A city-based marriage agency will have to pay for failing to find a matrimonial alliance as promised, besides refunding the service charges it had collected from one of its clients.
The 3rd Additional Bangalore Urban District Consumer Forum has directed Sri Venkateshwara Marriage Links, Srirampura, to refund Rs. 15,000 along with 12 per cent interest, besides Rs. 3,000 to the complainant, G.H.S. Mallikarjuna Rao, a native of Kankipadu in Andhra Pradesh.
The complainant had paid advance service charge of Rs. 25,000 to the agency in April 2012 for finding an alliance for his daughter. However, after collecting the charges, the agency did not suggest any alliance, and later began avoiding the complainant. After a complaint was lodged with the forum in April, the agency returned Rs.10,000 in June 2013, but not the remaining amount.
A bench of the forum, comprising its president T. Rajashekharaiah and member Subhashini, said the agency’s conduct was a “deficiency in service” and directed it to pay 12 per cent interest on Rs. 25,000 for a 12-month period from April 2012, and return the remaining Rs.15,000 along with 12 per cent interest, with effect from April 2013 till refund date.
