The Department of Consumer Affairs on June 13, 2022, has directed major e-commerce food business operators (FBOs) to furnish the current framework as well as a proposal on improving the consumer grievance redressal mechanism within 15 days.
During the last 12 months, thousands of grievances have been registered on the National Consumer Helpline (1915) for Swiggy and Zomato. Both the companies are convergence partners on NCH. The major issue is the veracity of the amount of delivery and packing charges and the reasonableness of such charges, as well as the disparity between the price and quantity of food items shown on the platform and those actually offered by DoCA, were among the major issues raised by consumers on the DoCA's National Consumer Helpline.
E-commerce FBOs were directed by the Department to transparently show consumers the breakup of all charges included in the order amount such as delivery charges, packaging charges, taxes, surge pricing, etc. Platforms must also show individual consumer reviews transparently and refrain from showing only the aggregation of reviews. It is observed that the need to address consumer grievances closely and develop a robust grievance redressal framework. They assured that the concerns raised in the meeting will be duly taken into consideration and the proposed improved and transparent framework will be shared with the Department in 15 days.
[Release ID: 1833570]
