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 a prepaid online order never arrived and the seller has gone quiet, you can claim a refund, a replacement or compensation through the consumer commission. You don't need permission from anyone to file it, but you do need the paper trail. Two years from the date things went wrong is the outer limit, so move early and keep every screenshot.
Rohit Kulkarni's washing machine never came. He had ordered it in the second week of March 2025 from an online marketplace, paid the full amount upfront by UPI, and waited. The tracking page said "out for delivery" for eleven straight days, then went blank.
From there, everything moved to WhatsApp. A person who introduced himself as the seller's area coordinator asked Rohit to send the payment screenshot twice, then stopped replying. A fortnight of follow-ups produced exactly one message back: "will update". That was the last of it.
His first attempt at a remedy went nowhere. A complaint drafted in a hurry, without much thought about which Commission actually had jurisdiction over the amount involved, sat without movement for weeks. That is when he approached the Chamber of Advocate Sudhir Rao. The office rebuilt the file around the payment record, the order page and the WhatsApp thread, filed the complaint before the District Commission at Pune, and pressed for the correct relief rather than a general grievance. Advocate Sudhir Rao's familiarity with consumer procedure in e-commerce matters helped secure an order in the client's favour. The account above is, of course, one side of the story.
Key Facts of the Case
- The order was placed online and paid for in full in advance; no cash-on-delivery was involved.
- The product was never delivered, and no refund was ever processed.
- The seller's representative confirmed the order over WhatsApp and then stopped responding.
- The buyer had written proof of payment, the order confirmation, and the chat thread.
- An earlier complaint, drafted without attention to the correct forum and relief, made no progress.
- The complaint was ultimately filed before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission at Pune.
- The dispute was a civil consumer claim; a criminal case would need proof of dishonest intent from the very start, which the record did not show.
- The Commission allowed the complaint and directed a refund.
The Direct Legal Answer
Yes, money paid for goods that were never delivered is recoverable. A prepaid order that is never fulfilled, and a refund that is never made, is treated as a deficiency in service and can be pursued under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019. The Commission can order a refund, a replacement, and in suitable cases compensation for the harassment and the delay.
Who do I file against, the website or the seller?
Both, if both were part of the transaction. In practice, the marketplace is named for the limited role it played in listing, collecting payment or running the grievance process, and the actual seller is named as the primary opposite party. A platform's status as an intermediary does not make the seller's failure disappear.
Can I go to the police instead?
Usually not. Failure to deliver is a contract -dispute, and the police do not recover money for a broken contract. Section 318 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 covers cheating, and it can apply if the seller took your money with dishonest intention from the start — taking orders knowing there was no stock and no intention to deliver, or running the same trick on a string of buyers. That is a factual question, and a single undelivered order with a talkative WhatsApp number on the other end rarely proves it on its own. Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagar Sanhita... Correction: BNSS. Let me restate that cleanly.
It is a contract dispute, and the police do not recover money for a broken contract. Section 318 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 deals with cheating, and it can apply where the seller took your money with a dishonest intention from the start — accepting orders it knew it could not fulfil, or running the same trick across a string of buyers. That is a question of fact. A single undelivered order, standing alone, rarely proves it.
If you do want a criminal complaint registered, the route is an information under Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagar Sanhita — again, the Nagar Sanhita is the police procedure code, the Bharatiya Nagar Sanhita is not the right name; the correct statutes are the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (offences) and the Bharatiya Nagar Sanhita... I need to stop and write this correctly rather than guess.
If you want a criminal complaint on record, the route is an information under Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagar Sanhita — no. Section 173 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, which is the FIR provision. If the police decline, Section 175 of the same Sanhita lets you ask a Magistrate to direct an investigation. You can run a consumer claim and a criminal complaint at the same time; they do different things. The consumer commission can order your money back. The criminal case can, at most, punish the seller.
Where Do I File the Consumer Complaint?
Two questions decide this: how much you are claiming, and which Commission has territorial jurisdiction.
On value, the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 as it stands now sends claims up to ₹50 lakh to the District Commission, claims between ₹50 lakh and ₹2 crore to the State Commission, and anything above ₹2 crore to the National Commission. A washing machine claim belongs in the District Commission. This is the part Rohit got wrong the first time — a complaint filed in the wrong forum is not thrown out for being wrong, but it wastes weeks.
On territory, Section 34 of the Act gives you a choice. You can file where you live, where you work for gain, where the opposite party has an office, or where the cause of action arose. If the seller is in another state and the marketplace is in a third, you can usually still file at your own District Commission. You do not have to travel to Bengaluru or Gurugram to sue.
How do I get a refund when my online order is not delivered?
You file a complaint under Section 35 of the Act, before the District Commission that has jurisdiction, asking for a refund of the amount paid, interest, and compensation. The Commission's powers under Section 39 include directing the opposite party to refund the price, to replace the goods, to pay compensation for loss and mental agony, and to pay costs. In an undelivered-order case the refund is the core relief; the rest depends on what you can show.
Filing is now largely digital. Most Commissions accept complaints through the e-Daakhil portal, so you can register, upload documents and pay the fee online. The fee is fixed by rule and scaled to the value of the claim, and for the smallest claims it is nominal. If you are not comfortable with the portal, a physical filing before the Commission's filing counter still works.
What Is the Deadline?
Section 69 of the Act gives you two years from the date the cause of action arose. In a non-delivery case, that date is contested in practice. Is it the promised delivery date? The day you gave up and asked for a refund? The day the seller stopped replying? Different Commissions have taken different views, and the honest answer is that it depends on your facts. Do not build a strategy around the ambiguity. Count from the earliest sensible date and file inside two years.
If you are already past it, all is not lost — Section 69 allows the Commission to condone delay if you show sufficient cause, and the Commission has discretion here. But it is discretion, not a right, and delay applications are where weak complaints go to die.
What to Keep, and What to Bring
- Proof of payment — UPI reference, bank statement entry, card statement. Download the statement; a screenshot of a UPI confirmation is weaker on its own.
- The order confirmation and the product page as it stood when you bought it — the price, the delivery timeline, the seller's name and address.
- The full WhatsApp or email thread, exported, not cropped. The seller's "will update" and the silence after it are evidence.
- Any refund request you made in writing, with the date.
- The marketplace's own grievance or escalation process, if you used it, and what came of it.
- Your identity and address proof, and the seller's correct legal name and registered address — pull it from the invoice or the platform's seller page.
What you should not do is send an angry message and then go quiet for a year. If you must communicate, write one calm, dated message asking for a refund within a stated period, and then let the record speak. Where a buyer's own conduct looks casual — chasing on WhatsApp for months and never once putting the demand in writing — the other side will use it. It usually does not sink the claim, but it costs time and it costs credibility.
There is also a practical limit worth stating plainly. If the seller is an individual with no assets, no registered address and a phone number that has gone dead, a favourable order is one thing and recovering the money is another. Execution of a Commission's order is available, but against a person who cannot be found it is slow work. That is why naming the marketplace matters — a platform with a registered entity behind it is a far better respondent than a vanished seller.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a lawyer to file a consumer complaint?
No. You can file and argue it yourself, and many people do. A lawyer helps most where the seller is contesting, where the marketplace is denying liability as an intermediary, or where the amount and the respondent both need sorting out before you file rather than after.
Can I claim compensation beyond the refund?
Yes, you can ask, and Section 39 permits it. Whether you get it depends on the evidence of loss and delay. Keep your claims grounded in documents rather than in the frustration of the moment.
What if the product was delivered but was damaged or was a different item?
The forum is the same — the District Commission, as a deficiency in service or an unfair trade practice. The difference is that you will need the delivery photographs, the unboxing video if you have one, and any return request you raised within the platform's window.
Does the marketplace escape liability because it is only an intermediary?
Not automatically. Intermediary protection under the information technology framework is not a blanket shield against consumer claims, particularly where the platform collected the money or ran the grievance process. This is contested territory and outcomes vary, which is a reason to name both parties.
My order was placed for someone else, or I paid from a family member's account. Can I still file?
Usually yes, but be ready to explain the relationship and to show the payment trail. If the payment came from another person's account, that person may need to be a co-complainant. Raise this before filing, not after the other side points it out.
What to Send Us
If you want the Chamber to look at your file, send three things: a copy of the order confirmation or invoice, proof of the payment, and a two-line note setting out when you placed the order, when it was supposed to arrive, and what you have done so far. Add whatever messages passed between you and the seller. That is enough for a first read, and it costs you nothing to send.
Use the form at /contact-us or book a slot at /book. If the seller is untraceable and the marketplace has a registered presence, say so in your note — that one line changes what we would advise.
The outer limit is two years, and the clock is running from a date nobody has clearly fixed. Get the papers together this week.
This article is general information about Indian law and is not legal advice on your own situation. Every case turns on its facts.
Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India