Customer Grievance Redressal System

Overview of Easebuzz Customer Grievance Redressal Policy

Easebuzz promotes a holistic approach on risk management process from Merchant Onboarding to handling dispute resolution or chargeback. We have clearly defined the roles and responsibilities for each team as well as the escalation structure. This allows all parties to take appropriate and prompt actions to resolve any disputes and ensure seamless user experience.

Easebuzz published a customer grievance redressal procedure to guarantee prompt and complete resolution of customer queries, grievances, and complaints.

• The dispute management process is handled by Operations team headed by Nodal officer through different verticals –

• 

  Chargeback and dispute management team

• 

  Support Team – settlement and reconciliation

• 

  Legal Team in case any litigation

• The policy encompasses the following key aspects –

• 

  Grievances Handling

• 

  Management of chargebacks and frauds

• 

  Processing of refunds

Considering the best interest of card holder and regulatory guidelines Easebuzz has a clearly defined policy regarding dispute resolution, handling chargebacks and refunds. Our automated ticket management system and dedicated helpdesk allow us to offer seamless service to both the aggrieved parties and merchants.

Grievances Handling

Overview

Easebuzz has mentioned the contact details for raising the disputes on their website https://easebuzz.in/contact

Mode of raising dispute	Contact point
Email 24x7	grievances@easebuzz.in
IVR	18008918297
Chat Bot 24x7	https://helpdesk.easebuzz.in/Troubleshooting

 

Alternatively, Customers can contact Easebuzz via the Online Dispute Resolution mechanism- Helpdesk (https://helpdesk.easebuzz.in/Troubleshooting) and submit their complaint or query. This ODR mechanism allows customers to track the status of their complaint. Each query or complaint is assigned a unique ticket number. Customers receive an email and SMS with all detail.

Apart from helpdesk, customers can reach us through Phone Call, Email, WhatsApp, Chatbot and IVR to raise their issues.

The team is facilitated to act within 24 hours on resolution with action that could be majorly related to the follows –

Escalation Matrix

There is a tiered approach in terms of customer escalation matrix where at each level there is a defined responsibility mentioned as below –

S.No	Department	Level-I	Level-II	Level-III
1	General Support	Email:support@easebuzz.in	Surendra Shinde	Azim Landge
		Phone:18008918297	Phone : 18008918297	Phone:18008918297
			surendra.shinde@easebuzz.in	azim.landge@easebuzz.in
2	Chargeback		Surendra Shinde	Dhammanand Nagrale
			Phone : 18008918297 Email: chargeback@easebuzz.in	Phone:18008918297
			surendra.shinde@easebuzz.in	anand@easebuzz.in
3	Fraud		Mohini Jadhav	Dhammanand Nagrale
			Phone:18008918297	Phone:18008918297
			fraud.alert@easebuzz.in	anand@easebuzz.in
			mohini.jadhav@easebuzz.in
4	Risk/Underwritting		Risk Intelligence & Control team	Duryodhan Seeripuram
			Phone:18008918297	Phone: 18008918297
			ric@easebuzz.in	duryodhan.seeripuram@easebuzz.in
5	Onboarding		Kishor Salve	Aparajita Banik
			Phone:18008918297	Phone:18008918297
			onboarding@easebuzz.in	aparajita.banik@easebuzz.in
6	Sales		Sales Team	Mayur Amrutphale
			Phone: 18008918297	Phone: 18008918297
			sales@easebuzz.in	mayur.amrutphale@easebuzz.in
7	Documentation compliance		Risk Intelligence & Control team	Duryodhan Seeripuram
			Phone:18008918297	Phone: 18008918297
			ric@easebuzz.in	duryodhan.seeripuram@easebuzz.in
8	Technical queries			Rizwankha Azharkha
				Phone:18008918297
				rizwankha.pathan@easebuzz.in
9	Settlement & Finance Issues		Joydeep Biswas	Jitendra Kushvaha
			18008918297	Phone: 18008918297
			joydeep.biswas@easebuzz.in	Email:jitendra.kushvaha@easebuzz.in
10	Merchant Support		Azim Landge	Sudipta Sen
			Phone : 18008918297	Phone:18008918297
			azim.landge@easebuzz.in	sudipta.sen@easebuzz.in

Management of chargebacks and fraudulent alerts

A chargeback is a return of money to a payer of a transaction especially when a customer raises a dispute in their financial institution in relation to a purchase made with their card or UPI.

Process of handling chargebacks and Fraud

All the chargeback and fraud alerts are raised to chargeback@easebuzz.in

Easebuzz has an internal dispute management system with operations team responsible to handle each query that gets forwarded from the network to the acquirer who in turn raises the dispute to the merchant to initiate an investigation.

• The following escalation matrix is followed -

• 

  Level 1 - Operations team on email ID – chargeback@easebuzz.in

• 

  The first level of chargeback is sent across to the above email ID where the operations team has to send this to the merchant asking for document to support the case. In the case of turnaround time, the case is submitted to acquirer within maximum 7 working days from the day of chargeback complaint received from the acquiring bank.

• 

  Level 2 -Nodal Team on email ID - grievances@easebuzz.in

• 

  If the complaint is not resolved or when the case is further disputed from the network then the case is moved to our Nodal Officer whose details are listed below.

• 

  Name - Mr. Dhammanand Nagrale Email id - grievances@easebuzz.in

• 

  Address - THE SOCIAL STREET, ‘B’ Block/Building 2nd Floor, Survey No.32/2 & 32/3 Opposite Vivanta Hotel, Hinjewadi, Hinjawadi Village, Wakad, Pune, Maharashtra 411057. Phone number - 18008918297

• We have created a threshold of 1.5% CTS. Any merchant TID which crosses this threshold is permanently deactivated.

SOP – Chargeback Handling

Sr. No.	Process Step	Ownership	TAT	System	Details
1	Dispute / Retrieval Request Process	Chargeback Team	T+1	Email	Based on dispute received from acquiring bank investigation findings and case requirements, the chargeback team will raise a request through our internal CRM to initiate Charge-back/ Retrieval Request on the case. Chargeback team to action the request and inform the time-lines for closure. This is the first step in the disputes resolution process for transactions raised through acquiring bank/ Card network. Chargeback Team investigates and initiates the dispute request to merchants for documents that need to be retrieved for a particular case. Details are – i.                     Transaction ID ii.                   Name of the customer iii.                 Reason for chargeback iv.                 TAT for representment
2	Initiating the process of sending Intimation Emails to merchants and sales team	Chargeback Team	T+1	Excel	Once chargeback is raised in the system, team will initiate the dispute to the merchant and ask for listed documents for re- presentment as per chargeback reason code.
3	Review of Merchant feedback and response to Bank with scanned supporting documents	Chargeback Team	Tr+1	Excel	For cases wherein, Dispute team has to fulfil /shared the scanned copy of the supporting documents depending on reason code with the acquiring bank within T+7 days as per TAT. If documents are not submitted within the specified time frame, then chargeback stands invalid and the case will be closed in customer favour or will take on good faith basis For fulfilment of documents: 1) Cross Check the Issuing fulfilment cases updated in Master Chargeback reports 2) Scan the valid documents to be sent to the bank for presenting the case as per the Card guidelines. Document includes: a) Copy of Tax Invoice b) Proof of delivery of goods and/or customer satisfaction confirmation c) Refund date and ARN number showing refund has been successfully processed, d) Logs of the card holder in certain segments.
4	Banks Report on Chargeback raised by Dispute Team	N/A	N/A	N/A	Bank can accept or reject the chargeback. If the merchant doesn't represent the case within time period of 45 Days from the date of chargeback settlement the case is deemed accepted and the credits are passed to the card holder's account . On the other hand, Bank can reject the case by representing the chargeback with the supporting documents showing "Valid Transaction" on good faith basis as a proof by attaching the documents.
5	For rejected/ represented chargebacks Downloading Re-presentment documents Analysis & further action.	Nodal Officer/ Grievance Cell	Tr+1	Excel	The merchant should provide supporting documents within 5-7 days from the date of re-presentment for transactions. Check & Analyse the fulfilment as per Card Guidelines. In case of receipt of valid representment documents Represent the dispute to acquiring bank with documents and close the case. In case of non-receipt or invalid re-presentment from merchant- Customer Bank will raise the 2nd chargeback i.e., documents raise Pre arbitration for 2nd level representation cases and 2nd chargeback for another 30 days' time frame is required for further resolution of the case. For the 2nd level chargeback, we ask merchants for the customer satisfaction email or accept the chargeback.
6	For Accepted chargebacks: Credit to card holders account (refund)	Operations Team	-	Excel	Amount will be processed to the Card account for the cases which are accepted by the Merchant bank as per guidelines. Once the merchant accepts the dispute, we will pass permanent debit entries to his account and intimate the bank to reverse credit to the card account. CB team will also update remarks as dispute accepted and credit reversed for individual dispute ID in system.
7	Update the chargeback file, Close the dispute.	Chargeback Team	T+7	Excel	Update the chargeback Master file and update the closure remarks in the dispute file to close the case. Also send closure mail confirmation to merchants.

*Note

T - Date of dispute received from Acquirer Bank .

Tr - Date of response receipt from Merchant

In case of Chargeback received post business working hour - TAT starts from Next day morning

Dispute Resolution Clause

In the event of a dispute in connection with Agreement between merchant and Eazebuzz, the same shall be referred to arbitration in accordance with the Arbitration & Conciliation Act, 1996.

The arbitration shall be held at Pune, India and the arbitration shall be conducted in the English language.

This Agreement thereof shall be governed by laws of India and courts of Pune shall have exclusive jurisdiction to entertain a dispute in connection herewith

Obligations of Merchant

Below are the sample clauses from the agreements formulated with merchants, outsourced agencies, and other stakeholders endorsing adherence to dispute resolution mechanism:

“The Merchant agrees to notify Easebuzz of any Third Party claim that the Merchant’s use of the Easebuzz Services conflicts with or infringes upon or violates any rights of such Third Party.

Merchant may promote Easebuzz Services in its Website and may endeavour but not be obligated to promote Easebuzz Services in other advertisements, publications.

Merchant undertakes to provide all the information and assistance as is required by Easebuzz or if the same is required to be provided to government or judicial/quasi-judicial authorities by Easebuzz.

The Merchant shall be responsible towards all the refunds and chargebacks and shall be a point of contact for all the refund request and/or the disputes raised by the customers.”

Banking Ombudsman

If the issue is yet not resolved or the customer do not get any clarity, a party aggrieved may also file a complaint to RBI Ombudsman under its RBI Ombudsman Scheme for Digital Transactions 2019, which includes the Ombudsman scheme's purpose and contact information. Please refer to the following link for more information. OSDT31012019.pdf (rbi.org.in).

Refund Management

Because most chargebacks stem from miscommunication between buyer and seller, the following are some recommended practices for merchants when processing payments/ settlements to avoid chargebacks or disputes.

• 

  Transparent Return Policy – Merchants should ensure that all return policies are clearly stated on their website.

• 

  Clear and Constant Communication - Merchants must keep their customers informed about the status of orders/delivery.

• 

  To avoid any ambiguity, merchants should share tracking numbers, invoices, and other order-related documents with customers.

• The processing of refunds is initiated to the source account only.

• Refunds are initiated due to the following reasons –

• 

  Merchant has initiated the refund to the customer because he is unable to provide goods or services or due to a customer complaint about the service.

• 

  There are duplicate transactions and one of the duplicate transactions has to be refunded

• 

  Customer bank initiates a refund due to failed transaction. These pertain to cases where the customer account was debited online, but the status of the transaction was not sent to the merchant

• Once a refund has been initiated, Easebuzz manages the flow of refund to the source account as follows –

• 

  Merchant is provided with a refund API or batch mechanism to initiate complete or partial refund

• 

  Customer is notified about the refund initiation via the same API where merchant can trigger a response to the customer on his email ID or phone number

• 

  Batch file is processed by the payout team at Easebuzz to acquiring bank to initiate refund to the source account

• 

  Refund is processed from the acquiring bank to the source account. Daily reconciliation of the files is done to check on refund ARN and the same is reflected on merchant dashboard and payout file on the merchant’s registered email ID

• 

  Maximum TAT defined for refund is “T”+ 5 working days, “T” being the date of initiation of refund from the merchant.

• 

  In case there are issues or queries related to any of the details related to refund, then the merchant can reach out to Easebuzz on tollfree number available with support between 9:30 am to 7 PM everyday (Including weekends) which is published on website - https://easebuzz.in/contact

Sensitizing operating staff on handling complaints

Training on matters relating to customer service, adherence to Bank Policy and RBI’s policy is imparted to staff members at all cadres periodically during our training session. We are also engaging the services of guest faculty from Nodal Banks for handling sessions on clean note policy and the facility for exchange of soiled notes to the public.

Turn Around Time and Customer Compensation in failed transactions

Sl. no.	Description of the incident	Framework for auto-reversal and compensation
		Timeline for auto-reversal	Compensation payable
I	II	III	IV
1	Card Transaction
a	Card Not Present (CNP) (e- commerce) Account debited but confirmation not received at merchant’s system.	Auto-reversal within T + 5 days.	₹ 100/- per day of delay beyond T + 5 days.
2	Immediate Payment System (IMPS)
a	Account debited but the beneficiary account is not credited.	If unable to credit to beneficiary account, auto reversal (R) by the Beneficiary bank latest on T + 1 day.	₹100/- per day if delay is beyond T + 1 day.
3	Unified Payments Interface (UPI)
a	Account debited but the beneficiary account is not credited (transfer of funds).	If unable to credit the beneficiary account, auto reversal (R) by the Beneficiary bank latest on T + 1 day.	₹100/- per day if delay is beyond T + 1 day.
b	Account debited but transaction confirmation not received at merchant location (payment to merchant).	Auto-reversal within T + 5 days.	₹100/- per day if delay is beyond T + 5 days.
4	National Automated Clearing House (NACH)
a	Delay in crediting beneficiary’s account or reversal of amount.	Beneficiary bank to reverse the uncredited transaction within T + 1 day.	₹100/- per day if delay is beyond T + 1 day.
b	Account debited despite revocation of debit mandate with the bank by the customer.	Customer’s bank will be responsible for such debit. Resolution to be completed within T + 1 day.