BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM, SIRSA.
Consumer Complaint no. 16 of 2019
Date of Institution : 16.1.2019
Date of Decision : 24.07.2019
Ekta Garg aged about 28 years wife of Shri Parteek Bansal, resident of M/s Dass and Company, Shop No.29, Around Additional Mandi, Old Stadium Road, Sirsa, Tehsil and District Sirsa.
……Complainant.
Versus.
Big Bazaar through Future Retail Office, 3rd Floor, Plot No.82, Sector 32, Near NIIT Corp. Office, Gurugram, Haryana through its authorized signatory.
..…Opposite party.
Complaint under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act,1986.
Before: SHRI R.L. AHUJA……………… PRESIDENT
SHRI ISSAM SINGH SAGWAL ……MEMBER.
MRS. SUKHDEEP KAUR, MEMBER.
Present: Sh. Kapil Garg, Advocate for complainant.
Sh. Naresh Kalra, Advocate for opposite party.
ORDER
In brief, the case of complainant is that opposite party is indulged in the business of sale of various kinds of goods/ products including the house hold items through online as well as through its malls located in different cities. That in the month of August, 2018, the complainant came to know that op is providing discount on various products in case of purchase of the same through online. The complainant being interested on 13.8.2018 placed an order bearing No.BBMB00008759 dated 13.8.2018 containing 09 goods therein. The order placed by complainant was amounting to Rs.6237.60 and the same was a prepaid order and the payment has been made by complainant through her credit card before delivery of the ordered goods. It is further averred that as per the policy of op, the ordered goods were to be supplied to the complainant within a period of 10 working days from the date of placing the order but inspite of lapse of more than ten working days, no delivery of the ordered goods has been made. A text message on behalf of op was received by complainant vide which the complainant was requested to cooperate with op regarding non delivery and it has further been stated by the op that on account of huge orders, the delivery of ordered goods is not being effected within the stipulated period. The complainant considering the request of the op to be genuine cooperated with the op but as no further response was received by complainant, therefore, she lodged a complaint with the op on its toll free number and on 12.9.2018 the complainant made an email message to the op and came to know that the order has been cancelled and it has been asked that a credit voucher in this regard shall be delivered to the complainant soon which is in violation of the fair dealings between the parties. That in case the prepared order of a customer is cancelled, he/ she is entitled to refund of the amount paid by him/ her but the op is asking for issuance of a credit voucher to the complainant meaning thereby that op by its above said act and conduct has made the complainant bound to use her money as per the wishes of op. The complainant is resident of Sirsa whereas the nearest retail counter of the op is situated at Bathinda which is about 100 kms away from Sirsa and it is not necessary that on the visit of complainant at such a long distance, the items likely to be purchased by complainant shall be made available to the complainant and the complainant shall incur the conveyance charges. That the op has failed to redress the grievance of the complainant regarding refund despite several emails and requests and there is deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of op. Hence, this complaint.
2. On notice, opposite party appeared and filed written statement raising preliminary objection regarding jurisdiction. It is submitted that on the request of complainant, the op had refunded the amount of Rs.6238.38 in the account bearing no.14131870000228 of HDFC Bank in the name of Ms. Ekta Garg as provided by complainant vide cheque bearing no.001927 but the said amount was not credited in the account of complainant due to some change of name which the complainant needs to provide and the said cheque is still on hold. That instead of providing the detail, the complainant has malafidely and intentionally filed the present complaint. The op is still ready to refund the money if the complainant provides complete details of the account numbers. All other contents of the complaint are denied and prayer for dismissal of complaint made.
3. The complainant tendered her affidavit Ex.CW1/A and documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C10. On the other hand, op tendered affidavit Ex.RW1/A.
4. We have heard learned counsel for the parties and have perused the case file carefully.
5. The complainant in order to prove her complaint has furnished her affidavit Ex.CW1/A in which she has reiterated all the averments made in her complaint. She has tendered copy of statement of account Ex.C1 and copies of emails Ex.C2 to Ex.C10. On the other hand, op has tendered of Sh. Parveen Kumar Senior Executive as Ex.RW1/A in which he has reiterated all the averments made in the written statement.
6. Admittedly, the complainant had passed an order for purchase of certain goods on 13.8.2018 from opposite party through online and paid an amount of Rs.6237.60 to the op, however, neither the order was honored nor goods were supplied to the complainant. During the course of arguments, learned counsel for op has strongly contended that op had cancelled the order and refunded amount of Rs.6238.38 in the account of complainant but the said amount was not credited in the account of complainant due to some change of name which the complainant needs to provide and the said cheque is still on hold. The perusal of the evidence of op reveals that op has not placed on record the said cheque or copy of the said cheque which was allegedly sent to the account of complainant on account of refund of amount of Rs.6238.38 nor the op has led any other cogent and convincing evidence from which it could be presumed that op had made any efforts to make refund of the amount to the complainant, which clearly amounts to deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on the part of op.
7. In view of the above, we allow the present complaint and direct the opposite party to make refund of the amount of Rs.6237.60 to the complainant within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of copy of this order, failing which the complainant will be entitled to interest @7% per annum from the date of order till actual realization. We further direct the op to pay a sum of Rs.3000/- as composite compensation and litigation expenses to the complainant. A copy of this order be supplied to the parties free of costs. File be consigned to the record room.
Announced in open Forum. Member Member President, Dated:24.7.2019. District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Sirsa
