Vodafone To Pay Rs 25k Fine For Pesky Calls

[dkchinnari]

MUMBAI: In a significant judgment that could benefit millions of mobile phone subscribers troubled by pesky telemarketing calls and messages, a district [url="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/consumer-forum"]consumer forum[/url] last week directed [url="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/Vodafone"]Vodafone[/url] Essar Limited to pay Rs 25,000 to a [url="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/doctor"]doctor[/url] who had subscribed to the DNC - Do Not Call Facility - but still kept getting calls from various companies. The forum held the service provider guilty of deficiency of service and ordered it to pay Dr Ashesh Gala Rs 20,000 as compensation and Rs 5,000 towards cost of the complaint.

Dr Gala, who filed a complaint in the Mumbai Suburban District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in October 2009, owns and runs Netra Jyot Eye Care Centre, a hospital in Mulund (W). Gala had a cell phone for which Vodafone Essar Ltd were the service providers.

Gala's complaint stated that many companies from the service sector would call him on his cell phone time and again and even sent him messages. To stop the calls and SMSes, Gala informed Vodafone, his service provider, and subscribed to its Do Not Call (DNC) facility in December 2007.

However, despite subscribing to the service, Gala alleged he received repeated calls from a bank between July 2007 and February 2008. Aggrieved, Gala sent the bank a notice on March 3, 2008. The bank replied to the notice, apologizing to him and assuring Gala that he would not receive such calls or messages from it in future. However, since calls from various other companies continued, Gala filed a complaint with the forum citing deficiency in service and sought a compensation of Rs 50,000.

Vodafone, in its reply before the forum, denied the allegations leveled against it. It further submitted that the complaint could not be entertained by the forum until the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) was made party to the complaint since DNC was a facility that was available on the national level. The service provider told the forum that under the DNC facility, there could be a drop in the number of telemarketing calls but they cannot be stopped completely.

However the forum observed that as [url="http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/topic/TRAI"]TRAI[/url] was a regulatory body and not a service provider, it could not be made party to the complaint. The forum further observed that according to TRAI regulations, once the subscriber opts for the DNC facility it is the responsibility of the service provider to see that such calls and messages are not received from companies.

[riddle]

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