Complainant Manik Gupta through the present complaint filed under Section 12 of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 (for short, ‘the Act’) had prayed that the directions may kindly be issued to the opposite party to deliver the amount of Rs.500/- along with interest. He had further claimed Rs.7,000/- as compensation for harassment and mental agony suffered by him at the hands of opposite party and had also claimed Rs.5,000/- as litigation expenses.

2.       The case of the complainant in brief is that on 31.12.2015, he booked an order No.OD304841662907263000 dated 31.12.2015 for getting “Moto G Turbo Mobile” for Rs.14499/- to Flipkart WS Retail Services Pvt. Ltd. and there was an offer due till 31^st Dec. The said offer was referred and win store credit Rs.500/- both via Ping on Flipkart app and received the mobile phone on dated 05.01.2016 and on the same day complainant called to 18004201111 for store credit of Rs.500/- to opposite party and they informed that “Ping Rs.500/- was transferred store credit was to be credited in between 1^st Feb. 2016 to 6^th Feb. 2016. It was pleaded that after the above said complaint and giving calls many times the opposite party promised to solve the complaint as before 14 Feb. 2016 and again promised by 20 Feb. at 9.00 P.M. to the complainant and again when he gave call to the Flipkart Customer Care No. 18004201111, the opposite party changed their statement that complainant was not eligible for receiving Rs.500/- and no response was given by the opposite party. Complainant again requested to the opposite party through complaint but they said that he would not receive his offered amount. It was further pleaded that due to this illegal act of the opposite party he had suffered harassment and mental agony which amounts to deficiency in service on their part. It was also pleaded that office of the opposite party is situated at the above said address which is mentioned in the title of the complaint, hence this complaint.

3. Notice of the complaint was served upon the opposite party who appeared through their counsel and filed the written reply by taking the preliminary objections that complainant had suppressed the true and material facts and had not approached this Hon’ble Forum with clean hands and tried to mislead the Hon’ble Forum by presenting a concocted story and as such present complaint is not maintainable and is liable to be dismissed on this ground alone; From the perusal of the complaint it had transpired that the entire grievance of the complainant was with regard to alleged non-credit of Rs.500/- as store credit on his account. It was stated that the terms and conditions of the said contest was not read by the complainant before claiming for store credit of Rs.500/- being not eligible for the same and the terms and conditions of the policy was as under:-

1. To be eligible, you should have first purchased any Moto device from Flipkart (Offer applicable for old buyers of the devices) and then shared either a Moto G3 or a Moto G Turbo device from 25^th December, 2015 to 31^st December, 2015 with your friend(s) on Ping. If your friend(s) buy the device that you have shared on the Flipkart App in between 25^th December, 2015 to 31^st December, 2015 then you are eligible for the store credit offer.  
2. The bought & shared product(s) must be from the two devices as mentioned above.
3. All users of Ping who would have shared the device and a friend(s) buying the same, both shall be eligible for a Store Credit worth Rs.500/-.

It was stated that complainant had ordered for his phone on 31^st December 2015 and he was supposed to refer the same to any of his friend over Ping and that friend was supposed to buy the device as well which obviously did not happen in the present complaint and as such Store Credit was declined. On merits, it was stated that mobile set was purchased by the complainant from one “WS Retail Services Pvt. Ltd.” which was different and separate entity from the opposite party. It was denied that product i.e. mobile set was purchased by the complainant from Flipkart WS Retail Services Pvt. Ltd.” as opposite party was a mere platform for facilitating the transaction between registered sellers and buyers whereas WS Retail Services Pvt. Ltd. is registered seller on the website www.flipkart.com. It was further stated that as per the terms and conditions of the contest complainant was not found eligible for the store credit of Rs.500/- as he had failed to refer the products to any of his friend(s) on Ping which was mandatory as per the terms and conditions of the contest and as such store credit was declined to the complainant. It was denied that any full response was given to the complainant by the opposite party. It was stated that complainant was not eligible for receiving Rs.500/- as a store credit as he had not fulfilled the terms and conditions of the offer/scheme. All other averments made in complaint have been vehemently denied and lastly prayed for dismissal of the complaint with exemplary cost and also prayed that any other orders may kindly be passed which this Hon’ble Forum may deem fit.  

4.       Complainant had tendered into evidence his own affidavit Ex.CW1/A along with documents Ex.C1 to Ex.C4 and closed the evidence.  

5.       Counsel for the opposite party had tendered into evidence affidavit of Mr.Jatin Gulati authorized signatory Ex.OP-1 and closed the evidence on behalf of opposite party.

6.       We have carefully examined all the documents/evidence produced on record and have duly considered and perused the arguments as put forth by the learned counsels for the present litigants of course in the back-drop of the otherwise vital documents that however have been somehow ignored to be produced for no explainable reason. We find that the present complainant has produced sufficient documentary evidence (Ex.C1 to Ex.C4) on records to prove that he did successfully perform his role (in full) as prescribed by the OP vendors to have become eligible for a ‘win-score’ credit of Rs.500/- in his account that somehow was refused giving prompt to the present complaint.

7.       We further find the OP vendor’s denial/refusal to the allured assured ‘win score’ credit preceded by repeatedly mailed ‘assurances’ do amount to ‘unfair trade practices’ under the applicable statute and thus attract an adverse ‘award’ under the provisions of the same (popularly known as: the Consumer Protection Act, 1986). The OP vendors have failed to produce any cogent evidence to  support  that  the  terms  and  conditions  ‘disqualifying’  the  complainant  to the  ‘win-score’  credit  were  ever  conveyed  to  him  at  the  time  of  putting  forth  the  present  Sale-promotional  ‘offer’,  in   question.  Finally, we determine that the OP’s defense pleadings as made out in the written statement and the concurring affidavit Ex.OP1 shall amount to mere ‘bald’ statements in the absence of the requisite support of some definite and cogent documentary evidence. Going by the evidence as available on records, we find the OP vendor to have indulged in ‘unfair trade practices’ that attract hefty ‘punitive’ damages but seeing its otherwise an overall averagely good reputation, we let it go with ‘censure’ only.         

8.       In the light of the all above, we partly allow the present complaint and thus ORDER the titled opposite party Vendor to credit the ‘win score’ amount in the complainant’s account besides to pay him Rs.5,000/- as cost and compensation for the undue harassment, humiliation and litigation etc.; within 30 days of the receipt of the copy of these orders otherwise the above OP shall also be liable to pay interest @ 9% PA from the date of the present orders till actually paid

9. Copy of the order be communicated to the parties free of charges. After compliance, file be consigned to records.

        (Naveen Puri)

                                                                               President.                                                                                 

ANNOUNCED:                                                (Jagdeep Kaur)

AUG. 04, 2016                                                          Member.

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