Pawan Aggarwal filed a consumer case on 20 Dec 2023 against The Managing Director/C.E.O in the Ambala Consumer Court. The case no is CC/334/2020 and the judgment uploaded on 22 Dec 2023.
Haryana
Ambala
CC/334/2020
Pawan Aggarwal - Complainant(s)
Versus
The Managing Director/C.E.O - Opp.Party(s)
Suksham Aggarwal
20 Dec 2023
ORDER
BEFORE THE DISTRICT CONSUMER DISPUTES REDRESSAL COMMISSION, AMBALA.
Complaint case no.
:
334 of 2020
Date of Institution
:
21.12.2020
Date of decision
:
20.12.2023
Pawan Aggarwal aged 57 Years son of Late Sh. Indersain Aggarwal resident of H.No.1408/6, Talkies Road, Near P.N.Bank, Ambala City and Manager at Bless life Health care, Ambala City.
……. Complainant
Versus
The Managing Director/C.E.O. Kurlon-On Mattresses Shop No. NB 01, Basement Floor, Manipal Centre, Dickenson Road, Bengaluru, Karnataka 560042
The Proprietor/Partner Vishal Furniture Traders, Outlet at # 58-59, SB Road, Old Ice Factory, Ambala Cantt, Haryana
….…. Opposite Parties
Before: Smt. Neena Sandhu, President.
Smt. Ruby Sharma, Member,
Shri Vinod Kumar Sharma, Member.
Present:- Ms. Suksham Aggarwal, Advocate, counsel for the complainant.
Shri Arun Dogra, Advocate, counsel for the OPs.
Order: Smt. Neena Sandhu, President.
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:-
To refund an amount of Rs.16,800/-
To compensate the complainant by paying Rs.30,000/- on account of mental harassment and agony
To pay cost of litigation to the tune of Rs.10,000/-.
OR
Grant any other relief which this Hon’ble Commission may deems fit.
Brief facts of the case are that the complainant purchased two single bed Kurlon Ortho Magic 75"* 36" 5" mattresses from OP No.2 and had paid the amount of Rs.16,800/- through Bank transfer on 26.07.2020. Complainant was also issued bill no.183 dated 26.07.2020. OP No.1 is the manufacturer of the said bed mattresses. At the time of purchase, OP No.2 told that the mattresses of the Kurlon Company are one of the best in quality suitable for the persons with orthopedic problems and back aches. They told that the mattresses carry a warranty of 7 years and the product has proved to be useful and good going even after the expiry of the warranty period. The complainant, who is having pain in the spinal cord and other orthopedic problems, thus purchased the above mattresses for his personal use from the OP No.2. Just after the purchase, both the mattresses started sagging in the middle and on the edges after single use. The complainant had not even used the mattresses for a month and he caught such a huge problem with the mattresses as the same appeared to be a defective product. The complainant called OP No.2 who directed him to talk directly to the customer care and refused to provide any help in this regard, even though the mattresses carried 7 years warranty. The complainant then contacted the customer care on various numbers and after putting his calls on hold for long duration, they either disconnected the call of complainant or promised him to call back, which they never did. The complainant was given Complaint Nos. 1905681 dated 17.08.2020 and Complaint No. 1951870 dated 02.09.2020 through customer care of Kurlon mattresses for the faulty product sold to him. However, none of the representative of the Company ever addressed the complaint of the complainant. The complainant even complained to the customer care of the company through e-mail, but they never bothered to reply. Hence, the present complaint.
Upon notice, OPs appeared and filed written version wherein they raised preliminary objections to the effect that the present complaint is liable to be dismissed as no cause of action survives in favor of the complainant and against the OPs; the mattress in question does not suffer from any manufacturing defect and the same are of the highest quality and fully complied with the assurances and specifications; the complainant has failed to make out any case of any deficiency in service; the present proceedings filed by the complainant are misconceived in law and on facts, as also not maintainable under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 etc. On merits, it has been stated that pursuant to the complaint raised by the complainant, the case of the complainant was dealt with by the OPs in accordance with the settled procedure. The complainant purchased a set of mattresses from the OPs, however the complainant originally raised complaint of one mattress only, which was registered vide complaint ID No.1905681. However later on he raised the issue regarding second mattress as well, which was registered vide complaint ID No.1951870. Immediately upon receiving the respective complaints from the complainant, the OPs dealt with the same in accordance with the settled procedure and on the very same day of registering the complaints, link was shared by the OPs with the complainant with the list of requirements to upload the documents. The complainant was asked to share the sagging measurement. The complainant asked the OPs for sharing the sample video and accordingly the OPs sent the sagging sample video via email, however the complainant failed to share the sagging video. On the basis of two images sent by the complainant, the complaint was rejected being sagging less than 1.5 inches. Although the complaint of complainant was not maintainable for replacement, as the sagging was less than 1.5 inches, however as a gesture of goodwill and in the spirit of consumerism, the complaint of complainant was approved as an exception and accordingly mattresses were replaced on 23.02.2021 and 09.06.2021, with fresh mattresses. Despite the fact that the mattresses of the complainant already stands replaced by the OPs with fresh mattresses, however the complainant did not bother to bring the aforesaid fact on record, as such the complaint filed by the complainant is also liable to be dismissed on this score alone. The complaint is liable to be dismissed more particularly owing to the fact that the mattresses of complainant already stands replaced with fresh ones as an exceptional case. Rest of the averments of the complainant were denied by OPs and prayed for dismissal of the present complaint with compensatory costs.
It is pertinent to mention here that the complainant failed to lead any evidence despite availing various opportunities, therefore, evidence of the complainant have been closed by the order of this Commission on 12.04.2023. On the other hand, learned counsel for OPs tendered evidence of Alok Singh Bisht, Business Officer of OP No.1-M/s Kurlon Enterprise Limited, Plot No.56-58, Gurudev Nagar, Pabhat Road, Zirakpur, Punjab-140603 as Annexure OP-1 and closed the evidence on behalf of OPs.
We have heard the learned counsel for complainant and learned counsel for OPs and have also carefully gone through the case file and also gone through the written arguments filed by the learned counsel for the OPs.
At the outset, the learned counsel for the OPs submitted that since the mattresses in question stood replaced by the OPs on 23.02.2021 and 09.06.2021, with new mattresses as a goodwill gesture, as such, now the complaint is liable to be dismissed. The learned counsel for the complainant has not denied the factum of replacement of the mattresses in question by the OPs. It may be stated here that the complainant filed the present complaint on 21.12.2020 and the mattresses in question have been replaced by the OPs on 23.02.2021 and 09.06.2021, i.e during the pendency of the complaint which fact has not been disputed by the counsel for the complainant. Had the OPs replaced the said defective mattresses earlier, the complainant would have escaped from entering into this unnecessary litigation. Since the OPs have replaced the mattresses in question during the pendency of the complaint they are thus liable to compensate the complainant for the mental agony and physical harassment suffered by him alongwith litigation expenses.
In view of the aforesaid discussion, we hereby partly allow the present complaint and direct the OPs, in the following manner:-
(i) To pay Rs.5,000/-, as compensation for the mental agony and physical harassment suffered by the complainant.
(ii) To pay Rs.3,000/- as litigation expenses.
It is further directed that OPs shall comply with the aforesaid directions, jointly and severally, within the period of 45 days, from the date of receipt of the certified copy of the order, failing which the OPs shall pay interest @8% per annum on the awarded amount, from the date of default, till realization. Certified copy of this order be supplied to the parties concerned, forthwith, free of cost as permissible under Rules. File be indexed and consigned to the Record Room.
Announced:- 20.12.2023
(Vinod Kumar Sharma)
(Ruby Sharma)
(Neena Sandhu)
Member
Member
President
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