BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL FORUM AT BANGALORE URBAN

    06^th DAY OF MAY 2019

O R D E R

SRI. S.L PATIL, PRESIDENT

The complainant has filed this complaint U/s.12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 against the Opposite Party (herein after referred as OP) with a prayer to direct the OP to replace the laptop or refund of the amount of Rs.71,589/- and Rs.25,000/- towards compensation for mental agony and cost of the proceedings on the allegations of deficiency in service.

2. The brief allegations made in the complaint are as under:

That the complainant had purchased the Laptop by availing loan from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited on December 10, 2014 along with extended warranty for 2^nd and 3^rd year.  Since the date of purchase the Laptop has been erratic in its working due to overheating and is unable to be used.  To the best of his knowledge, there is no internal/external damage caused to the Laptop from the complainant side.  The Laptop is posing a lot of issues even after several troubleshooting procedures and part replacements by Dell representatives.

That the following is a chronological order of part replacements and troubleshooting:

1. 03 MAY 2015: Laptop formatting and rebooting (with assistance of online service executive)

2. 05 MAY 2015: Replacement of heat SYNC and fan.

3. 07 JUNE 2015: Replacement of motherboard assembly with heat sync and fan.

4. 28 JUNE 2015: Replacement of hard drive with heat sync and fan.

The complainant has purchased the said Laptop by paying total amount of Rs.71,589/- including extended warranty for 2^nd and 3^rd year in home warranty along with accidental damage service and 24x7 phone support.  That the complainant has found the following defects.

1. Broken bottom base of the laptop (in the due course of laptop part replacements, due to the carelessness and inexperience of the service engineer, it was broken which is not yet replaced).

2. Faulty functioning of touch screen after some time of usage.

3. The tract pad becomes unresponsive (tap to click does not work) after some time of usage.

4. Over heating issues in the central and right hand side portions of the laptop.

Hence the complainant approached the Forum seeking reliefs.

3. After issuance of notice, OP did appear and filed version.  The sum and substance of the contents of the version are, the OP does not have personal details as the residential status of the complainant and also whether the complainant is an employee of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd.  Further OP submits that OP does not have any personal details as to whether complainant had availed any loan from Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd., to purchase Dell Laptop.  OP admits that the complainant had purchased a Laptop bearing system Tag 39J0802 in the month of December 2014 from Reseller Compuindia (GNG Electronics Pvt. Ltd.,) for a sum of Rs.71,589/-.  That from the date of purchase the Laptop has been erratic in its working due to overheating and is unable to use is totally false and baseless allegation.  It is pertinent to state that Dell being an internationally reputed business house has set very high standards of quality check for each and every products manufactured by it.  The further statement of the complainant that to his best of knowledge, there is no internal/external damage caused to the Laptop is denied as the complainant refused to bring the Laptop for inspection to Dell Authorised Service Center for inspection as per warranty conditions.

That the complainant had taken assistance several times from OP is totally denied as false and concocted story.  The complainant has approached Dell three times for heating related issue and all these complaints were closed successfully.  The OP would like to highlight the fact that it was categorically informed to the complainant that he has to go to Dell Service Center with his laptop to have the laptop thoroughly checked, but complainant declined the same.  The service requests and the dates are provided herein below:

The OP admits to the fact that the complainant had purchased a Laptop with System bearing Tag 39J0802 from re-seller Compuindia (GNG Electronics Pvt Ltd.) as mentioned in above said para.  OP denies any allegation that any part was broken during the course of part replacement, due to carelessness and inexperience of the service engineer.  Further OP denies the faulty functioning of touch screen after some time of usage.  It is pertinent to state that touch screen malfunction is possible when the same is damaged by inappropriate usage.  OP denies that tract pad becomes unresponsible after some time of usage and any overheating issues in central and right hand side portions of the laptop.

OP takes care and maintains very high standards of quality inspections and sells Laptop systems post performing quality checks and before shipping out the materials; however Laptop being electronic devices is prone to fail due to various reasons.  Hence, OP provides warranty to address any trouble or technical assistance to resolve any issue of Laptop as per the terms and conditions of warranty offer.  The complainant has never approached to undertake any troubleshooting measures nor ready to visit Dell authorized service center as per the terms and conditions of the warranty offered to the complainant.  That the complainant without availing the warranty service available to redress any trouble has approached this Forum by misleading facts.  Complainant having not subjected the laptop for any inspection at the authorized service center has approached the Forum making baseless allegations.  That the complainant even now has every right to seek assistance and avail benefits of warranty offers as per the terms and conditions.  Hence on this ground and other grounds OP pray for dismissal of the complaint with compensatory cost.

4. To substantiate the allegations made in the complaint the complainant submitted his affidavit evidence reiterating the allegations made in the complaint.  On behalf of OP one Sri.Nitesh Ranjan, Authorised Representative of Dell International Service India Pvt. Ltd., submitted evidence by way of affidavit.  Both parties have produced certain documents.  We have heard oral arguments.

5. The points that arise for our consideration are:

        6. Our answer to the above points are as under:

REASONS

7. Point No.1:- We have briefly stated the contents of the complaint as well as the version filed by OP.  The undisputed facts which reveals from the pleadings of the parties goes to show that, the complainant purchased the Laptop from OP on 10^th December 2014 along with extended warranty for 2^nd and 3^rd year.  According to the case of the complainant, from the date of purchase the said Laptop has been erratic in its working due to overheating and unable to be used.  To the best of his knowledge, there was no internal/external damage caused to the laptop.  The laptop was posing a lot of issues even after troubleshooting procedures and part replacements by Dell representatives.  According to the complainant the defects are;

1. Broken bottom base of the laptop (in the due course of laptop part replacements, due to the carelessness and inexperience of the service engineer, it was broken which is not yet replaced).

2. Faulty functioning of touch screen after some time of usage.

3. The tract pad becomes unresponsive (tap to click does not work) after some time of usage.

4. Over heating issues in the central and right hand side portions of the laptop.

8. Though the parts were replaced but the problem was continued.  The say of the OP is the complainant refused to take the Laptop to the service centre due to the fact that the request was for replacement of the parts from OP side which are not interested in anymore since every replacement brings with it more problems like heating of the bottom of the touch screen and unresponsiveness of the touch screen.  For the proof of no tampering of the laptop from the complainant end, all the three service engineers who replaced the parts of the laptop have updated the same to the Dell servers.  Furthermore on every phone conversation with Dell representatives, the complainant has given liberty to the executive to pick the laptop from the residence location and take it to the service centre since complainant is not interested in wasting time in any more replacement parts.  On over all reading the contents of the complaint as well as the version, it is evident that, inspite of replacement of the parts, the problem in the said Laptop was continued.  It is settled proposition of law that, when the Laptop is in the warranty period the OP cannot escape from its liability i.e., either to repair the said laptop or else replace the similar set or else to pay the cost of the said laptop as per the invoice No.500053106 dated 12.12.2014 including VAT amount Rs.64,590/-.  Accordingly we answered point No.1.  

          9. Point No.2: In the result, we passed the following:         

  O R D E R

The complaint filed by the complainant is allowed in part.  OP is directed to repair the said laptop in a good condition or else replace the similar set or else to pay the cost of the said laptop as per the invoice No.500053106 dated 12.12.2014 including VAT amount Rs.64,590/-.   This order is to be comply within four weeks from the date of receipt of the order.

We directed both parties to bear their own costs.    

Supply free copy of this order to both the parties.

(Dictated to the Stenographer, got it transcribed and corrected, pronounced in the Forum on this 06^th day of May 2019)

MEMBER                                                              PRESIDENT

Vln*

Witnesses examined on behalf of the complainant dated 08.06.2016.

Sri.O.Shanmugam

Documents produced by the complainant:

  Witnesses examined on behalf of the Opposite party dated
  27.06.2016.

                  Sri.Nitesh Ranjan.

Documents produced by the Opposite party:

MEMBER                                                               PRESIDENT

Vln*