BookMyShow And PVR In Legal Trouble. Case Filed For Charging Illegal Internet Handling Fees

Kya aapne kabhi Internet pe movie ticket book kiya hai? Of course! So many people among you must have done it and that’s why we don’t need to tell you about the Internet Handling Fee that you have to pay to complete the booking.

Turns out that the “Internet Handling Fee”, online movie booking platforms like BookMyShow and PVR charge is not legal at all. An RTI has recently revealed that any online movie booking platform that is charging you Internet Handling Fee is illegal and against the RBI regulations.

In a reply to the RTI filed by Vijay Gopal, the president of ‘Forum Against Corruption’, RBI replied that the said fees is supposed to be paid by the merchant and not end customers.

As per the RBI rules, every merchant has to pay Merchant Discount Rate (MDR) to banks when they accept payments online. However, the merchants are paying it to banks by charging customers which is unethical.

And now after the RBI’s reply, Vijay Gopal has filed a case in Hyderabad consumer court against BMS and PVR. He took to Twitter and announced-

Glad to share, A case has bee filed in the Hyd Consumer Court-3 against BookMyshow, PVR and the IT Dept. If GOI or shifting the operating cost of the theatre to the consumers calling it Internet Handling Fee. Justice will be served soon like sizzlers..!!

Here’s how Twitterati reacted to the news-

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https://twitter.com/its_srinu/status/1104720904616116224

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https://twitter.com/bharat_kumar/status/1105150246777049089

Isn’t that awesome?