heavy flow of incoming calls are also tele-called as part of the outbound process. This facility has generated a positive response from complainants.

Consumers benefit from NCH’s rich experience in taking on new initiatives and partnerships with corporates and regulators. NCH receives a number of complaints from across the country, spanning diverse sectors such as banking, telecom, electricity, education, insurance and even postal services. NCH has approached numerous organizations so that their consumers benefit from the association.

Besides consumer awareness, NCH work towards generating corporate awareness. NCH continues to manage an initiative to create an alternate redressal mechanism for consumer complaints, branded as ‘Convergence’, where complaints against a manufacturer or service provider are consolidated, and dealt with by a nodal officer, a senior ranking official within the organization. We currently have over 200 companies listed under the Convergence programme. Starting with one company in 2006; we have made significant progress in fostering partnerships to reach more than 200 companies today. The programme now covers a wide spectrum of products such as manufacturers of air-conditioner, mobile handsets, microwave ovens and service providers from banking, insurance, electricity to the telecom sector. The Convergence list also includes diversified sectors such as automobiles, courier, NBFCs, tour and travel operators, among others. On an average the resolution, partial or otherwise received through this process, averages 78% as depicted in the graph.

 

The Convergence programme graduated to another level with the launch of an online complaint handling system. A complaint management system was designed and developed on our website: www.nationalconsumer helpline.in. It provides a platform for consumers and companies to interact with each other virtually on the website. The software enables a consumer to lodge a complaint and automatically schedules and prompts the concerned organization to initiate action through its own complaint redressal mechanism. This has resulted in a paperless, hassle-free and speedy system. The number of complaints registered online has steadily increased. As of now, 67 companies redress consumer complaints on the online platform.

The National Consumer Help-line is committed to the cause of consumer empowerment since inception. Though with a pan-India reach, we realize the importance of individual state consumer helplines in reaching out to consumers. NCH conducts a five day training to state consumer helplines in their city of operation. In imparting training, an interactive approach was adopted using pre and post-advice, discussions, power-point presentations, group work activities, group discussions and so on. The counsellors are trained in all sectors, with a special focus on the top five sectors for which complaints are received.

 

In-depth technical training is imparted for call centre operations, the use of online NCH knowledge database software (read only mode), a range of issues covered under the Consumer Protection Act and applicable answers for frequently occurring problems for each sector and industry such as telecom, banking, insurance, NBFC, electricity, public distribution system, LPG, RTI, medical negligence, among others were taken up. The three-tier complaints resolution is explained thoroughly and the regulatory framework available in some sectors such as telecom, banking, insurance, LPG, and electricity is explicitly explained to the counsellors. The sate consumer helplines where training has been conducted are Bihar, Sikkim and Kerala.

A programme for creating consumer awareness and imparting information on how NCH could guide and assist aggrieved consumers was embarked upon by NCH. Presentations and interactive sessions were held at various educational/management institutes in Delhi/NCR and this programme has been carried forward with great vigour. Consumer awareness literature is handed over to the students and faculty members every month. Displays are arranged in the libraries for mass communication students. This would go a long way in creating managers and consumers who are aware and empowered with the knowledge of their rights and responsibilities.

 

Community radio can play a major role in educating the rural masses about their rights as a consumer as well as on ways to redress their grievances. Realizing the potential, a programme on consumer issues and empowerment was aired by Radio Jamia in association with the National Consumer Helpline. The first community radio programme titled Jago Grahak Jago was aired on Radio Jamia, 90.4 FM, on 11 April 2012.

The radio programmes were also produced by the members and faculty of the Delhi University Community Radio in collaboration with the National Consumer Helpline. NCH had taken up the slot of an hour long programme on different consumer issues where expert/counsellors had taken up a sector and advice given to the audience about grievance redressal mechanism in the industry. The programme was aired every week periodically on various consumer issues, where people could phone-in and receive advice, guidance and information on their problems.

 

The National Consumer Helpline has employed a socio-economic classification (SEC) for the callers. The SEC is a classification of households used by surveyors, market researchers, media and marketing companies in India to categorize consumer behaviour. The system classifies Indian households by using two parameters – educational qualification of the chief wage earner in the household, and the number of assets owned (out of a pre-specified list of 11 assets). Based on these two parameters, each household is classified in one of 12 SEC groups applicable to both urban and rural India. The classification gives an insight on the profile of people calling the NCH to redress their grievances. On an average, 80% of consumers who contact NCH belong to the top five strata. Efforts are being made to increase our reach at the grassroots level.

Consumer Detriment is a concept developed over the years in Europe. It computes the total loss that is caused due to exploitation of consumers either deliberately or otherwise. Consumers experience both monetary and non-monetary loss as a result of market conditions and the way they are handled by producers and sellers. Complaints form a basis of estimating the monetary loss of consumers. We at NCH estimate the direct monetary personal detriment values for various sectors being covered.

National Consumer Helpline follows a philosophy and culture that brings about improvement in standards on a continuous basis. The method of complaint handling, organizational set-up, personnel training and management of everyday operations, are all aligned to serve the aggrieved consumer better. NCH is equated with superior service quality and we adopt a three-stage strategy to achieve it. Quality control, directed towards improvement in the quality of calls taken at NCH, is an ongoing and continuous process. There are certain quality parameters according to which those incharge of the sector check the accuracy of the advice given. Recorded calls are heard and the inputted data is checked thoroughly.

Optimum operational efficiency is achieved by:

a) All complaints received at NCH are divided into sectors such as legal, insurance, banking, telecom, electricity, transport, postal and courier.

b) Experts from various sectors support the back end action at NCH. Chosen from various sectors, the sector incharge has a rich, high level experience and in-depth knowledge in the field of their expertise and provide strong back end support to the staff. They not only provide specialized guidance in complicated calls but also provide training to the staff members, assist in data updating and corresponding with outside agencies and industry, deal with escalated cases, prepare advocacy papers and participate in press conferences and other campaigns where NCH spreads consumer awareness. They give their inputs for newsletters and share the latest information with the staff. Their advisory role also involves consumer advocacy.

c) Ongoing training: The counsellors who attend to customer calls are updated on recent developments in the sector, sector news, regulatory guidelines and flow chart of the hierarchy involved in grievance redressal at the company and regulator level.

d) Updating data: The various sector incharge collect and collate information concerning various companies/ institutions in their sectors. This complements the efforts of the market research associate whose work is to dedicatedly obtain/search/update/verify addresses/phone numbers of companies, regulators, and redressal authorities required by counsellors while taking calls, giving advice and for suggesting channels to approach for complaint redressal.

e) Counsellor’s reporting system: All counsellors are required to submit a monthly report which measures the entire gamut of activities conducted by them during the month. The star of the month is selected from amongst them.

 

To enhance knowledge, quiz programmes are organized by experts in order to assess the working knowledge of the counsellors and to sharpen their skills. These are held on a sector-wise basis. Interactive sessions are regularly held within the team to keep counsellors updated and abreast of the developments. The redressal systems of companies are understood and exceptional cases discussed. Responses given by the front-end counsellors on complaints received at NCH are scrutinized, studied and audited by the sector incharges, who advise on improvements regarding the quality of responses given by them to the complainants. Similarly, counsellors also list points on which they need clarification from the experts on a daily basis; an agent query register is maintained for this purpose. Calls which are complicated in nature and require expert advice are referred to the sector incharge. Where a suitable advice is not immediately possible, the caller is informed that NCH will call back after obtaining the information desired. The quality control steps are entered into the respective registers.

External experts are called in for sessions to provide knowledge and guidance in their field. These sessions include both the counsellors and the sector incharge for the benefit of all. NCH also conducts interactive sessions for self-education and improvement of knowledge of NCH staff.

 

Lines of communication are kept open with companies and organizations in different industries to protect consumers from exploitation and defective, adulterated and substandard goods and deficiency in services to safeguard their interests. Interaction with different departments and governing bodies for better understanding of rules and regulations for further consumer literacy is also emphasized. Articulation of consumer pain points to regulators/government agencies concerned in different sectors are done as and when the occasion arises.

A key strength of NCH is its ability to keep abreast of current trends in the marketplace. It provides personalized services through multiple channels to consumers nationwide from a dedicated call centre based in Delhi.