Consumer Complaint Notice

What this document contains

5 clauses every consumer complaint notice carries, plus 4 you can add.

1. 01

   Who the notice is from and to

   The head of the notice: the place and date it bears, who it issues from, and everyone it is addressed to. Recipients are entered here rather than through the party picker — a notice is served on its recipients, not agreed with them, and the Sender is its only signatory.

2. 02

   Subject

   The one line a recipient reads first, and the line the notice is later found by in a file. Written by the Sender rather than composed from the facts — those live on other clauses, and a clause cannot read another clause's data.

3. 03

   What was bought

   The purchase the complaint arises from — what, when, from whom, for how much. The Act protects a consumer, and this is what establishes that the Sender is one.

4. 04

   What is wrong

   The Sender's own account of the problem, framed as the Act frames it: a defect in goods, or a deficiency in service. Those are the Act's two categories and they are not interchangeable — a service problem described as a defect has been mischaracterised.

5. 05

   What is wanted, and by when

   What the Sender is asking the Recipient to do, and how long they are allowing. The relief is the Sender's choice from what the Act contemplates; the period is the Sender's own, since the Act prescribes none for a notice it does not require.

Optional clauses

• What was already tried

  The complaints already made to the Recipient and what came of them. Optional, because some notices are the first approach — but a record of being fobbed off is often the most persuasive part of the document.

  Worth adding when: the sender has already complained to the trader

• What the Sender intends if this notice is not complied with

  The paragraph a notice conventionally ends with, in which the Sender says what they intend if it is not complied with. Optional, and never added automatically: whether to say anything at all is the Sender's decision. Where the Sender has words of their own they are used verbatim; where they have none, a neutral closing sentence is rendered that names no remedy and predicts no outcome.

  Worth adding when: the sender has said what they intend to do if the notice is not complied with

• Enclosures

  The documents sent with the notice. Optional, because many notices enclose nothing.

  Worth adding when: the sender is sending documents along with the notice

• Custom Clause

  A free-form clause for bespoke provisions not covered by standard clauses. Use clauseId 'custom-clause-1', 'custom-clause-2', etc. to add multiple. The LLM provides clauseTitle and clauseBody. Use the sequence parameter to control placement.

What the law requires

This notice is not required

The Consumer Protection Act 2019 does not make a notice a precondition to a complaint. A consumer may approach a Consumer Commission directly. Sending a notice first is a convention: it gives the other side an opportunity to put the matter right, and it produces a dated record of what was complained of and when.

Consumer Protection Act 2019, s. 35 (manner in which complaint shall be made)

When a period begins to run

A period running from receipt and a period running from the date of the notice count different things. Where a document is sent by post, service is deemed to be effected at the time the letter would be delivered in the ordinary course of post, unless the contrary is proved.

General Clauses Act 1897, s. 27

Stamp duty

The Indian Stamp Act charges the instruments listed in its Schedule. A notice is not among them: it creates no right, transfers no property and records no bargain.

Indian Stamp Act 1899, s. 3 and Sch. I

Defect and deficiency are different things

The Act defines a defect as a fault or shortcoming in the quality or standard of goods, and a deficiency as a shortfall in the quality or manner of performance of a service. A complaint is framed as one or the other according to what was bought, and the distinction carries through to the relief that may be ordered.

Consumer Protection Act 2019, s. 2 (definitions)

What a Commission may order

Where a complaint is made out, a District Commission may order the goods to be repaired or replaced, the price to be refunded, compensation to be paid for loss or injury, an unfair trade practice to be discontinued, or costs to be awarded. What relief a consumer asks for in a notice does not bind what a Commission may order.

Consumer Protection Act 2019, s. 39

Where a complaint goes, and by when

Complaints are filed before the District, State or National Commission according to the value of the consideration paid, and the Act fixes a period from the date on which the cause of action arises within which a complaint must be filed. A Commission may admit a later complaint where it is satisfied there was sufficient cause for the delay.

Consumer Protection Act 2019, ss. 34, 47, 58 and 69

Online purchases have their own machinery

Where the purchase was made through an e-commerce platform, the E-Commerce Rules require the entity to maintain grievance redressal machinery and to appoint a grievance officer. Which of the platform and the seller a notice should be addressed to depends on how the sale was structured.

Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules 2020