Multiple online complaints have been made regarding Paisabazaar’s unethical practices of incessantly calling customers and failing to maintain professionalism. Paisabazaar, a subsidiary of PB Fintech, was one of India’s largest consumer credit marketplaces in 2020. However, repeated complaints by customers against Paisabazaar’s harassment calls have raised concerns about their apathy and disregard for their consumers. Several people have described instances of extreme disturbance brought on by repeated calls and messages on the Indian Consumer Complaint Forum and other such sites.
Most consumers have stated that they receive more than 10 SMS and 5 calls per day for credit cards and personal loans. On May 18, a customer noted, “I received a call from Paisa Bazaar for personal loan, which I denied and asked them to remove my number from the calling list instead, the guy forwarded my number to other bankers, and I received 3–4 calls from banks for loan offers, saying I requested banks to call me as I made an enquiry on paisa bazaar. Want to stop any communication from Paisabazaar and file for intentional harassment case.”
Another customer wrote, “Hi Team, Kindly help in stopping Paisabazaar promotional messages and calls. I am continuously receiving the unwanted call and messages from Paisabazaar team and its affiliates, even after confirming that I am not interested in any services and promotions anymore. I also submitted my profile deletion in website and I am not able to stop from receiving messages from Paisabazaar team, I am fed up with blocking a hell lot of numbers and promotional message content on my mobile number.”
Despite being one of the largest consumer marketplaces, Paisabazaar has evidently failed to retain customers, as consumers are highly disgruntled with their lack of ethics. The endless promotional messages have now become a means of harassing citizens. By no means should this unscrupulous and troubling sales practice should be normalised. Apart from sending unconsented and unwarranted messages, several other customers have also vehemently criticised their website for not allowing customers the facility to unsubscribe from them.
Upon experiencing extreme distress, a customer from Andhra Pradesh threatened to file a complaint. Still, Paisabazaar’s impolite team seemed unintimidated and said, “Do what you want, but you will keep getting calls.” What explanations does Paisabazaar have for the discourteous behaviour of their agents against regular citizens? Notwithstanding hundreds of complaints, why is such a vast company unwilling to resolve customer grievances?
If a company’s marketing tactics involve continuously upsetting consumers, and its foundation is built on perpetually pestering customers to use its product, there is a need to reassess that approach. Paisabazaar has also been accused of disclosing data to third parties outside their organisation, which significantly threatens one’s personal information. A report stated that India ranked as the 7th most cyber-breached nation globally. Identity theft has significantly and rapidly become rampant, raising the need for an immediate inspection into how companies essentially violate consent. It is a known fact that data sharing leads to several severe and unwanted consequences. A customer wrote, “After signing up for PaisaBazaar, I began to receive a large number of phone calls from various loan-provider companies. As my credit score got up the number of calls increased. Then another came after this complaint that wrote, “I had applied for a Loan with NKGSBH Bank for Rs. 50 lacs. I had NOT applied for the loan at www.PaisaBazaar.com Also, I have not put an enquiry with www.paisabazaar.com However, I have received at least 3 calls from Paisa Bazaar, from number [protected], and the executive has told me that I have applied to NKGSB Bank for Professional Loan and they have come to know this from my CIBIL Score.”
Therefore, it is crucial to bring such incidents to light and demand explanations and accountability from the companies that clients have complete faith in. Strict data protection laws must be implemented to ensure that all aspects of data, including collection, storage, and accuracy, are secured in light of expanding miscreants and an alarming rise in unethical marketing tactics.
According to Mint, a LocalCircles survey found that nearly 64% of Indians reported receiving three or more daily spam calls on their phones. Henceforth, India needs stringent laws that protect people’s privacy from unsolicited calls from companies that violate their personal boundaries. In order to address the issue of unsolicited commercial communication (UCC), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) published the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulation (TCCCPR), 2018. According to the regulation, it is mandatory for companies to register themselves for commercial SMS and calls. Although the rule was necessary, the implementation needed to be fixed or technologically inadequate, as the regulation blocked essential messages too.
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Customers started complaining that the regulation was simultaneously impeding important messages because SMS is used for all transactions, authentication, and verification. The restriction was put on hold due to the inconvenience. Trai already requires telecom companies to use DLT, a blockchain-based anti-spam technology. In order to combat spam SMSes in India, the Swedish spam detection and caller ID application company Truecaller recently launched its artificial AI and ML-driven fraud detection feature for its users.
Paisabazaar’s vehement indifference towards consumers in light of their unabating marketing procedure has been enormously criticised and needs to be addressed. Paisabazaar’s terms and conditions state, “You agree to receive communications through emails, telephones, and/or SMS from the company or third-party vendors, business partners, or marketing affiliates regarding service updates, information, promotional emails, and/or product announcements.” It is interesting that most people have not given their consent to receive calls and messages. Consumers have complained they started receiving calls and messages simply after visiting their website or checking their eligibility. However, The consumers who did agree to their terms and conditions must not in any way be subjected to relentless pestering.
TRAI has launched The National Customer Preference Register to help block unsolicited calls and messages. Customers are given the option to stop receiving bothersome and unwanted calls by turning on DND. Numerous users of Paisabazaar have also emphasised that the DND feature has not been effective, possibly because NCPR only blocks unauthorised third-party commercials.
Why, despite daily advances in technology, has not a practical method of preventing spam calls been adopted or even seriously considered? If complaints from customers can not be properly addressed or evaluated, what good is having a platform for them to do so? Why and how do large companies like Paisabazaar get away with exploiting the daily lives of their customers and engaging in disrespectful behaviour?
