Dakshina Kannada District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has awarded a compensation of Rs. 10,000 and cost of litigation of Rs. 2,000 to a consumer who was harassed after he was sold a defective microwave oven for which he paid Rs. 3,000.
Rahul of Kadri Kaibattal purchased an oven made by Mumbai-based KORYO Home Solution Retail India Ltd. from Big Bazaar in January 2010.
He gave it for servicing at Electronic Service Corporation in Car Street as it was “not functioning properly from the beginning”. He was first asked to come after a week, later after 10 days and so on. Mr. Rahul demanded a new oven or money but this was not complied with.
The manufacturing company blamed it on the damage of an inner component due to excessive heat on account of abnormal voltage.
It said it got the oven rectified on December 24, 2011 but the complainant had not collected it. It denied any deficiency in service and said the oven was kept idle at the service centre as he had not furnished the warranty card and the invoice.
The forum said legal notice issued showed that oven had not been repaired till December 27, 2011. If it had been repaired three days prior to that, the opposite parties should have given a reply to the notice but no such attempt was made. “On the other hand we hold that the Opposite Parties have come up with misleading version without any substantial piece of evidence in support of their statement.”
The documents proved that the oven was handed over for repair within the warranty period. Holding that the “Opposite Parties are very careless, negligent towards the customers”, the forum said this amounted to deficiency in service as well as unfair trade practice. It said “false version” that they had repaired the oven was liable to lead to adequate compensation to the complainant.
It said the defective oven could be retained while paying its cost, compensation and litigation expenses to the consumer.
The maker, dealer and service centre have been held responsible “jointly and severally” for the payment.
