FICCI`s association with National Consumer Helpline

FICCI is happy to announce its association with Department of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and National Consumer Helpline to  encourage all our members to partner with the National Consumer helpline and State Consumer Helplines on grievance redressal.

Ministry of Consumer Affairs has undertaken this nation building exercise to benefit the consumer and industry both. The Department of Consumer Affairs has been spearheading the consumer movement for the last many years through various programmes and activities in association with the States, Industry and Voluntary Consumer Organizations and other stakeholders

As part of this effort, the Department has set up the Center for Consumer Studies at the Indian Institute of Public Administration in New Delhi, that supports projects like the National Consumer Helpline and the State Consumer Help lines.

1.  National Consumer Helpline (NCH):

NCH is mandated to offer telephonic advice, information and guidance to consumers across the country. It has also been extending support to corporates – companies and service providers through its Convergence initiative. The participation of over 200 active companies/ organizations include Banks, Consumer durables and Electronics, NBFCs, Insurance, Telecom, Electricity, Automobiles, E-Commerce etc. Thus, NCH acts as a bridge in building symbiotic synergies between consumers and service providers maintaining the confidentiality of consumer complaints within the specific company.

The NCH  through a National Toll Free No-1800-11-4000, as well as through website –http://ift.tt/2s28udO.in receives complaints from consumers and advises them on how to resolve them.

2.  The National Consumer Helpline supports consumers in the following ways:

a.   Alternate Dispute Redressal  system (ADR): Information & Guidance:

Provide information to consumers on Products, Services, Company addresses, Ombudsman, Regulators and Consumer Forums. Counselors provide information as per the stage of the complaint – Tier 1, 2 or 3.  Information is also provided for allied services like Hallmark, ISI, RTI, PAN card, UIDAI, Financial Inclusion programs of the Government etc and guide consumers on ways to get their grievance redressed.

b.  Alternate Dispute Redressal  system (ADR): Convergence mode

Under the convergence model, which is an out of court dispute redressal mechanism, NCH partners with companies who have a proactive approach to efficient consumer complaint resolution. It shares with them the data of the complainants along with the complaints received at NCH related to their company, to facilitate free, fair and fast redressal through participative cooperation. Under Convergence process companies are expected to resolve/close the complaints by stating “a gist of the resolution” in the remarks column which is accessible to both - the consumer and NCH.

The complaints that are received at NCH are generally of an escalated nature, as most of the complainants have already gone through the first level – that of approaching the Company. It is only when their complaints are not handled up to the complainants satisfaction that the complaints are lodged  with us. It is precisely for this reason that NCH partners with various companies whereby these complaints are brought to the notice of a senior official of the company for a relook and offer a resolution, so as to  dissuade consumers from moving to a Consumer Forum and also reducing litigation.

NCH has around 200 Companies as partners in this effort, under the header   Convergence@NCH. This is essentially an alternate dispute resolution method and consumer disputes are resolved cordially and mutually.

3.  The benefits that a Company gets  in partnering with NCH are as follows:

Convergence is a Win-Win situation for both Consumers as well as companies/Service Providers. Resolving consumer grievance cordially and expeditiously. It gives an opportunity for better Corporate Governance and Social Responsibility.

·        A proactive approach in resolving their  customer grievances

·        Finding an amicable and expeditious resolution to the customers’ problem, leading to a win-win situation for both - Customers and organization, as there is a need for Consumer disputes to be redressed.

·        Gives an opportunity to the organization for an amicable settlement and retention of the customer,  building customer loyalty

·        Ensures better corporate governance and social responsibility

·        Customer retention

4.  Steps in partnering with NCH   i.        I. dentification of the Right person in the Company . In the process of convergence, identification of the Right person is very important. As most of the complaints received at NCH are of an escalated nature, the point person should be a senior person in the organization having decision making powers, ideally the Head - Service quality or Quality Assurance. He must be part of the senior management of the company. NCH will explain the concept of convergence, and create confidence that this process will be beneficial for the Company resulting in consumer satisfaction and loyalty. II. Registering as a brand at NCH web portal for online complaint handling system Companies have to fill up the brand registration form with requisite details. And agree to the terms and conditions.  III. Online complaint handling system  Online complaint handling portal consists of two reports - NCH website complaints and NCH CRM complaints. When complaints are uploaded by a consumer directly, or NCH uploads the complaints received at the helpline on to the complaint handling module, the Nodal officer identified by the organization will get a notification. He will have to then login the brand panel with username and password to view the complaints. After action on the complaint has been taken, the full and final resolution is updated on the website. This data is completely confidential between the company and NCH. vi. Feedback from complainants after problem resolved by the company Complainants are called by NCH to seek a feedback on the resolution provided by the company. In case the complainant is not satisfied with the resolution provided , and wants to pursue the case further, he is guided to approach a consumer forum.

The terms and conditions are  mentioned on the website http://ift.tt/2s28udO.in/Convergence_ViewBrand.aspx, On registration, NCH  provides  a user name &  password to access and redress/resolve the complaint.

FICCI would be happy to assist your organization in the process of convergence and taking the step forward in helping the Government in their initiative

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