DISTRICT  CONSUMER  DISPUTES  REDRESSAL  FORUM,  PATIALA.

 

Consumer Complaint No.280  of  30/07/2018

                      Decided on: 13/12/2018

 

Jimmy Jhamb S/o Sh. Gian Chand Jhamb, H. No.82, Gurbax Colony, Gaushala Road, Backside Peer Baba, Rajpura-140401, Patiala

     ….Complainant

Versus 

Reliance Trends (Reliance Retail Limited), Omaxe Mall, Lower Ground Floor, Shop No.23-26, Opp. Kalidevi Mandir, Mall Road, Patiala-147001, Punjab

      ….Opposite party

 

Complaint under Section 12 of the

Consumer Protection Act, 1986.

QUORUM

Smt. Neelam Gupta,  Member

Sh. Kawaljeet Singh, Member

 

ARGUED BY:

Sh. Manik Makkar Adv. counsel for the complainant. Sh. Sanjay Bharaj Adv. counsel for the OP.

 

ORDER 

 

                            NEELAM GUPTA,  MEMBER

1.           The complainant visited Reliance Trends with his friend and they were induced by the ongoing offer of buy one get one free on the peter England brand. (i.e. the item whose cost was less, amongst the two, was  to be offered free as per the offer). The complainant purchased 4 items under the offer and as per the offer 2 items were to be given free. The complainant purchased the following item:

* 1 Shirt for Rs. 1299/-

* 1 shirt for Rs.1399/-

* 1 Trouser for Rs.1599/-

* 1 Trouser for Rs.1699/-

According to the offer, the complainant was to be given two items free ( which as per the logic of any customer/ layman would be one shirt costing Rs.1299/- and one trouser costing Rs.1599/-. Considering the lower value items as per the benefit of the customer, thus total discount amounting to Rs.2898/-. However, the company offered the free item as one shirt costing Rs.1299/- and one shirt costing Rs.1399/-. The complainant requested the store manager to split the bill as under:

Bill I

1  Shirt for      Rs.1299/-

1   Shirt for     Rs.1399/-

(Thus availing the discount of Rs.1299/- of the lower value item.)

Bill  II

1  Trouser for Rs.1599/-

1  Trouser for Rs.1699/-

(Thus availing discount of Rs.1599/- of lower value item.)

2. After a discussion of around 30 minutes with the Sales Executive, Cashier, Supervisor & Manager of the store, they were not ready to split the bill.  The only thing they stuck to & recited again and again was “its is the system that is generating the bill and the system is always right.” The complainant was left with no other option and he paid the bill amount and got the bill. The complainant also sent Emails to customercare.trends@ril.com but the Email was not delivered to the Email ID given on the cash memo. The complainant underwent a lot of harassment, mental agony and also suffered monetarily. Such an act of the OP amounted to unfair trade practice on the part of the OP. Ultimately, the complainant approached  this Forum u/s 12 of the Consumer Protection Act (for short the Act) 1986.

3. On notice, OP appeared through   its counsel and filed its reply to the complaint. In its preliminary submissions, it has been clearly mentioned by the OP that it displayed the offer of ‘Buy 1 get 1’ with a condition that the lower merchandise amongst the merchandise purchased would be given free and accordingly the OP in compliance of the declared offer gave 2 lower value merchandise free out of 4 merchandise purchased by the complainant. The complainant wants to twist and turn the said offer in his own favour in order to get undue advantage. As such OP has not indulged in any unfair trade practice. On merits, after admitting the fact the complainant purchased the items in disputes from the OP, OP has denied all the allegations made in the complaint. Ultimately, it was prayed to dismiss the complaint. 

4. In support of the complaint, complainant has tendered in evidence Ex.CA his sworn affidavit along with document Ex.C-1 & Ex.-2 copies of Emails, Ex.C-3 Copy of Invoice, Ex.C-4 copy of Aadhaar Card  and closed the evidence.

5. Ld. Counsel for the OP has tendered Ex.OPA, affidavit of Sh. Rachit Bansal, Store Manager of the Op and closed the evidence of the OP.

6. We have heard the ld. counsel for the parties and have also gone through the record of the case, carefully.

7. Ex.C-3 is the copy of the Invoice, whereby the complainant purchased few items from OP. The complainant purchased 4 items i.e. (2 shirts + 2 Trousers) from the OP under the offer of ‘Buy 1 Get 1’. He purchased 2 shirts for Rs.1399/-  and Rs.1299/- respectively for which the OP was to charge Rs.1399/- as per the offer and the shirt costing Rs.1299/-  was to be given free. The complainant also purchased 2 trousers for Rs.1699/- and Rs.1599/- respectively, for which the OP was to charge Rs.1699/- as per the offer and the trouser costing Rs.1599/- was to be given free. The plea taken by the OP is that the complainant misunderstood the scheme and he is misrepresenting  the term of  the said offer. The offer of OP i.e. “Buy one get one Free” is a misleading slogan used by the OP just to lure more and more buyers, as the OP is not providing actual benefit of such offer to  prudent buyers by not allowing to split the bills as to get maximum benefit of the said offer. Thus this slogan is certainly misleading and amounts to unfair trade practice  on the part of the OP.

8. In the present case, the OP launched  the sale promotion scheme with the offer of ‘Buy 1 Get 1’. As such the complainant purchased 2 shirts i.e. for Rs.1399/- & Rs.1299/- and as per the scheme the OP was to charge Rs.1399/- for both the shirts. He further purchased 2 trousers (under the scheme Buy 1 Get 1) for Rs.1699/- & Rs.1599/- respectively. The OP was to charge Rs.1699/- for both the trousers. But the OP charged Rs.1699/- + Rs.1599/-= Rs.3298/- from the complainant instead of charging an amount of Rs.3098/- (Rs.1399/- + Rs.1699/-= Rs.3098/-) which shows that the OP charged Rs.200/- extra from the complainant, which amounted to unfair trade practice on its part. 

9. In view of the aforesaid discussion, we partly allow the complaint of the complainant with a direction to the Op to refund the amount of Rs.200/- charged extra from the complainant. OP is further directed to pay a sum of Rs.3000/- as compensation for the harassment undergone by the complainant which is inclusive of the cost of litigation. The O P is further directed to comply the order within a period of 30 days from the date of receipt of the certified copy of this order. Certified copy of this order be sent to the parties free of costs under the rules. Thereafter file be indexed and consigned to the Record Room. 

ANNOUNCED

DATED:  13/12/2018

 

Kanwaljeet Singh           Neelam Gupta                        Member                    Member