With the pandemic allowing many people the flexibility of working from home, many are relocating to their hometowns from cities like Bengaluru.
But while they are availing of the services of a packers and movers, the consequences have been catastrophic for many.
Several citizens are being cheated by these firms, some of whom are trying to extort more money, while others are simply refusing to deliver the goods, citing reasons like the pandemic and lockdown.
In many of these cases, the aggrieved customers are confused over whether they should approach the police or consumer forum.
This is the case of a 32-year-old software engineer employed at an MNC in Bengaluru who, in September 28 last year, decided to shift to his hometown in Bhagalpur, Bihar.
Rajneesh had been working for almost six years in the City and soon after the first lockdown ended, he decided to move into his newly built house in Bihar to save the rent by working from home.
Rajneesh searched online and shortlisted a company called Assure Packers and Movers who responded immediately and promised to relocate his belongings from Bengaluru to Bhagalpur for Rs 38,000.
Rajneesh accordingly paid the company through a digital payment app.
After his belongings worth around Rs 5 lakh was loaded on to a Tata 407, he and his wife drove to their hometown.
But little did Rajneesh know that it was just the beginning of a months-long ordeal.
“It has been nine months since the packers and movers have not delivered my belongings,” Rajneesh told Bangalore Mirror.
Whenever he tried contacted the firm’s contact person Akshay Naik, Naik would give some flimsy excuse citing the pandemic and lockdown and kept assuring him that his items would be delivered soon.
(function()palm/i.test(navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase()));
if(mobile){
var div = document.getElementsByClassName(vidads)[0].childNodes[0];
div.setAttribute(“data-slot”,”323283″)
var idattr = div.getAttribute(“id”).replace(“323272″,”323283”)
div.setAttribute(“id”,idattr);
}
)();

~name~~brandtext~

var hideAds = function($containerElem){
if($containerElem && $containerElem.length != 0){
$($containerElem[0].parentNode.parentNode).hide();
}

After almost five months, Rajneesh gave Naik an ultimatum, but when he still did not deliver, Rajneesh sent e-mails to the Bengaluru City police who asked him to file an e-mail complaint in detail.
The e-mail was also forwarded to ACP of Sampigehalli, and DCP northeast, but Rajneesh did not hear from them even after repeated reminders.
He then sent a complaint to the National Consumer Portal online and shared the notice with the firm who replied immediately, stating that they would deliver the items by April 30, after which, the National Consumer Portal closed the case.
But even after a couple of months, it was not delivered, according to Rajneesh.
“When I again escalated the matter, I was told to approach the district consumer forum if the worth of the items was less than Rs 20 lakh.
If the worth was greater than Rs 20 lakh and less than Rs 1 crore, I could approach the state consumer forum and if it was more than Rs 1 crore, one had to file an online case with the National Consumer Forum,” said Rajneesh.
That was not the end of the software engineer’s troubles.
Rajneesh tested positive for covid in May this year, and was stuck in Bhagalpur for more than two months.
He is now unsure if he will ever get his household goods back as Naik recently told him that the items were stuck in transit somewhere at a godown in Balasore in Odisha.
A senior police officer told Bangalore Mirror that the aggrieved party could either approach the district consumer forum or file a complaint with the jurisdictional police.
“In this case, since the staff had not demanded more money from the customer, the firm could be given some time, but certainly not nine months,” the officer said.
“The police can take up a case of cheating against the firm and its staff responsible for the transaction and ensure that the case reaches a logical and reasonable conclusion,” he added.
When Bangalore Mirror reached out to Akshay Naik of Assure Packers and Movers, he said: “The delay was due to covid and the customer’s destination point was more difficult to reach as it is not a city.
It got further delayed as there were deaths in my family also due to covid, and we have assured the customer that his items will be delivered by July 15.”
These citizens also suffered a similar fate
A software engineer, 31, was duped of his car worth Rs 11 lakh after he gave it to a packers and movers firm for shifting it from Bengaluru to his hometown in Balasore in Odisha in the last week of April this year.
While moving from Pune to Bengaluru, Swati Dangi, 29, engaged a packers and movers company to shift her belongings in March last year.
Dangi is still clueless about the whereabouts of her prized possession: a Hyundai Verna Fludic worth Rs 15 lakh.
Jayson Daniel Menezes, 31, a resident of Singasandra, wanted to transport his bike, a Royal Enfield Bullet, to his parents staying in Mangaluru and found a packers and movers firm in Nelamangala that promised to shift his bike for Rs 4,800.
But when they sent him another receipt of Rs 11,682 for the transit insurance, he reluctantly paid up, but even after paying, his bike was not delivered.
The firm kept telling him the bike was stuck at a godown in Mysuru.
Menezes then filed a police complaint.