I am writing to complain about the extremely unhelpful and unprofessional staff at the Ramtekdi Section Office (Hadapsar Sub Dn 1) who are not making any effort to solve our problem.
Our flat was lying vacant from 29 September 2020 to 10 May 2023 ( 2 years 8months) and the main electricity supply in our house + the building’s meter room was switched off during this period. we even left a sign on our meter downstairs saying we were out of town.
From Sept 2020 till July 2022 we received fair ‘no use’ charges against our bills.
Then Suddenly from Aug 2022 we started receiving very high bills between the amounts Rs2000/- to Rs3000/-even though flat was lying vacant and we were not in the country and meter was not in use. MSEB people assigned the meter ‘faulty’ and we were forced to pay the bill from outside the country because :
1. the customer care service were not forwarding our complaint about the faulty meter to the concerned people who have to take action (asking us to do this in person ourselves) and the app or website has no option to report this ourselves.
2. We were forced to pay the high bills then to prevent the MSEB board from cutting off the electricity supply
After arriving on May 11, 2023, I have visited the Ramtekdi section office more than 5-6 times to officially report the meter faulty and ask them to adjust the amount for the period of no use plus to ask for a new meter. Officials there are simply making to run around and waste time unnecessarily instead of replacing with a new meter. They are also not adjusting the high bills paid for the period of no use.
The Assistant Engineer there R. Khattare along with the madam in his office there are. particularly unhelpful and seem not interested in helping consumers at all. Too much bureaucracy and making the customer run around . They are refusing to even accept the point that our flat was lying vacant and meter was not in use (even if faulty in the meantime they should be considering that no electricity was being used in a vacant flat which can justify these exorbitant charges ). Both are simply making to run around back and forth from their office over several trips saying Mr Rasal who did the meter inspection will adjust the amount. However Mr Rasal has also refused to adjust the amount on the current bill saying meter is faulty and asked to buy the meter from an outside shop without providing names of any approved dealers.
So far all MSEB officials at the section office seem least bothered to provide a solution that is fair to us and that takes into account our grievances.
Hand written application has already been submitted to Mr Khattare’s office and they are still not committing to replace the meter for us or offering any date by which they will replace the meter either- just demanding that we continue to settle the very high bill every month.
Extremely callous mentality by these officials who do not understand how the customer is suffering by having to pay such ridiculously high bills.
Prior to the faulty bills our bills never exceeded more than Rs800-Rs1000/- when in use. Now bills average between Rs[protected]/- every month irrespective of whether meter is in use or premises are vacant.
Kindly take the following actions:
1. Provide a new meter on priority basis as have already been paying very high bills for over 9 months now
2. Adjust the current outstanding and high bill to compensate for the high bills we have paid while not in the country
3. Make procedures transparent and visible. Consumer should be able to report faulty meters or bring things to the attention of the section office via the app or website too without having to waste precious time and visit in person
4. Provide communication/contact numbers of the officials at the section offices and make this visible to customers. There is no way currently to reach the section offices other than by visiting in person and it seems to take over 10 trips to get anything addressed by the officials because no one there seems in agreement with the procedures and are busy contradicting one another and every person you talk to will say a different thing only with the intention if dragging things endlessly.
5. Educate the officials on how to deal with customers and their complaints instead of just being rude and dismissive. There appears to be zero accountability and no regard for providing any solution for the consumers other than to exploit them further.
6. Customer Care service on telephone/app /email needs to actually address complaints meaningfully instead of just randomly closing all complaints saying solution is reached when no solution has been provided.
7. End the bureaucracy and stop making solutions so complicated
8. If there is non availability of meter, contact details should be provided by section office of outside approved/ authorized dealers who can supply with an approved new meter so that consumers don’t get cheated on this and steps must be taken to replace faulty meters with new meters within 2-3 months maximum instead of creating financial burden on consumers
Thank you.
Consumer no.[protected]
Joseph Vanreyk
Pune
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