Paytm asked to pay Rs 25,000 for crediting money into wrong account

The case dates back to May 2018, when the complainant, Vivek Dixit, a resident of Jubilee Hills added Rs 6,865 into his Paytm account on May 8 and May 10 towards his payment for Quikr. He added this money in two different transactions of Rs 4,359 and Rs 2,506. Then he realized that the money did not get credited to his Quikr account. Both the entries were missed in the Paytm statement but exist in his bank statement.

He added that while making payment to Quikr the complainant opted for Paytm as a payment gateway. Since the complainant's Paytm balance was not enough the system prompted him to add the money on the fly into his Paytm account, and the complainant used net banking to do the same. The money got paid to Quikr but the Paytm transactions did not show that the payment was done.

Afterward, the complainant was not happy with the Quikr product and he requested a refund of his money from Quikr for which the Quikr initiated the refund process and confirmed that the money has been refunded to his Paytm wallet. Surprisingly, the refunded amount did not get credited back to the complainant's account.

When the complainant raised a complaint against Quikr at their service desk they stated that money has been refunded to his wallet and asked him to check the same with Paytm.

From here onwards, the complainant began to realise that there might be a bug in the system which made him lose his money. The complainant raised multiple tickets to Paytm for resolving the issue and every time Paytm closed the ticket with some excuse.

After multiple follow-ups and emails/telephonic discussions, the complainant got a call from some technical executive twice but not from the service desk. "The technical executive told me that the money which I was trying to add to my Paytm wallet got added into someone else Paytm's wallet by the name Sridhar. He also told that he could trace it back by matching the transaction, time, and money to the accounts," said the complainant.

He added that at the same time an exact amount of transaction had happened and the money went into someone else's account. "He clearly mentioned that it is a product bug which they will try to fix and call him later," said the complainant. After that, the complainant made multiple follow-ups to Paytm enquiring about this issue, but he never got an assuring reply from their end which prompted him to file a complaint against Paytm.

The Paytm in its submission said that Paytm checked and informed the customer that in the said transaction the wallet used for the transaction was Paytm wallet account No 9848****** (in the name of Kancherla Sridhar) and not Paytm wallet no. 8099****** (in the name of the complainant) and the said amount has been successfully added into the Paytm wallet registered with mobile no 9848*******.

"If the money has not been added into the wallet of the complainant how come the complainant was able to perform the said transaction on Quikr? Paytm wallet registered with mobile no. 9848****** has successfully added Rs 4,359 on May 8 and Rs 2,506 on May 10. Furthermore, a sum of Rs 3,156 and Rs 4,401 has been refunded by the merchant Quikr into the customer's Paytm wallet account 9848****** on May 14. Hence, the complainant has to place on record material evidence as to how he is the aggrieved party in the present complaint," said the counsel representing Paytm.

Observing the argument, the commission said it is very clear and glaringly being admitted by the Paytm executive that the amount was credited to the account of one Kancherla Sridhar. The complainant is no way related to Sridhar and the amount was paid by the complainant through his registered mobile no. 8099****** which is the same number registered with Quikr. The amount was transferred from the mobile number of the complainant to Paytm whereas the executive of the opposite party had not answered as to how the amount was credited to the account of 9848****** when it was returned from Quikr.

"Paytm is failed to establish their credentials and has also not resolved the issue, except saying cock-and-bull stories. They admitted that the amount was credited to one Kancherla Sridhar's account, but neither sent the money to the complainant's account nor made efforts to resolve the issue which amount to Paytm's deficiency of service that leads to glaring unfair trade practice which is very highhandedness," observed the commission.

The commission asked Paytm to refund an amount of Rs 6,865, pay Rs 1,000 as litigation cost and Pay Rs 25,000 as compensation for the mental agony and trauma caused to the complainant for the deficiency of service and unfair acts upon the part of Paytm.