Haryana

Ambala

CC/5/2022

Anubhav Jain - Complainant(s)

Versus

Samsung India Electronics Pvt Ltd - Opp.Party(s)

In Person

21 Nov 2022

ORDER

BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, AMBALA.

Complaint case no.	:	05 of 2022
Date of Institution	:	03.01.2022
Date of decision	:	21.11.2022

Anubhav Jain son of Shri Amit Kumar Jain, Resident of H. No.RN-13, Mahesh Nagar, Near Shiv Mandir Kabir Nagar, Ambala Cantt, Distt. Ambala, Haryana (133001).                                                                                                                                                                                                ……. Complainant.

                                                Versus

1. Samsung India Electronics Pvt. Ltd. Through its Managing Director & CEO having Registered Office at 6th Floor, DLF Centre, Sansad Marg, New Delhi- 110 001.
2. Shri Gautam Sehgal, Director, Samsung India Electronics Pvt. Ltd. having Registered Office at 6th Floor, DLF Centre, Sansad Marg, New Delhi-110001.

                                                                                   ….…. Opposite Parties

Before:        Smt. Neena Sandhu, President.

                             Smt. Ruby Sharma, Member,

          Shri Vinod Kumar Sharma, Member.           

 

Present:      Shri Amit Kumar Jain, authorized representative of the                                complainant.

                             Shri Rajeev Sachdeva, Advocate, counsel for the OPs.                      

Order:        Smt. Neena Sandhu, President.

1.                Complainant has filed this complaint under Section 35 of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Act’) against the Opposite Parties (hereinafter referred to as ‘OPs’) praying for issuance of following directions to them:-

                   (A)     To pay Rs.1,00,000/-, to the complainant on account of      torture, mental agony and physical harassment caused to him.

(B)     To pay the cash back amount of Rs.10,000/-.

(C)     To pay Rs.5,500/-,  the cost of legal notice.

                                                         OR  

                   Grant any other relief which this Hon'ble Commission may deems    fit.

2.             Brief facts of the case are that the complainant purchased one mobile phone i.e. Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G on 20.04.2021 for Rs. 97,649/- vide Invoice No. BWIMP2122106255 dated 21.04.2021. The said mobile was purchased from Samsung's corporate website https://www.samsung.com/in/store/corporate/ (which is an eStore for corporate employees of partner companies). Under the Employee Purchase Program, exclusive discounts/offers are given to the customers. The complainant is an employee of M/s Google, which makes him eligible for purchases from Samsung's corporate website https://www.samsung.com/in/store/corporate. The following offers were applicable on purchase of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G phone:

a. An Instant Cashback offer of Rs.10,000/- is applicable on payment through HDFC Bank Credit card as Full Swipe or EMIS and through Debit Cards as EMIs, with offer duration from 03.04.2021 to 30.04.2021. The offer is valid once a month per customer per card for purchase of Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G Mobile from Samsung eStore. In the offer, there is another condition that the offer cannot be clubbed with any other offer unless specifically mentioned.

b. An Exchange offer with an additional upgrade bonus of upto Rs.10,000/- is also applicable on the purchase if an old mobile phone is exchanged. This bonus is subject to physical check of the old device. List of old device models which can be exchanged is mentioned in the offer's TnC. For Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra, the upgrade bonus for normal device(old) models is Rs.7,000/-, and for focus models is Rs.10,000/-. Xiaomi Mi A1 device is listed as normal model in the document. The exchange offer is provided by Samsung in collaboration with "Manak Waste Management P Ltd (Cashify) and evaluation and exchange is subject to terms and conditions of Cashify. In the point 9 of additional Exchange offer, it is mentioned that

1. In case your exchange is rejected due to any reason whatsoever, you will not be eligible for the exchange value as well as this additional upgrade bonus provided by Samsung. No claims shall be entertained in this regard.
2. This offer is valid on Samsung.com and in select pin codes only and shall be available till 31.05.2021.
3.  This offer shall be valid in addition to the already running Upgrade Program and shall be available on exchange of selected Smartphone device only as detailed in Annexure, with a new Samsung Galaxy s21 / s21+ / s21 Ultra.
4. Further in the point 12 of additional Exchange offer, it is mentioned that this offer cannot be clubbed with any other offer as well as NBFC EMIS unless specifically mentioned. So I would like to inform you that the complainant had made a payment with HDFC Bank Credit Card as full swipe and not from NBFC EMIs. For this offer, the complainant only got a total of Rs.1,570/- after returning the old mobile device and the company credited Rs.7,000/- as per offer. This offer is not challenged by the complainant as per terms and conditions.
5. Galaxy Watch Active2 BT or Buds Pro Bundle offer is also applicable, wherein you can get either a Galaxy Watch Active2 BT (Aluminum) or Galaxy Buds Pro at Rs.990/- and the offer period shall be available from 01.04.2021 to 30.04.2021 on purchasing device on Samsung Shop or any eCommerce Portals (Online Outlets). The complainant was able to redeem this offer and the device (watch) has been delivered successfully on payment of Rs.990/-
6.  Free Accidental & Liquid Damage Insurance offer applicable and received. e. Free "Times prime" membership for 1 year - applicable and received.

          All the offers were valid when the complainant purchased the phone, and had their own independent pre-conditions which were all fulfilled by the complainant. The Instant Cashback on HDFC Bank Credit Card was not given to the complainant, which was the 1st clause on payment itself. The complainant was surprised and felt cheated that the instant cashback offer was not allowed, favoring the exchange offer over cashback offer even though the latter is additional and conditional against the physical check of the old mobile, which is done after delivery of product. There was no message on the payment screen which would mention that the complainant would be devoid of the cashback offer, even though the complainant had made payment using an HDFC Bank Credit Card. The exchange offer: get upto additional Rs.10,000/- on exchange of old mobile is named as additional and on exchange of old mobile only, which is not a part of instant cash back and exchange price is based on select devices only (Rs.7,000/- upgrade bonus on purchasing S21 Ultra while exchanging a normal model phone, etc.). Also, offers on all 3 mobile models are not same, with price varying in range Rs.5000 Rs.10,000/-. Other offers to get the (i) Galaxy Watch Active2 BT (Aluminium) at Rs.990/-, (i) insurance & (iii) "Times prime" membership were provided & received. Being fed up and aggrieved, the complainant had sent a legal notice dated 11.10.2021 to the OPs with Registered AD / UPC and also by email through Shri Keshava Sarup Chopra, Advocate and the notice has been duly served on the OPs but to no avail. Hence this complaint.

3.                Upon notice, the OPs appeared and filed written version and raised preliminary objections with regard to maintainability, cause of action, not come with clean hands and suppressed the material facts, locus standi, bad for non-joinder & mis-joinder etc. On merits, it has been stated that as per the existing policies, the complainant availed exchange offer on the handset wherein the cash back of Rs.7,000/- has already been provided to the complainant. As per the terms & conditions, which the complainant mistakenly might have ignored, two cash back/offers cannot be clubbed together, meaning thereby on one purchase, only one offer can be availed by a purchaser and this fact is proved with the document that has been annexed by the complainant with his complaint. It is clearly mentioned in the documents filed by the complainant i.e. condition- THIS OFFER CANNOT BE CLUBBED WITH ANY OTHER OFFER UNLESS SPECIFICALLY MENTIONED. The company provided one-year warranty on the unit, meaning thereby that in case of any problem with the product, the unit will be repaired or its parts will be replaced as per company policy and the warranty of the unit (warranty means only repair not replacement) and also the warranty is subject to some conditions and the warranty of the unit becomes void in the following conditions:-

1. Liquid Logged/water logging

2. Physically Damage.

3. Serial No. missing.

4. Tampering.

5. Mishandling/Burnt etc.

Rest of the averments of the complainant were denied by the OPs and prayed for dismissal of the present complaint with heavy costs.

4.       Authorized representative for the complainant tendered affidavit of complainant as Annexure CA alongwith documents as Annexure C-1 and C-7 and closed the evidence on his behalf. Learned counsel for the OPs tendered affidavit of Shri Sandeep Sahijwani C/o Samsung India Electronic Pvt. Ltd., 6^th Floor, DLF Centre, Sansad Marg, New Delhi-110001 as Annexure OP1/A alongwith documents Annexure R-1 to R-4 and closed the evidence on behalf of OPs.

5.       We have heard the authorized representative of the complainant and learned counsel for the OPs and carefully gone through the case file.

6.       Complainant submitted that since as per terms and conditions referred to above, the OPs were bound to pay the additional exchanged offer of Rs.10,000/- over and above the other benefits, as such, by not paying the said amount of Rs.10,000/-, the OPs have committed deficiency in providing service.

7.       On the other hand, learned counsel for the OPs submitted that as per the existing policies, the complainant availed exchange offer on the handset wherein the cash back of Rs.7000/- has already been provided the complainant. He further submitted that the complainant mistakenly ignored that two cash back/offers cannot be clubbed together, meaning thereby on one purchase, only one offer can be availed by a purchaser

8.       Since, the other facts with regard to sale of the mobile in question to the complainant; payment made by him to the OPs towards sale of the said mobile; one offer of Rs.7,000/- given to the complainant by the OPs are not in dispute, as such, the only question which needs to be decided by this Commission is, as to whether, the complainant is also entitled to get additional exchange offer amount of Rs.10,000/- from the OPs or not?  It may be stated here that the present dispute arose, when the OPs failed to give cashback offer of Rs.10,000/- to the complainant, in line with the terms and conditions, Annexure C-4, which was payable in case the consumer makes payment through HDFC Credit/Debit Cards. Admittedly, in the present case, the complainant has purchased the mobile in question through his HDFC Bank Credit Card, yet, the OPs did not give him the said offer of Rs.10,000/- as committed vide Annexure C-4. In our considered opinion, the said exchange offer given vide Annexure C-3 on account of exchange of mobile phones and the offer given vide Annexure C-4, on making payment through HDFC Credit/Debit Cards are two different offers and cannot be clubbed together. However, by doing so, the OPs have committed deficiency in providing service. Thus, the complainant is held entitled to get cashback amount of Rs.10,000/- from the OPs.

9.               In view of aforesaid discussion, we hereby allow the present complaint and direct the OPs, in the following manner:-

1. To pay Rs.10,000/-, under the scheme of instant cash back to the complainant.       
2. To pay Rs.3,000/- as compensation for the mental agony and physical harassment suffered by the complainant.
3. To pay Rs.2,000/-, as litigation expenses.

 

The OPs are further directed to comply with the aforesaid directions within the period of 45 days from the date of receipt of the certified copy of this order, failing which the OPs shall pay interest @ 6% per annum on the awarded amount besides litigation expenses, for the period of default, till realization. Certified copies of the order be sent to the parties concerned as per rules.  File be annexed and consigned to the record room.

Announced:- 21.11.2022.

 

(Vinod Kumar Sharma)	(Ruby Sharma)	(Neena Sandhu)
Member	Member	President