[honeybee]

Originally Posted by Traveler

I always wanted to know about this option of consumer courts. I have read many times that the consumer courts has awarded xxx amount as compensation to the party. Does anyone know if the money is actually paid and recieved by the customer. Haven't heard about people actually receiving the money, all I hear is the award and then the other party goes to a higher court for appeal.....

In case of the consumer courts, usually thw consumer is favoured. Also one can expect a faster turnaround than a usual criminal case.

I am not an expert but consumer court decisions can only be challenged in a higher consumer court, and then to the SC. For e.g. district consumer court decision can be challenged in the state consumer court only, not in the regular high court, and state consumer court decision in national consumer court. Only after that the case can be challenged in the Supreme Court.

You will have to change the nature of the complaint from robbery or stealing to deficiency in service, which can be taken to the consumer court.

Do talk to a competent lawyer to know your options, but I think this has more chances of a favourable and fast resolution.

[quickfox11]

Originally Posted by Traveler

I always wanted to know about this option of consumer courts...

+1.
I was trying to find such cases and I could not see anyone with resolution time of less than 2-2.5 years! Plus, I had no clue there's also an option for either parties to appeal to higher courts.

Originally Posted by adi.mariner

@quickfox. I had read about your ordeal on Pune Mirror and hope that it gets resolved soon

Thank you. Unfortunately, Pune Mirror missed out on most of the important details and just went ahead with whatever information they could fetch from the FIR copy. Even the reporter whom I was talking to stopped taking my calls next day onward.

And by the way, I have still not received a single call or email from DTDC!!

[Traveler]

All I ever hear is that the consumer court has awarded the compensation, I would really like to know if the compensation ever gets paid and in time to the aggrieved party. Somehow I feel the consumer courts system is a toothless tiger. I stand to be corrected in case anyone has had a good experience and willing to share.

[raksrules]

My wife once taunted me when I told her to take a video of me receiving a package from courier guy and telling him to wait so I can open it in front of him. I told her this is needed to save ourselves and have all proof in case something goes sideways.

[honeybee]

Originally Posted by quickfox11

+1.
I was trying to find such cases and I could not see anyone with resolution time of less than 2-2.5 years! Plus, I had no clue there's also an option for either parties to appeal to higher courts.

Regular civil or criminal cases will take much longer with the tareekh pe tareekh way the courts work.

Plus in a criminal case like the one you have filed, you will have one more unknown component in the equation, that of the cops. The quality of investigation, the time it takes all will impact the outcome of the case. Not to mention follow ups and the resulting frustration.

Consumer courts are much more likely to look at your case with more sympathy and empathy as they are specifically set up to protect the consumer's interests.

[Aditya_Bhp]

DTDC is the most expensive but the worst courier service in India.

My original degree certificate was sent from Bangalore to Kochi by my university on DTDC, but even after 10 days, I had not received the same at my home. So I called up the university, they gave me the tracking number, I checked it online, they had delivered my degree certificate to a lady in Chennai. I immediately alerted the university officials, they will be reissuing a new degree certificate and will take action against DTDC.

Also, last week, the local DTDC refused to deliver my parcel at my home, which is 1km away from their office, citing the reason 'we do not do home delivery' , but because she stressed 'home delivery', I asked her if its possible to deliver it to my office, which is 5kms away, which she said is possible, and hence there was no logic. I made them deliver to a bank near my home and collected it outside the bank. They have one of the worst customer care services in India.

Also they charge exhoribant rates for their service. They quoted Rs.600 for a parcel service, and for the same their competitior quoted Rs.150.

Overall I think you should take legal action against the company as this is Theft, a criminal offence.

[quickfox11]

Originally Posted by honeybee

Regular civil or criminal cases will take much longer
.
Consumer courts are much more likely to look at your case with more sympathy and empathy as they are specifically set up to protect the consumer's interests.

Honestly, I lost all hopes of getting my stuff back withing a couple of days of the incident. And I could have waited for their response on next steps had I felt that they actually mean to do anything about it. But the way it unfolded, and then I learned how common this thing is, and that its been happening for so long - I think it's enough to suspect that DTDC is aware of this malpractice and actually harboring it. I actually want this thing to stop if it's true and hold them responsible for it. That's why I am not looking for the best way to get compensation but I am looking for DTDC to own this malpractice.

Originally Posted by Aditya_Bhp

DTDC is the most expensive but the worst courier service in India.
.
.
Overall I think you should take legal action against the company as this is Theft, a criminal offence.

You would be amazed to hear the way they have responded to the case! I spoke to the cops and they informed me that while delivery guys and delivery in-charge came to the police station, the senior officers and vigilance officer kept ignoring calls from them and did not show up for giving their statement or help with the details.

[Tgo]

Originally Posted by adi.mariner

Have been using Speed Post for sending documents rather than some private companies.

I have had similar experience with DTDC and found that their prices are inflated and there is no benefit of express delivery and international couriers too. Speed Post seems unprofessional and shabby in their dealing but are always on time and cost less. Its a perception thing. DTDC gives you a perception of being more trackable and available on call with this person or that to make you feel in control.

But, god forbid you ever loose anything shipped with Speed Post. There is just no way you can lodge a complaint without going through the proper channel which is a paper complaint at your local post office.

[meerkat]

Originally Posted by Tgo

I have had similar experience with DTDC and found that their prices are inflated and there is no benefit of express delivery ...

# me too! Sometime in the early 2000s I had booked an express delivery from BLR to Coonoor with DTDC that took almost 10 days to reach! Of course, there was no refund for the extra charge for "express delivery", not even an apology! I had learnt my lesson, and no one in my family has ever used DTDC since. Given the option, I also keep on requesting "no DTDC please" for incoming things to this day.

Speed Post ... are always on time ... Its a perception thing...

Yes, it's a "perception thing"! I, for one, strongly believe that "Speed Post" is a misnomer, because they are never speedy! Recently I was close to requesting cancellation of a cheque book that was stuck at the same location for several days after the fourth day (as per tracking). I eventually received it on the 10th day! I refrained from cancelling the cheques only after talking to my local postmaster and learning that because the government had mandated priority delivery of lakhs of some kind of special letters, all regular postal deliveries were put on hold until that was done! So much for "Speed Post"!
.

[Rahul Rao]

I have to ship items to my sites all over Western India and parts of Northern India as well. I have minimum trust for these transport and courier aggregates.
Worst is Rivigo followed by DTDC and Gati. least trouble is VRL whose only regular fault is delay.

It's always best to find a family owned trucking firm which does only end to end service between two cities and ship your things with them.
I've found daily weekly bi weekly services by such truckers to almost every corner of the country. For north there are daily Pune Gurgaon , Pune Ludhiyana and Pune jammu services. A weekly Pune Solan too,
Enquire a bit and you will get contacts.


Rahul

[rpmmachine]

I am writing to share my experience with the DTDC courier service provider in my local area Jalandhar (Bhogpur, Jalandhar). The local representative, who is a partner with DTDC, does not deliver the courier to the home address and instead insists that customers pick up their parcels from the office. This has occurred to me at least 5-6 times. If I decline to pick up the parcel, he claims to be busy for the next 2 days, delaying the delivery by 2-3 days. While this may be acceptable for someone like me, I've observed many elderly individuals who come to collect their couriers. It's disheartening to see them pay for a service and then face inconvenience due to individuals exploiting the system for personal gain.
The person managing the DTDC office locally was very rude when I requested home delivery. It is his responsibility to deliver the products to the designated addresses, or else customers might consider choosing another courier service provider. Although I have found DTDC to be fast and efficient, this particular experience makes it seem like DTDC is losing potential business. DTDC should consider implementing a call-based feedback system for all customers or devise other solutions to address issues like this. I have lodged complaints twice, but the customer care has not been helpful. The most recent complaint was logged today with ticket number 10504969. The customer care team lacks the knowledge to resolve the problem and tends to dismiss the issue once the courier is delivered.
Certain couriers, especially documents, are crucial, and people do not want to risk leaving them in the DTDC office. Knowing that they have been received by the local office, individuals prefer to pick them up directly. Despite DTDC having a vast network, a few individuals like the aforementioned representative tarnish the system and prevent the general public from benefiting.
Has anyone else experienced a similar problem, or does anyone have suggestions for finding a solution to this specific issue?

[b_naresh]

I have had very bad experience with DTDC in Baner, Pune. There have been 2 ocassions when the courier didn't call us to inform about delivery. In the first instance, it was a bank letter we lost. He claimed he had left it at the security desk. Security allows courier documents to be home delivered so there was no need to drop it at the security desk and not even inform us on phone. Makes me think they misplaced it and were simply making an excuse. In the second case, the delivery guy didn't deliver at home, didn't call us and put the parcel in the letter box. Next day we had to make frantic phone calls to the courier office where they managed to talk to the delivery guy and informed us that he had put it in the letter box.
I stopped using DTDC after the first incident itself.

[pranavt]

Sending anything expensive via DTDC is like playing Russian Roulette with 5 bullets instead of 1. For shipments, if you truely value the contents, send them via Blue Dart (or DHL, if international), expensive as it may be. Other methods like sending via the bus network (go to your local outstation bus stand/hub) or through trucking companies is usually safe too, but they will not do last-mile delivery, so someone at the other end needs to go and pick up the consignment. Courier companies are mostly awful the world over, with maybe a couple of exceptions.

If insurance is available, it is a no-brainer to avail of it. And those thin-walled boxes in the original post are not fit to contain the valuable shipment that was in them. Packing items to survive a journey via courier is a lesson in "anything worth doing is worth overdoing."

Did anything ever come of the FIR that the OP mentioned?