Delhi

North

RBT/CC/106/2023

LT. COL. BRIJESH KUMAR SINGH(RETD.) - Complainant(s)

Versus

ALOK OHRIE & ANR - Opp.Party(s)

01 Feb 2024

ORDER

District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission-I (North District)

[Govt. of NCT of Delhi]

Ground Floor, Court Annexe -2 Building, Tis Hazari Court Complex, Delhi- 110054

RBT/CC No/106/2023

DCDRC-III CC No.218/2020

In the matter of

1. Lt. Col. Brijesh Kumar Singh (Retd.)

            R/o D-2/38, 3^rd Floor

          Janakpuri, New Delhi-110058...Complainant

                                                                                                           

Versus

1. Alok Ohrie, President & MD

Dell International Services India Ltd.

12/1, 12/12(A), 13/A

Divyashree Greens Koramangala

Ring Road, Challaghatta Village

Vartjir

Hobli, Bengaluru-560036                                                               ...Opposite party

 

2. Sujay Jadhav

Advance Resolution Services Team

Dell International Services India Pvt. Ltd.

12/1, 12/12(A), 13/A

Divyashree Greens Koramangala

Ring Road, Challaghatta Village, Varthur

Hobli, Bengaluru-560036                                                               ...Opposite party

                                                                                           

                                                                                            ORDER

16/01/2024

Ms.Harpreet Kaur Charya, Member

1. The present complaint has been received by way of transfer, vide order dated 28/04/2023, passed by Hon’ble Delhi State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission in TA/55/2022, where the matter has been transferred from DCDRC-III (West) to this Commission.

2. The complainant, Lt.Col. Brijesh Kumar Singh (Retd.) has alleged deficiency in services and unfair trade practices against Sh.Alok Ohrie, President & MD, Dell International Services India Ltd. as OP-1 and Sh.Sujay Jadhav, Advance Resolution Services Team Dell International Services India Ltd. as OP-2.

3. Facts necessary for the disposal of the present complaint are that, on 03/11/2019, the complainant placed an online order for Dell Inspiron, 15 5000 5590 series for Rs.65,440.42 .  On 09/11/2019, the complainant received a laptop having a Dell Service tag 37FN9W2, Express Service code 6979890386.  As per the complaint, due to family and professional commitments the complainant used the laptop occasionally. On 31/03/2020, the complainant faced the problem of freezing and heating of the laptop for which he contacted the Dell Tech Support no. 08025108001, he was advised by the executive, namely Mr.Chandan Shaw to reinstall Windows 10, as there might be software issue.  The complaint was registered under complaint No.53853688. 

4.    Since, the laptop was not functioning properly; several complaints were made by the complainant through different modes from 31/03/2020 to 29/06/2020 to Tech Support Team, Consumer Escalation Team, Special Commercial Care Team, Whole Unit replacement Team, Advanced Resolution Service Team, Operation Manager, Supervisors, Technician etc.

5. It has been alleged by the complainant that despite sharing the pictures of the laptop for replacement, the product was not replaced. One of the employees of the OP namely Mr. Anil Kumar who had visited the house of the complainant informed that there were multiple defects and major parts of the laptop had to be replaced.  Approximately 90% of the parts of the laptop were changed which were duplicate, substandard, bogus and made in China whereas, OP claimed the laptop to be Made/Manufactured in India.  Later on the complainant came to know that, Mr.Anil was not on the pay roll of Dell International Services India Pvt. Ltd.

6.   OP-2 contacted the complainant and requested to check the system for a month and assured that the laptop will be replaced in case there was further problem.  Despite replacing the crucial parts, the laptop still had issue with the voice quality; keyboard panel and screen panel does not close physically on closing of the laptop and heating.   

7.  The complainant has also alleged that the employees of Dell India not only misbehaved but refused to share information regarding country of origin. It has been advertised by Dell India on their e-commerce platform that the laptop of the complainant is “Made In India”.  However, on the laptop it is endorsed as “Assembled in India” and original voucher shows that the complete laptop was “Imported” in India.

8.  Legal notice dated 07/07/2020 was served upon OP-1 and OP-2, which was replied vide reply dated 28/07/2020, where the OP offered a refund of the price of the laptop. 

9.  The prayer clause from the complaint is reproduced hereunder:-

A.         Award punishment of imprisonment and a fine of Rs.10,00,000/- for false and misleading advertisement prejudicial to the interest of Consumers and

B          Award punishment for adulteration of imported laptop and suspend License issued by the competent authorities and.

C         Award punishment for Fraud, Cheating, Criminal Breach of Trust Mental, Physical, Psychological & Economic Harassment as per the due process of law.

D         Direct the defendant to reimburse/refund Rs.65,440.42 (amount of Laptop) with 24% interest to the complainant from the date of purchasing the said laptop.

E.         Direct the defendant to pay an amount of Rs.10,00,000/-as compensation to the Complainant being Mental, Physical , Psychological harassment and

             F.         Award cost of litigation.

G         Any other order as the court may deem fit and proper in the facts and circumstances in favour of the complainant be passed.

 

10.  The complainant has annexed the order confirmation receipt as Annexure-A, Bill of Entry for Home Consumption (SEZ to DTA unit) as Annexure-B (colly), Service codes as Annexure-C (colly), service report dated 25/05/2020 as Annexure-D, Legal Notice dated 07/07/2020 and reply thereof dated 28/07/2020 as Annexure-E & Annexure F respectively, Police complaint dated 11/10/2020 as Annexure-G. 

11. Notice of the present complaint was issued to OPs.   

12. Written statement was filed on behalf of Dell International Services Pvt. Ltd., the manufacturer of the product. It has been submitted that the necessary and the proper party in the present complaint is the manufacturer of the product i.e. Dell International Services Pvt. Ltd., which may be read as OP but the reply may be treated as reply on behalf of  OP-1 & OP-2 also.   

13. It has been submitted that there is no deficiency and unfair trade practice on behalf of OP and all support services have been provided to the complainant in accordance to terms and conditions.  Offer of refund/replacement of the product has been admitted.  It has further been submitted that the first complaint was made after five months of purchase, thereafter, the technical support team ran a troubleshoot operation on the system remotely and sought complainant’s assistance in isolating the issue as per clause 8 of terms and conditions of warranty.  However, the complainant refused to provide any assistance.  The technical team arranged for an onsite service on 13/04/2020, but, due to lockdown imposed by the Central Government, the said service got delayed and could be affected only on 25/05/2020.   The keyboard, touchpad, motherboard, heatsink and fan of the system were replaced in accordance with warranty terms and conditions and post replacement the system was working as designed.

14.       The complainant was still not satisfied with the support services and reported issues with alignment and audio quality and without letting the OP diagnose the said system, issued a Legal notice dated 07/07/2020 alleging defects in the system, demanding full refund alongwith 18% interest p.a. and compensation.  An email dated 21/07/2020 was written to the complainant offering complete refund of the said system, which was declined by the complainant.

15.       Again, upon receiving the notice/summon of the present complaint, the OP had offered a replacement with upgraded model bearing higher specification/refund vide email dated 08/01/2021 in order to amicably resolve the issue.  It has been denied that the parts replaced were duplicate, substandard, bogus, second-hand, Chinese made.  It has been submitted that OP has manufacturing unit in India and overseas.  The system in dispute is assembled in India but the components used in the said system are sourced into the country through the supplier which are spread across the globe, including China. The parts supplied by the supplier are duly verified by the OP before they are used for providing support services. The demand of the complainant is unwarranted and in contravention to the terms and condition of warranty policy. Rest of the contents of the complaint have been denied with the prayer for dismissing the complaint with cost.

16. OP has annexed service report dated 25/05/2020 as Annexure-A, Reply dated 28/07/2020 to the legal notice as Annexure-B, email dated 08/01/2021 as Annexure-C, Service description: Consumer In-Home Hardware Service as Annexure-D with their written statement. 

17.       Rejoinder to the written statement was filed by the complainant. It has been submitted by the complainant that Dell International Services Pvt. Ltd.is duping and cheating the consumers by selling products with multiple manufacturing defects and  evading tax liability by installing low quality foreign parts and selling its products as “Made in India”. Contents of the complaint have been reiterated and those of have the written statement have been denied.

18. Evidence by way of affidavit has been filed by the complainant. The complainant has reiterated the averments made in the complaint and rejoinder. OP has got examined       Sh. Rahul Tripathi, Authorised Representative/Signatory of Dell International Services India Pvt. Limited. He has also repeated the contents of the written statement. 

19. We have heard the arguments of the complainant appearing in person and Ld. Counsel for OP. We have also perused the material placed on record. The complainant has alleged that OP has sold a laptop of inferior quality consisting of Chinese parts, purporting it to be “Made in India”.

20. In support of his allegations the complainant has placed on record the Bill of Entry for Home Consumption (SEZ to DTA unit). The said document bears the name and address of the importer as “Brijesh Kumar Singh (Complainant)” with the Country of origin & Code as “India”.  The description of the goods is “INSPIRON 15 5000 SERIES 5590LAPTOP (84713010)-MANUFACTURED GOODS”. If this laptop upon import was directly delivered to the Complainant without being received by OP herein, then how the OP could have assembled the laptop in India. This shows that even the information furnished to the customs by OP is incorrect.  

21.  The bar code of the delivery partner (Annexure-C) bears “Computer MADE IN INDIA”(herein after Label C); box bears country of origin as India (herein after Label B) and the photograph of the rear side of the laptop bears “Assembled in India”( herein after Label

 

 

22. It is seen that the backpack bears “Dell essential Bagpack15 (BLUE ACCENT)” and the corresponding box bears the country of origin as “China”. Thus, it is the bagpack, which is “Made in China”. As far as allegation of selling a laptop by misleading the complainant is concerned, in para. 19 of the written statement, OP has submitted “the system is assembled in India but the components used in the said system are sourced into the country through the supplier which are spread across the globe, including China”. Label ‘A’ bears ‘Assembled in India’ ,in contrast to Label ‘B’ and Label ‘C’ bear Country of origin: India and   ‘Computer MADE IN INDIA’ respectively. Label ‘B’ and Label ‘C’ imply that the product is manufactured in India itself which is in conflict with description in Label ‘C’ and submissions made by OP in para 19 of its written statement.

23.  Section 2(1) of the Consumer Protection Act. 2019, defines ‘advertisement’ which includes “label” and Section 2(28) defines “misleading advertisement” which is being reproduced hereunder:-

 (28) “Misleading advertisement” in relation to any product or service, means an advertisement, which-

(i) falsely describes such product or service; or

(ii) gives a false guarantee to, or is likely to mislead the consumer as to the   nature, substance, quantity or quality of such product or service; or

(iii) conveys an express or implied representation which, if made by the manufacturer or seller or service provider thereof, would constitute an unfair trade practice; or

(iv)  deliberately conceals important information

 

24. Thus, as per the above provision , OP has indulged in misleading advertisement by portraying that the laptop manufactured by them was ‘Made in India’ where in fact it was probably ‘Assembled in India.’ The misrepresentation misled the complainant into believing that he is supporting the domestically produced goods.  While it has been acknowledged by OP that the laptop was “assembled in India”, the representation of laptop being “Made in India” carries significant implications regarding its origin and the supporting of domestic manufacturing.  This act of OP definitely amounts to unfair trade practice.

25.We have also gone through the communication between the complainant and Dell Tech Support and service report dated 25/05/2020 (Annexure-D) following parts have been replaced:-

S.No.	Description
1.	ASSY, KYBD, PMST, USINT, MN5, S NBL
2.	ASSY, TPAD, SILVER, N5590/98
3.	ASSY, PWA, PLN, I510210, U,4,MN,I
4.	PAD, THRM INTFC CLNG, SINGLE
5.	TOOL, SYRNG, THRMGRS, 1.5 GRAMS
6.	ASSY, FAN, CPU, MANTIS15,
7.	ASSY, HT, SNK, UMA, MANTIS 15

Same fact has been admitted  by OP in para 18 of their written statement  stating that on 25/05/2020, the keyboard, touchpad, motherboard, heatsink and fan of the laptop were replaced in accordance with terms and conditions of Warranty policy.

 

26.       Further, Annexure-D, also bears comments from onsite engineer as “vst checked and found issue with system freezing and heating. Update bios and driver no go then replaced all parts and update bios to 1.7.0. Now system working fine. User want take system under observation for 2 days.  No other issue.”  It is also an admitted fact that the complainant had registered the complaint on 31/03/2020 and OP had arranged onsite service for 13/04/2020, however due to nationwide lockdown same could be performed only on 25/05/2020. Thus it is clear that within few months of purchase the major components of the laptop had to be replaced.

27. At the same time this fact cannot be ignored, that OP had offered a refund in their reply to the legal notice dated 28/07/2020 (before filing of the present complaint) and even in para.21 of their written statement they have submitted that they had offered the complainant vide email dated 08/01/2021 a replacement (upgraded model) bearing higher specification/refund, which was declined by the complainant.

28. Therefore, in the facts and circumstance of the present case, we direct OPs, jointly and severally liable to refund the cost of the laptop i.e. Rs.65,440.42 alongwith interest @9% p.a. from the date of filing the present complaint i.e. 25/11/2020 till realization. We further award compensation of Rs.15,000/- on account of mental agony and harassment inclusive of litigation expenses.  At the same time the complainant is also directed to return the laptop in dispute alongwith all the accessories to the authorised representative of OPs upon compliance of the order by OPs.

Office is directed to supply the copy of this order to the parties as per rules. Order be  uploaded on the website.  Thereafter, file be consigned to the record room.

 

 

(Harpreet Kaur Charya)               Member	(Ashwani Kumar Mehta)                          Member   (Divya Jyoti Jaipuriar)           President