Submitted by: Afrin Daruwala
Complaint Details:
In the year 2016 in the month of December, I bought 3 consumer durable products with finance from Bajaj Finserv. I had not thought about getting the finance from Bajaj Finserv, but since I already had a Gold member card with enough balance and just because the store representative convinced me to buy the products through Bajaj Finserv, as their EMI would start after two months of purchase, I did.
Fast forward to two months later, when the first EMI was due. I had just got married, was jobless and there was no money in my bank account. I asked the Bajaj Finserv representative to collect the EMI from me in cash. They promptly did this for a few months. This was the first time I was facing such a situation and had no idea about what ECS return is. While I was paying the EMI on time, I was being fined with ECS return charges thrice every month, for every account. I had three accounts for three products, that is, I was being fined 9 times in a month.
My mistake was that I ignored these messages. I should have paid more attention. When I finally did question the representative why was I being charged ECS return fine, he told me to stop ECS payment as I was paying in cash, something he forgot to tell me in the start, which he bloody should have. It was their duty to inform me. As a consumer, I cannot read every T&C, rules & policies.
However, I finally called my bank and asked them to stop ECS payment, but by then my account was already in lien of Rs. 15, 000/-. Again, I wasn’t informed of this. This time, my bank was at fault. 3 months later, when I finally got my salary, the ECS due amount of 15, 000 was immediately deducted from my account.
I complained about this to the bank, to Bajaj Finserv, visited them multiple times, and after they had made me run back and forth multiple times with no solution, I gave up on my hard earned money. The bank said, it was Bajaj’s fault. Bajaj said, I should ask refund from bank.
Now coming forward, I paid all my EMIs on time for all three products. I lost 15000/- to dues, and as if that wasn’t enough, I was still being fined ECS return charges, and had to pay additional Rs. 5000/- to close the accounts. It turns out the accounts haven’t actually been closed and I am still being charged with ECS return charges, even after asking the bank to stop ECS payment. And I still get ECS return charges messages and Bajaj Finserv executive just called me to pay additional Rs. 2500/- to close the account and get NOC.
This is sheer cheating and harassment which I have been facing for last 2 years. Don’t just force Bajaj Finserv finance on consumers, and if you do, make them understand all the cons, just like you inform the pros of dealing with Bajaj. For buying three products from Bajaj Finserv, I have paid for five products. And to add to that, I have had to face issues with my family members who keep taunting me every time I get a call from Bajaj Finserv.
I demand a refund of all the lost money, of which I have bank statements as proof, email communication and messages too.