E-commerce customers got about 6 crore Taka back in last fortnight

At present, around TK. 124 crores of e-commerce customers are stuck in payment gateways. The Ministry of Commerce is playing a strong role in reimbursing the money of the customers which has been stuck in the payment gateway while buying products in e-commerce. The e-commerce cell of the Ministry of Commerce has returned a total of 5 crore 92 lakh 61 thousand 781 taka 80 paisa to the customers in 15 working days of this month. As of April 18, the money has been disbursed to 854 customers against a total of 990 accounts from 12 companies in five phases. Muhammad Saeed Ali, deputy secretary of the central e-commerce cell of the commerce ministry, said 7,949 e-commerce customers had been reimbursed a total of Tk. 76,99,29,996.70 paisa against a total of 9,811 accounts till April 18. Of these, QCoom has paid the most. From this company alone, TK. 51 crore 76 lakh 56 thousand 986 has been recovered. Alesha Mart, which is in the next position, has returned 17 crore 87 lakh 94 thousand 34 Taka. Dalal plus has returned 5 crore 11 lakh 74 thousand 819 taka, Boom Boom repaid 78 lakh 87 thousand 441 taka, AnanderBazar reimbursed 6 lakh 5 thousand 43 taka and Thale.com has returned TK.12 lakh 13 thousand 240 to the customers. According to the Ministry of Commerce, till January 31, TK. 559 crore 52 lakh 72 thousand 304 taka of 25 e-commerce companies had been stuck in payment gateways. If the product is not received as per the government guidelines, it should be returned to the customer's account within 10 days of payment. The Ministry of Commerce started the process of reimbursing money stuck in various payment gateways on January 24. After that, in the last 85 days, 7,949 customers of 12 e-commerce companies got back a total of 76 crore 99 lakh 29 thousand taka. As such, it should take at least a year to repay the remaining 482 crore 53 lakh 43 thousand taka. However, neither the Ministry of Commerce nor e-Cab has any specific information on how many customers owe this money. According to e-Cab and gateway sources, at least 40,000 people have been affected by the situation created by the companies. It is learned that against the purchase order received from e-commerce company- Evaly, 28 crores 61 lakhs 85 thousand taka has been stuck in various gateways including bKask and Nagad. In this regard, a senior bKash official said, they have no way to reimburse the money. They take action as per the decision of e-commerce cell of Bangladesh Bank and Commerce Ministry. According to the Department of Consumer Protection, in last six months from August to January, 11,355 complaints were lodged against 42 e-commerce companies and Facebook pages. Of these, 10,083 are against Evaly and e-Orange. None of these allegations could be settled as the owner was imprisoned. Complaints against the owners of the companies that are being found are being settled. AHM Shafiquzzaman, head of the Commerce Ministry's e-commerce cell and director general of the consumer rights protection department, said that despite various allegations, they had given the e-commerce companies a chance till March 31. Those who have contacted the ministry during this period and have taken initiative to refund the money to the customers will be assisted to continue their business. The process of sending the list of those who did not communicate to the law enforcement is underway. All legal action will be taken against them. On the other hand, Jahangir Alam Shovon, Manager, E-Commerce Association of Bangladesh (e-CAB), said that they have initially compiled a list of 50 companies and Facebook pages on e-commerce fraud. The list is expected to be sent to the Commerce Ministry soon. The e-commerce cell of the commerce ministry has also taken initiative to publish a public notice to return the money to the customers which are stuck in various e-commerce establishments. The decision was taken at the fourth meeting of the technical committee set up at the secretariat on Thursday (April 7) to resolve consumer or vendor dissatisfaction and technology problems caused by digital commerce transactions at the secretariat.