My blog post on September 03, 2013, Is this how a bank should treat a customer? was about squash player Dipika Pallikal having sued Axis Bank Limited seeking Rs. 10 lakhs as compensation for the humiliation and loss of reputation she suffered during one of her overseas trips in 2011 after her debit card declined a transaction despite sufficient balance in her account.
My blog post on September 19, 2013 Axis Bank apologises was about Axis Bank’s apology for their remarks that “The very fact that the complainant is not able to take the slightest disturbance would prove that she lacks the requisite mental toughness of a world champion. She is only making excuses for her non-performance …” The Times of India reported this in detail on September 12, 2013, also stating that “Dipika still intends to pursue a case of ‘deficiency in service’ against the bank ‘on principle.’”
Since then, I had been regularly checking newspapers and internet for updates about the case in the Chennai (South) District Consumer Redressal Forum. For over a year, I did not get any updates. On Saturday last, my Google search led me to an NDTV report dated March 24, 2014 stating that “the consumer court ordered the bank to pay a compensation of Rs. 500,000 to Pallikal as well as Rs. 5,000 towards costs.”
After reading this report, I sent a message to Dipika Pallikal’s lawyer, Sanjay Pinto, to ask whether Axis Bank paid the compensation, or whether they have appealed against the verdict.
Mr. Pinto replied, “The bank paid the compensation ordered by the court. As the matter stands resolved, we do not wish to make any comment.”
I hope this entire episode encourages every consumer in India to fight for her/his rights.
I also hope that every service provider and product supplier realizes that a genuine attempt to resolve a customer’s grievance can save them considerable expense and bad publicity.
Proactive Indian 
Thanks Proactive Indian for the active follow up to create better awareness.
This is a clear case of an alert consumer standing up for her rights that needs to be emulated by others.
Absolutely, Nagesh! Every customer must stand up for his/her rights.
Whoa! This is fresh! 😀 .. I had no idea that a bank could be sued for such a high amount. This is pretty neat 🙂
Vinay, the amount is secondary. What matters is a customer fought for her rights and won! Every customer must stand up for his/her rights.
My gosh! Can we really do this?
Why can’t you write another post stating ‘How to file a complaint on consumer forum’, Proactive Indian? I am sure most of the Indians is not aware of this thing so if you can help us out with this, it will be of great help for your fellow Indians.
Thank you for the suggestion, Gowtham! I’ll try to get sufficient information to write such a ‘How to …’ post.
Interesting! While I am impressed that the consumer court ordered the bank to pay, I am even more impressed that you keep on checking the progress of such matters. Hats off to your proactive attitude! And I mean it in all seriousness. Way to go!
Thank you for your kind words, Beloo. I like to see these things through to their conclusion. In fact, I was thinking of writing to the newspapers asking them why the matter featured on their front pages one year back had not been followed up. Thankfully, I didn’t write to them; I would have ended up with egg on my face!
Good that she fought for her case. Thanks for sharing too, gives me some hope.
I am still figting with ICICI. They want me to pay for three fraud transactions that happened on my credit card 2 years ago. Now they have started adding late fees too even though I have repeatedly told them to investigate it again. Why is it so difficult to get things done!! Frustrating!
They generally do this to make you sick of the whole thing and give up. What was the approximate amount involved in these three fraud transactions?
Yay for her! 🙂 Thanks for the update!
And happy Deepavali to you and your loved ones!
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