Consumer Complaint
Evidence Checklists
Interactive checklists showing exactly which documents to gather before filing a consumer complaint — RERA/builder, UPI fraud, banking, airline refund, Amazon/Flipkart, and medical negligence.
Every consumer complaint in India stands on four kinds of document: proof that you are the consumer, proof of what you paid, proof of what went wrong, and proof that you asked the other side to fix it and they did not. Assemble all four before you write anything. Incomplete evidence — not weak facts — is the commonest reason a consumer complaint is dismissed or settled far below its value.
Key takeaways
- Build the file before you draft. A complaint written first and evidenced later usually describes the wrong things.
- The four categories are identity, payment, the defect, and the demand-and-refusal. A gap in any one of them is where the other side will aim.
- Documents the other side controls — medical records, quality-check reports, refund reference numbers, fare break-ups — must be requested in writing, early, and their refusal recorded.
- Evidence created at the moment of the transaction (an unboxing video, a move-in photograph, a meter reading) is worth more than anything you can assemble afterwards.
- Index and label your annexures. A commission that cannot follow the file cannot rely on it.
Choose Your Complaint Type
RERA / Builder Complaint
Every document you need to file a RERA complaint against a builder for delay, defects, or misrepresentation
UPI / Online Fraud
Complete evidence list for UPI fraud, online scam, phishing, and cybercrime complaints
Medical Negligence
Evidence required to file a medical negligence complaint before consumer court, MCI/NMC, or State Medical Council
Amazon / Flipkart Refund
Every document needed to escalate an Amazon or Flipkart refund complaint to consumer court or NCH
Banking Complaint
Complete document checklist for bank complaints — failed transactions, fraud, charges, loan disputes
Airline Refund
Complete evidence list for airline refund, cancellation compensation, and denied boarding complaints
How These Checklists Work
Each checklist is interactive — check off items as you gather them.
Items marked "required" are essential for your complaint to be admitted. Optional items strengthen your case.
A progress bar shows your readiness to file — aim for 100% required items before filing.
Once you have your documents, use GetNyay's AI to draft the complaint letter using your specific facts.
The four categories every consumer complaint needs
Whatever the sector, a consumer complaint in India is proved the same way. The specific documents differ — a discharge summary in a medical case, a UTR in a payment case, an agreement for sale in a builder case — but the four categories do not.
Reading your own file against these four before you draft is the fastest way to find the gap the other side will aim at.
| Category | What it establishes | Typical documents |
|---|---|---|
| You are a consumer | That you bought the goods or hired the service for consideration, for your own use | Identity proof, the invoice or booking in your name, the policy or agreement naming you |
| What you paid | The consideration, which also fixes which commission has jurisdiction | Invoice, receipt, bank statement, card statement, UPI reference, payment schedule |
| What went wrong | The deficiency in service or the defect in goods | Photographs, video, reports, medical records, meter readings, listing screenshots, expert opinion |
| That you asked and they refused | The cause of action, and that you are not before the forum prematurely | Written complaint, ticket numbers, the reply or proof of no reply, Speed Post booking receipt and proof of delivery |
The fourth category is the one self-filed complaints most often lack. A commission wants to see that the company was given a chance and did not take it — and it wants to see it on paper, with dates.
A company that never replied is often in a worse position than one that refused for a reason. But that only works if you can show the complaint was actually served: a dated screenshot of an unanswered ticket, an email with a timestamp, and a Speed Post with Registration proof of delivery.
The evidence that has to be created at the moment, not afterwards
A small number of documents can only be created at the time of the transaction or the incident, and they are almost always the ones that decide the case. If you are reading this before a dispute has started, this is the section to act on.
- An unboxing video, continuous and unedited, starting before the seal is broken and showing the shipping label — for anything bought online.
- Move-in and move-out photographs of a rented property, with the meters, sent to the landlord the same day so the timestamp is independently fixed.
- A Property Irregularity Report obtained at the airport baggage desk before you leave the terminal.
- A dated screenshot of a listing, a fare break-up, or a project page on a RERA portal — all of which are edited over time.
- A meter photograph with the serial number and the reading visible, taken monthly while a billing dispute runs.
- The original bank SMS or app alert for a disputed transaction, which is what a reporting deadline runs from.
- A written complaint made on the spot — at the hotel, at the hospital, at the counter — with the reply.
A photograph on your own phone can be argued about. The same photograph emailed or messaged to the counterparty on the day it was taken has a timestamp neither side controls. It costs nothing and it removes an entire category of argument.
Getting the documents the other side controls
Several of the most decisive documents in a consumer dispute are held by the party you are complaining about. They are obtainable, but only if you ask in writing, early, and record the refusal when it comes.
| Sector | Ask for | If refused |
|---|---|---|
| Medical | The complete medical records, itemised | They must be issued within 72 hours of a written request under the Code of Medical Ethics; refusal is professional misconduct and is itself a complaint to the State Medical Council |
| E-commerce | The ARN, RRN or UTR of a refund said to have been processed, and any quality-check report behind a rejected return | A refund with no reference has not been pushed to the payment network; a rejection with no report is a conclusion without evidence |
| Airline | The fare break-up separating basic fare, fuel charge, taxes and airport levies | Without it the airline can characterise the whole fare as non-refundable; with it, the refundable components are arithmetic |
| Banking | Evidence of when and to what number the transaction alert was delivered | Reporting deadlines run from that communication, so its absence shifts the argument toward the bank |
| Insurance | The rejection in writing with the ground and the clause relied on | A verbal repudiation cannot be answered or escalated; ask for it and treat non-supply as a failure to redress |
| Builder | The Occupancy Certificate covering your tower, before accepting possession | An offer of possession without a valid OC is generally not a valid offer of possession |
A plain request for records or a reference number is a routine administrative task. The same request inside a letter alleging negligence or fraud becomes a legal one, and files start moving slowly. Make the request separately and first.
Organising the file so a commission can actually use it
A well-evidenced complaint filed as forty unlabelled screenshots is a badly evidenced complaint. Commissions work from an index, and an annexure nobody can locate is an annexure that does not exist.
- 1Number every annexure — Annexure A, B, C — and refer to it by that number in the body of the complaint.
- 2Prepare an index listing each annexure, its description and its page number.
- 3Order the annexures chronologically, so the story reads in sequence.
- 4Combine everything into a single labelled PDF rather than sending loose files.
- 5Where a document is in Hindi or a regional language and the forum works in English, attach a translation.
- 6Keep the originals. Filed copies are copies; the original is what you produce if authenticity is questioned.
- 7Keep a separate folder of everything you sent and the proof that it was sent — receipts, tracking, proof of delivery.
The deadlines that run while you are still collecting
Evidence gathering competes with limitation. Several of these periods are much shorter than people assume, and one of them changed materially in 2026.
| Route | Deadline | Runs from |
|---|---|---|
| Consumer commission complaint | 2 years | The date the cause of action arose |
| RBI Ombudsman (banking) | 30-day wait, then a 90-day window | Expiry of the bank response period, or its last communication |
| Insurance Ombudsman | 1 year | The insurer's rejection of your representation |
| Electricity Ombudsman | 30 days | The CGRF decision, or the expiry of its 60 days |
| Damaged baggage claim | 7 days | The date you received the baggage |
| Delayed baggage claim | 21 days | The date the baggage was placed at your disposal |
| Civil suit for recovery of money | 3 years | The date the money became due |
The Reserve Bank – Integrated Ombudsman Scheme, 2026 came into force on 1 July 2026 and cut the banking window from one year to 90 days. A great deal of guidance still online quotes the old figure.
Send the written complaint to the company as soon as you have the basics. It fixes the demand and starts the escalation, and you can supplement the evidence afterwards. Complaints are far more often lost to delay than to a missing annexure.
More questions about this page
What documents do I need to file a consumer complaint in India?▼
Why do consumer complaints get rejected?▼
Is a WhatsApp screenshot valid evidence?▼
How do I get documents the company is refusing to give me?▼
Do these checklists apply across all states in India?▼
Can I file a consumer complaint without a lawyer?▼
How long do I have to file a consumer complaint?▼
What is the single most valuable piece of evidence in a consumer dispute?▼
Should I send the complaint by email or by post?▼
How should I organise the annexures?▼
Which commission do I file in?▼
Are these checklists legal advice?▼
Official sources checked
The statutes, rules and regulator pages the statements on this page were checked against.
- Deficiency in service, unfair trade practice, and the two-year limitation.
- Consumer Protection (Jurisdiction of the District, State and National Commission) Rules, 2021Pecuniary limits measured by the value of the consideration paid: ₹50 lakh, ₹2 crore.
- Consumer Protection (Consumer Disputes Redressal Commissions) Rules, 2020 — Rule 7, as substituted by G.S.R. 892(E) of 20 December 2022The filing fee slabs. Nil where the consideration paid is up to ₹5 lakh. The 2022 substitution matters: the original 2020 table allocated its slabs against the pre-2021 pecuniary limits, so a table not updated since 2020 puts the right amounts under the wrong commissions.
- The consumer commission filing portal since 1 January 2025, when it absorbed eDaakhil, OCMS, CONFONET and the NCDRC case management system.
- In force 1 July 2026, repealing RB-IOS 2021. 30-day wait, 90-day filing window, ₹30 lakh and ₹3 lakh ceilings.
- ₹50 lakh ceiling; one year from the insurer’s rejection; one month where the insurer does not reply.
- Medical records to be issued within 72 hours of a request. Still operated by the NMC; the 2023 conduct regulations were kept in abeyance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do I need an evidence checklist before filing a consumer complaint?
Consumer forums, regulators, and courts require specific documentary evidence to admit and process your complaint. Incomplete evidence is the most common reason consumer complaints are rejected or weakened at the outset. These checklists identify exactly which documents are required vs. optional for each complaint type — so you file once, correctly.
Are these checklists applicable to all states in India?
The core document requirements for consumer complaints under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 are uniform across India. State-specific variations exist for RERA (each state's RERA authority has slightly different filing forms) and for certain sector regulators. The checklists note where state-specific verification is needed.
Can I use these checklists without a lawyer?
Yes. These checklists are designed for individual consumers filing complaints without legal representation. The Consumer Protection Act, 2019 explicitly allows self-representation before consumer forums at all levels. However, for complex matters (high claim amounts, class action, medical negligence) or if your case is challenged, consulting an advocate is advisable.