Dakshina Kannada District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed Samsung India Electronics Limited to render free repair for a defective mobile handset of a resident of Puttur and also pay him compensation.
The Commission passed the order on a complaint filed by Manoj Kumar, a finance firm employee and a resident of Irde in Bettampady of Puttur taluk of the district.
Mr. Kumar purchased Samsung A315FW Galaxy A31 mobile from Poorvika Mobiles showroom in Puttur in August 2020 at a cost of ₹22,497. As the mobile phone display went off, he took it to Techno Care, an authorised Samsung Mobile Service Centre. The service centre said that there was a problem with the motherboard of the mobile phone and it needs to be replaced on approval by Samsung India Electronics. Despite two months, the mobile phone was not repaired as the service centre said that it did not receive any intimation from Samsung India Electronics.
After a legal notice, Samsung India Electronics replied on January 19, 2021 to Mr. Kumar that it was ready to repair the mobile phone as a gesture of goodwill.
Mr. Kumar filed the complaint with the District Commission seeking compensation for deficiency of service by the company, which has sold a defective mobile phone handset and failed to repair it even after it was submitted within the warranty period.
Appearing before the District Commission, Sandeep Sahijwani, Director, Customer Satisfaction, Samsung India Electronics Pvt. Ltd., in his affidavit, said that the service engineer noticed defect in the motherboard of the mobile phone. Mr. Kumar was asked to bear the repair cost of ₹8,000. Mr. Kumar was not ready to bear the cost as the mobile phone as had been submitted for repair within the warranty period. Mr. Sahijwani also said that all service requests do not come under warranty free service and a few service requests were exempted from it.
Terming the act as deficiency of service, the commission comprising president K. Prakash, members P.V. Lingaraju and H.G. Sharadamma, on August 16, directed the company to repair the mobile phone free. It also directed the company, the showroom and the service centre to jointly pay ₹10,000 towards compensation and cost of litigation.
