One of my clients recently had a case which I am explaining below and if you are stuck in such similar situation, here is what to do.
Note: Due to attorney-client privilege, I cannot disclose complete case details or identify the actual parties involved. However, I am sharing the essential facts and legal approach so that if you find yourself in a similar situation, you can understand the available solutions and legal remedies.
TL;DR: If an app promised you a wallet credit that you can never actually spend, and then locked you out of the account, that isn't just bad service. Indian consumer law treats it as a false advertisement plus a deficiency in service, and you can file before the District Consumer Commission within two years. You don't need a criminal case to get relief.
The messages came four times in one week, each one a little cheerier than the last. Every single one said the same thing: a wallet credit had been added to the CaratLane account. So Rohan Mehta, who lives in Pune, installed the app.
The balance was sitting right there when he opened it. ₹9,800, in a wallet, ready to be spent. Then he tried to order a small pendant. The checkout page offered no way to touch the credit, not even as a part-discount against the bill.
He logged out, thinking a fresh session might clear whatever was stuck. It didn't. From that evening the app returned one word, unauthorised, and refused to let him back in.
Two emails to support produced two template replies. A post on a public forum produced sympathy and four strangers describing the same messages with different figures. All of this happened around early March 2025. By then he had spent more hours on the problem than the credit was worth, which is usually the point where people quietly let it go.
He approached the Chamber of Advocate Sudhir Rao instead. Advocate Sudhir Rao and his office treated the promotional messages as the heart of the case rather than an afterthought, and argued that a credit dangled to pull a customer into an app, then silently withdrawn, is an unfair trade practice. The Commission passed an order in his favour. His background in consumer and e-commerce disputes is what moved the matter.
Key Facts of the Case
- A jewellery brand sent four promotional messages in one week, each promising a wallet credit in the customer's account.
- The credit, ₹9,800, showed up inside the app, but checkout gave no option to apply it, not even as a discount.
- After the customer logged out, the account was blocked with an "unauthorised" error.
- Support responses were templated; no correction, refund or explanation followed.
- Other users on a public forum described identical messages with different amounts.
- The grievance was framed as a deficiency in service and an unfair trade practice under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019.
- The advertisement itself, not the app glitch, was treated as the central wrong.
- The limitation clock for the complaint runs two years from when the cause of action arose.
The Direct Legal Answer
Yes, you have a remedy. A credit that is advertised, displayed and then made unusable is
Yes, you have a remedy. A credit that is advertised, displayed and then made unusable is a broken promise, and Indian consumer law has a name for a broken promise made to sell something: an unfair trade practice. It also has a name for a service that does not work the way it was held out to work. You can file on either footing, or both.
Can I File a Consumer Complaint Over an App Wallet Credit?
Short answer: usually yes, and the complaint is filed before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission under Section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. What you are complaining about is not the technical glitch. It is the promise that pulled you in and the refusal to honour it.
Two provisions do most of the work.
Deficiency in service — Section 2(11)
The Act defines a deficiency as any shortcoming or inadequacy in the quality, nature and manner of performance that a service provider is required to maintain by law or by contract. An app that shows you a balance it will not let you use, and then shuts you out with an error, fits that description comfortably. So does a support system that answers with templates and never fixes anything.
Unfair trade practice — Section 2(47)
This covers a trader making a false or misleading representation about a service, or about the benefits likely to flow from it. A message saying a credit has been added to your account, when it cannot be applied at checkout, is a representation about a benefit. The gap between what was said and what was delivered is the wrong.
There is a third angle worth keeping in mind. A misleading advertisement is separately defined in the Act, and the Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 place duties on online sellers — including the duty not to adopt unfair trade practices and to maintain a grievance officer who actually responds. If the platform is an intermediary, the IT Rules require an acknowledgement within 24 hours and a resolution within 15 days of a complaint. When that machinery fails, it strengthens rather than replaces your consumer case.
Where Do I File, and What Can I Ask For?
Pecuniary jurisdiction under the 2019 Act, as notified, runs like this:
- District Commission — claims up to ₹50 lakh. Almost every wallet-credit dispute lands here.
- State Commission — above ₹50 lakh and up to ₹2 crore.
- National Commission — above ₹2 crore.
On territory you have more choice than people expect. You can file where the opposite party works or carries on business, or where you reside or work, among other grounds. So a Pune resident dealing with a company registered elsewhere can ordinarily file at home.
What you can ask for:
- The value of the credit that was promised and denied.
- Compensation for mental agony and harassment, which is modest in these matters but real.
- The cost of the litigation.
- A direction that the practice be stopped, which matters if the messages are still going out to thousands of people.
Be realistic about the money. Commissions do not award large sums for inconvenience, and a claim inflated to ten times the credit value tends to cost you credibility on the parts that are genuine.
What Is the Deadline?
Two years from the date the cause of action arose — Section 69 of the Act. In a case like this the clock usually starts when the credit became unusable, or when support finally refused to help, whichever is later and easier to prove.
The Commission can entertain a complaint after two years if you show sufficient cause, but that discretion is not something to plan around. Screenshots with visible dates are how you fix the starting point, and they are the first thing that goes missing when a phone is replaced.
What Happens After You File — Step by Step
- Drafting and filing. Complaint, affidavit, list of documents, and the prescribed fee paid by demand draft. Three copies plus one for each opposite party is the usual requirement.
- Admission hearing. The Commission reads it and decides whether it discloses a case. If the drafting is thin on dates and documents, this is where it gets returned.
- Notice to the company. Served, and the opposite party files its written version, normally within 30 days with a limited extension allowed for recorded reasons.
- Evidence by affidavit. Both sides file documents and affidavits. Most of these cases turn on screenshots and the company's own message log.
- Arguments and order. Often the company does not appear at some stage, in which case the matter proceeds ex parte.
On timing: an uncontested complaint can finish in six months or so. A contested one, with adjournments, commonly runs past a year. Anyone who tells you it will be over in a few weeks is guessing.
Is a Locked Account Also a Criminal Matter?
Sometimes. Cheating is an offence under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, and a genuine cyber fraud — where the account was compromised by someone other than the platform, or money was taken — belongs on a different track altogether, including a complaint under the Information Technology Act, 2000 and a police complaint.
The distinction matters practically. A criminal case does not get your money back. A consumer complaint largely can. If both elements are present, the two run in parallel, and the consumer route is usually the one that produces an order you can execute.
What to Collect Before You Write to Us
- Screenshots of every promotional message, with dates and the sender ID visible.
- A screenshot of the wallet balance, and of the checkout page showing no option to apply it.
- The error screen or lockout message, with the date it first appeared.
- All support emails and chat transcripts, in order, including the replies.
- Order IDs, the registered mobile number and email on the account.
- Any complaint you filed with the grievance officer, and their response or silence.
- A short note of what happened, in sequence, in your own words.
Frequently Asked Questions
The credit was never real money. Does that matter?
No. What matters is that it was held out as a benefit and used to draw you into the app. Whether it was cashback, a voucher, a credit or points, the representation is what creates the expectation, and the failure to honour it is what creates the complaint.
I never paid the company anything. Am I a consumer?
This is the weakest link, and you should know it before you file. The company will argue there was no consideration, so no service, so no consumer. The counter is that the credit was dangled to induce a purchase, that you did use the platform on that footing, and that the lockout itself caused loss. How far that argument travels depends on the facts and on the Commission. It is not a slam dunk.
Can I file where I live instead of where the company is?
Usually yes, if you reside or work within that Commission's jurisdiction. Multiple opposite parties with offices in different places complicate it slightly, but not fatally.
Do I need a lawyer for a ₹9,800 dispute?
You are allowed to appear in person, and for small sums many people do. Where the company turns up with counsel and disputes everything, the drafting and the evidence schedule decide the outcome more than the amount does. Filing fees are also tiered by claim value, so they stay modest.
How much will this cost me in fees and time?
The Commission's fee is statutory and small at this claim size. Professional fees vary with how contested the matter becomes. A realistic estimate for a defended complaint is a few hearings spread over six to fourteen months. If you want a number for your own facts, ask us after sending the documents — anyone quoting before seeing them is guessing.
What if there are hundreds of users with the same complaint?
That helps you. If enough consumers share a grievance, a complaint can be filed on behalf of a group, and the messages themselves become evidence of a pattern rather than one person's bad luck. The forum posts you find are worth saving, though they are of limited weight on their own.
If this has happened to you, email the promotional messages, the wallet screenshot, the lockout screen and a two-line note about what you were told to me@sudhirrao.com, or use the form at /contact-us or /book. Attach the documents rather than describing them — the dates in them decide which route is open to you and how much time is left. On some sets of facts there may be nothing worth arguing, and we will say so rather than take the brief. Where the platform's conduct is also criminal, that is a separate conversation, and it is one the chamber handles.
This article is general information about Indian law and is not legal advice on your own situation.
Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India