TIRUNELVELI
The District Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum has directed the e-commerce portal - Snapdeal and one of its vendors Just Shopping Private Limited Bangalore to replace a faulty smart phone sold to a customer and directed the respondents to pay ₹ 20,000 to the aggrieved consumer for deficiency in service.
According to petitioner Abdul Rahman of Tirunelveli, he placed an order for iPhone, costing about ₹ 39,000, on Snapdeal on April 18, 2016 and he received the product from the vendor by courier on April 21, 2016.
When the iPhone developed a technical snag within a week due to overheating and consequently hanged up quite often, the consumer registered a complaint with the portal’s customer care section, who told the buyer that the faulty phone would be collected from him shortly.
Subsequently, the phone was collected on May 9 and was informed on May 12 that the phone had been handed over to the person concerned for further action.
Since the replacement of the faulty phone with the new one got delayed, Mr. Abdul sent the second mail to the e-commerce portal seeking the refund of ₹ 39,000.
He was told by the customer care executive that neither the replacement nor refund of the amount would be made. Hence, he approached the District Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum on August 20, 2016 in search of remedy for his mental agony.
Following submissions made by both parties, Forum chairman Devadoss and members Sivamoorthi and Muthulakshmi directed Snapdeal and Just Shopping Private Limited that the faulty iPhone be replaced with a new one within a month.
Moreover, the forum also ordered to pay Mr. Abdul within a month ₹. 20,000, including ₹ 15,000, for deficiency in service and ₹ 5,000 towards cost.
