How to File a Consumer Complaint in India

What to do before you file: the company notice

This step is a recommendation, not a requirement. Section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 lets a qualifying complainant file directly with the Consumer Commission, and the company's own customer care, grievance officer or nodal desk is not a statutory gate in front of that right. It is worth doing all the same: the commission is an adjudicating forum, and one of the first things it looks for is what the company said when you asked. A complaint with no prior written demand gives the opposite party an easy opening submission.

The written demand also does something more useful: it forces the company to commit to a position. Whatever it says — a refusal, a partial offer, or nothing at all — becomes part of your record, and every subsequent forum reads it.

1. 1Identify the right recipient. For most companies that is the Grievance Redressal Officer or Nodal Officer; for an e-commerce entity, the Grievance Officer whose name and contact must be displayed on the site under the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020.
2. 2Set out the transaction: date, amount, invoice or order number, what was promised and what was delivered.
3. 3List the steps you have already taken, with every ticket number and its date.
4. 4State the relief in figures — refund, replacement, or compensation — rather than in words like "appropriate action".
5. 5Give a deadline. Fifteen days is the convention, and it is what commissions are used to seeing.
6. 6Say what you will do next if the deadline passes, naming the National Consumer Helpline and the District Commission.
7. 7Send it by email and by Speed Post with Registration and Proof of Delivery, and keep the booking receipt and the proof of delivery.

The four routes open to you, and when each is worth taking

People tend to treat "consumer court" as the only option, and then abandon the complaint when it sounds like too much work. In practice three of the four routes cost nothing, take under an hour, and resolve a large share of ordinary disputes.

Which consumer commission has jurisdiction over your complaint

Two questions decide where you file. The first is pecuniary jurisdiction, fixed by the Consumer Protection (Jurisdiction…) Rules, 2021, and measured by the value of the goods or services paid as consideration — that is, what you paid, not what you are claiming. The Supreme Court has confirmed this reading, and it catches out complainants who add a large mental-agony figure and assume it lifts them into the State Commission.

The second is territorial jurisdiction. Under the 2019 Act you can file where the opposite party resides or carries on business, where the cause of action arose, or where you reside or personally work for gain. That last limb is the change most worth knowing — you do not have to travel to a company's registered office to sue it.

Filing on e-Jagriti, step by step

e-Jagriti is the official online filing portal for consumer commissions across India, run by the Department of Consumer Affairs. It went live on 1 January 2025 and absorbed the portals that came before it — eDaakhil, OCMS, CONFONET and the NCDRC case management system — into one interface. If a guide still tells you to file at eDaakhil, it predates that change; e-jagriti.gov.in is where a consumer complaint is filed today.

It is free to register, accepts documents in PDF, and issues a case number once the filing is accepted. The interface is functional rather than friendly, and most rejections are for avoidable formatting reasons rather than the merits.

1. 1Register at e-jagriti.gov.in with your email and mobile, and verify both. Use an email you will keep checking — all notices go there.
2. 2Choose "Consumer Complaint" and select the correct State, District and Commission. Select on the basis of the consideration paid, not the compensation claimed.
3. 3Enter the complainant details exactly as they appear on your identity document, and the opposite party's full registered name and registered office address — not a brand name or a store name.
4. 4Enter the claim amount and upload the index of documents, the complaint, the affidavit and the annexures. Number and label every annexure so the index matches.
5. 5Attach the prior notice to the company and its reply or the proof of non-response. This is what establishes the cause of action.
6. 6Pay the fee online if any is payable. Nothing is payable where the consideration was up to ₹5 lakh.
7. 7Submit and record the filing number. The Commission scrutinises the filing and either accepts it, or raises a defect that you must cure.
8. 8Watch for the notice of the first hearing. Hearings may be in person or by video conference, and non-appearance is the fastest way to lose a good case.

Drafting the prayer clause: what you can actually ask for

The prayer clause is the operative part of the complaint. A commission awards from it, and it cannot award what is not there. Complaints drafted by consumers themselves very often ask only for the refund and then feel short-changed by an order that gives only the refund.

• The principal relief, quantified: refund of ₹X, or replacement of the goods, or completion of the service.
• Interest on that sum from the date it fell due until realisation, at a stated rate.
• Compensation for deficiency in service and for mental agony and harassment, as a stated figure.
• Documented consequential loss — a replacement bought at a higher price, wasted travel, a cancelled booking.
• Costs of litigation, including what preparation and filing cost you.
• Any other relief the Commission deems fit — the standard residual clause, which lets the bench give you something you did not think to ask for.

Time limits: the two-year rule and how it is counted

A consumer complaint must be filed within two years from the date on which the cause of action arose. The cause of action is not the date of purchase — it is the date the deficiency crystallised: the refusal, the failed delivery, the rejection of the claim, or the expiry of the period the company gave itself to resolve it.

A commission may admit a complaint after two years if you satisfy it that you had sufficient cause for not filing in time, but this requires a separate condonation application setting out the reason. It is granted often enough to be worth trying and refused often enough that you should never rely on it.

Do you need a lawyer, and what does the process actually cost?

The Consumer Protection Act was drafted so that a consumer could appear in person, and commissions are used to unrepresented complainants. For a straightforward documentary case — a refund refused despite an invoice and a written demand — self-representation is realistic and keeps the cost at effectively zero.

Representation earns its keep in three situations: where the facts are genuinely disputed and evidence has to be tested; where the claim is large enough that the opposite party will litigate seriously; and in medical negligence, where expert evidence is usually indispensable.

• Filing fee: nil up to ₹5 lakh consideration, and never more than ₹1,000 within the District Commission range.
• Registration on e-Jagriti, the National Consumer Helpline and every sector ombudsman: free.
• Printing, postage and notarisation of the affidavit: usually a few hundred rupees.
• Advocate's fee: entirely a matter of private negotiation, and recoverable in part if the Commission awards costs.
• Free legal aid is available through District Legal Services Authorities for those who qualify under the Legal Services Authorities Act.

How long a consumer case takes, and what happens at each stage

The Act directs commissions to decide a complaint within 90 days, or 150 days where the goods must be analysed or tested. Real timelines vary widely by district and by how hard the opposite party fights. What is predictable is the sequence.

1. 1Filing and scrutiny. The Commission examines the complaint for jurisdiction, limitation and completeness, and either admits it or raises defects.
2. 2Admission and notice. Once admitted, notice issues to the opposite party, usually returnable in 30 days.
3. 3Written version. The opposite party files its reply. Failure to file within the permitted period can result in the right being closed.
4. 4Evidence by affidavit. Both sides file evidence on affidavit with their documents. This is where a well-indexed annexure bundle pays off.
5. 5Arguments. Short oral submissions, often on a single date, sometimes by video conference.
6. 6Order. If it goes your way, the order specifies the amount, the time to comply, and interest. Non-compliance can be executed against the opposite party.
7. 7Appeal. An appeal against a District Commission order lies to the State Commission within 45 days.

Why self-filed consumer complaints get rejected

• Filed in the wrong commission because the compensation claimed, not the consideration paid, was used to pick the forum.
• No dated written complaint to the company — not a bar to filing under s. 35, but it leaves the deficiency and the refusal undocumented on the record the commission reads.
• Filed beyond two years with no condonation application.
• The opposite party is named by brand or store name rather than by its full registered name and registered office address.
• Annexures not indexed or not matching the index, so the Commission cannot follow the record.
• The prayer clause asks only for a refund, so nothing else can be awarded.
• The complainant is not a "consumer" for the purpose — goods bought for resale or for a commercial purpose fall outside, subject to the self-employment exception.
• Non-appearance on a hearing date, leading to dismissal for default.

Worked examples