Consumer court pulls up internet provider over repeated outages, awards Rs 10,000 to customer
NEW DELHI: A district consumer commission in Himachal Pradesh has ordered Reliance JioFiber to pay Rs 10,000 in compensation to a Shimla woman after finding that repeated internet service disruptions went unresolved despite multiple complaints. In its July 21 order, the commission held the company guilty of deficiency in service and unfair trade practice and directed it to restore the consumer’s internet connection without any additional charges.How did the internet outage dispute begin?According to the commission’s order, the complainant recharged her JioFiber connection on March 2, 2025, by paying Rs 2,824.92 for a six-month plan. She said she used the internet connection for academic work and other daily needs.The internet service stopped working on April 9, following which she lodged an online complaint. She claimed the complaint was marked as resolved even though the problem continued. A company representative later visited her house, found that the fibre cable was broken and assured her it would be replaced within a few minutes. However, according to the complaint, he never returned.The woman alleged that she continued to raise complaints over the next few days and was repeatedly told that the issue would be resolved. She also said another technician was assigned to her complaint but never visited her home. Since the internet connection remained disrupted despite several complaints, she approached the consumer commission.JioFiber argued that the complainant herself had cancelled some of the service requests without waiting for them to be resolved. It also claimed that the issue had eventually been fixed and that she was continuing to use the connection without interruption.What did the consumer court say about repeated internet outages?The bench comprising President Dr. Baldev Singh and Member Nidhi Sharma noted that there was no dispute that the complainant had repeatedly reported interruptions in her JioFiber service. They said it was for the company to prove that it had actually resolved her complaints.“Hence, it is for the OP to prove through evidence on record that the OP has redressed the grievance of complainant,” the commission observed.The commission found that JioFiber relied only on an affidavit from its state finance head and records showing that complaints had been closed. However, it said the company failed to produce any technical evidence or an affidavit from the engineer who allegedly visited the complainant’s house to establish that the fault had actually been fixed.“The affidavit of Mr. Yash Mittal, State Finance Head coupled with document Annexure R-1 is not sufficient to prove the plea of defence taken by the OP that the grievance of complainant was redressed by the OP, reason being that the OP has to prove its plea of defence through some documentary evidence or by way of affidavit of technical person, who visited the house of complainant for resolving the issue, but no such evidence has been adduced on behalf of OP to prove its plea of defence,” the commission further observed.Holding that the company had failed to prove it had resolved the consumer’s grievance, the commission concluded that the repeated internet disruptions amounted to deficiency in service and an unfair trade practice. It also noted that despite paying for a six-month plan, the complainant could not use the internet services she had paid for.“The complainant through evidence on record has been able to prove the deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of OP… In other words, the complainant could not use the services of Jio Fiber, for which, she had made the payment.”The commission directed JioFiber to restore the complainant’s internet connection free of charge so that she could use the service without interruption. It also ordered the company to pay Rs 10,000 as a lump-sum amount towards mental harassment, agony and litigation expenses within 45 days.
