Use SMS to file complaints in the Pimpri-Chinchwad area
Municipal authorities have always been accused of being slow to adapt to modern technology, but now it seems that they are catching up to modern technology and adoption of the same so that their consumers find it easier to file complaints and interact with the municipal authorities. Consider this case of the municipal corporation of Pimpri-Chinchwad that has launched a SMS complaint service on a trial basis and started receiving complaints on this service (link to article):
Residents of Pimpri-Chinchwad can now register a complaint against civic problems by simply sending an SMS. The Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) launched the SMS complaint service on a trial basis on March 20. Since then, around 70 grievenaces have been received, of which only seven are pending.
Categories: Citizen, Consumer, Convenience, Governance, Maharashtra, Utility Tags: Complaint, Modern, Municipal Corporation, SMS
Consumer: Airlines to show exact total fare to passengers
For a long time now, passengers have struggled to figure out the exact fare that airlines was asking from them. In the initial days of offers by low budget carriers, the airline would offer a starting fare of Rs. 1, and there were a number of passengers who were dumb-founded by the fact that this fare of Re. 1 was actually not 1, but there were additional taxes, something which could take the fare into the high hundreds or even upto a thousand. Passengers continued to struggle with this situation for a long time, and at that time, one really did not see the regulator or authorities do something about this. There were other problems with these fares such as very poor cancellation processes (some airlines refused to refund money if the ticket was cancelled, instead offering a 6 month coupon).
And then came the time of the high fuel rates, in which the struggling airlines had to pass the high fuel charges to their passengers, but were loath to do in a manner that seemed like increasing fares. So they removed all low fare offers, but did not change the base price of the ticket, instead putting in a fuel surcharge (that was pretty substantial) and which most passengers understood to be a part of Government taxes, since the surcharge was grouped along with taxes. It took another directive from the regulator to modify this practice, but it was mainly removed once the fuel charges came down (even though it took some time after the fuel rates declined for these ticket rates to come down).
Categories: Airline, Consumer, Convenience, Policy Tags: Airline, Consumer, Fare, Passengers, Regulator
Consumer: Airline told to refund fare for inconvenienced passengers
In this modern world, with large numbers of people traveling from place to place, the convenience of modern airline travel can help people make such travel with speed and convenience. However, what happens in the cases when such travel is no longer convenient, especially when one has paid for such a service, and the expectation is that service quality should be high ? It can be very unsettling. Imagine traveling from one country to another country, especially when there is no direct flight between the 2 locations. There is a need to take a connecting flight. The occassions could be numerous – attending a business conference, going to visit somebody who is in poor health, going for a family function. If one gets delayed for some reason that does not seem justifiable, then it is hard to understand the reason. Consider the case of these travelers who had to complete the last leg of their journey by car because the connecting flight was late, and for which the airline was unable to come up with a valid reason (link to article):
Categories: Airline, Compensation, Consumer, Convenience, Punishment, Quality Tags: Airline, Compensation, Consumer, Consumer Court, Delay, Flight, Forum, Judgment, Refund
