This complaint  having come up for final hearing before us on 04.02.2015  on perusal of the material records  and on hearing the  arguments of  Thiru.M.G.Rajmohan,  the counsel  for the complainant and Thiru.K.Chandramoham, the counsel for the 2^nd opposite party,  and the first opposite party remaining ex party   and having stood  before us for consideration, till this day the Forum  passed the following

By President, Thiru..P.G.Rajagopal, B.A.B.L., 

                       This complaint is filed by the complainant u/s 12 of the Consumer Protection

Act 1986.                    

                   2) The gist of the complaint filed  by the complainant  is that he purchased a Godrej  Fridge GDN 185 B.W Red along  with Life Guard Stabilizer  and Stand from the first opposite party  on  29.07.2011 for Rs.9600/ , the first opposite party has issued  double warranty card and catalog  of the Fridge user Guide, when the  fridge was  fitted in his residential house  and  operated it was  not  functioning properly having been the  shocked on the malfunctioning of the  fridge the complainant immediately  contacted the first opposite party to get the defect  rectified. 

The service personnelonly on 17.12.2011 replaced theGas cylinderwith a spare in the fridge, however after 20 days therefrigeratoragain started malfunctioning andon the complainant’s again complaining to thefirst opposite partythe latter did not respondand come forward to replacethe defective fridge with a new one.The complainant sent notice to the first opposite party on3.6.2012 and after one monththe second opposite party sent hiscompany staff namelyK.Natarajan who came tothe complainant’s Advocate’s office and promisedto settle the matteras soon as possible and the second opposite party alsosent a letter to the complainant’sadvocate on 30.07.2012 stating that no complaint has been bookedregarding the complainant’s problem and it is not the duty of the complaintto book the complaintto the second opposite party while hehas purchased it from the first opposite party an authorized dealer and thereforeit is sheer deficiency of service on the part of the first and second opposite parties.Thereforethe complainant prays fordirection from this Forum to pay a sum of Rs.1,00,000/ for the deficiency of service and dereliction of duty, to pay compensation ofRs.75,000/ for the mental agonysuffered by the complainantand Rs.25,000/ towards cost totalingRs.2,00,000/ andalsoto replacethe refrigerator with a properlyfunctioning machine and to grant such other reliefs as this Forumwould deem fit.

3) The first opposite party has been set exparte on 20.02.2014 for his non appearance before this Forum.

4) The gist of the written version filed by the 2^nd opposite party isthat the complainant has admittedly not addressedthe second opposite party at any point of time with respectto the alleged malfunctioning of therefrigeratorpurchased by him from the first opposite party, only onthe receipt of a notice from the complainant’sadvocate by the first opposite party, the second opposite party came to know through the first opposite party about the complainant’s alleged grievance relatingto the refrigerator purchasedby him from the first opposite party. In July 2012, the second opposite party’s servicestaff approached the complainant and askedtoregister a complaint with the second opposite party so that they would carry out thecheck up of therefrigeratorbutno such complaint hasbeen filed till date by the complainant.In such a situationthe complainant can not makeany allegationagainstthe second opposite party as no opportunitywas ever affordedto examinethe condition of the refrigerator nor can any causeof actionbe said to havearisen when thesecond opposite partyhas not even been askedto rectify any alleged defect. While no complaint has been received by the second opposite party, the second opposite party could not beheld responsiblefor thequality of repairs allegedly carried out by the first opposite party throughhis own staff. The complaint is therefore liable to be dismissed as unsustainable.

5. The complainant has filed his proof affidavit reiteratingall the averments made in his complaint and has filed 9 documentswhich are marked as Ex.A.1 to Ex.A.9 in support and proof of hisclaim in his complaint.The second opposite party filed his proof affidavit and two documents which are marked as Ex.B.1 and Ex.B.2.

                  6)   The points for Determination are:

                        1) Whether there is deficiency of service on the part of the opposite parties?

                        2) Whether the complainant is entitled to any relief? If so to what relief?

                    7)  POINT  NO.1:    The purchase of the refrigerator from the first opposite party is an admitted fact. Ex.A.1 is the order booking bill for the purchase of the  refrigerator by the complainant from the first opposite party. Ex.A.2 is the cash bill given by the first opposite party to the complainant for the purchase of refrigerator. Ex.A.3 is the  warranty card  for the  Life Guard Stabiliser. Ex.A.5 is the  double warranty card for the said refrigerator. Ex.A.6 is the receipt given by  the technician.  Ex.A.7 is the office copy of the notice issued by the complainant’s lawyer to the first opposite party. Ex.A.8 is the postal acknowledgement card received by the first opposite party and Ex.A.9 is the letter sent by the second opposite party to the complainant’s lawyer.

  8) The purchase of therefrigeratorfrom thefirst opposite party by the complainant is not disputed and the first opposite party who has sold the refrigerator to the complainantand who has received the complainant’s lawyer noticehas not even senta reply to the said notice. Worsethanthathe has notchosen to appear beforethis Forum to file his objections .Therefore non reply by the first opposite party to thelawyer’s notice sent by the complainant as well ashis failure to appear before this Forum gives an inevitable inference that he has no objection to put forth before this Forum with respect to the allegations made by the complainant in his complaint.As a dealer of the refrigerator the first opposite party is bound to heed ears to the representation of the complainant and take all possible efforts to give redressal to the complainant’s grievances.Only on the receipt of the lawyer’s noticeby him the second opposite party is apprisedof the complaint of the complainant and prior to that the first opposite party had not taken any efforts to inform the second opposite party to secure the service personnel to get the refrigerator serviced for rectification of thedefects alleged by the complainant.But the second opposite party, having been apprised of the grievanceof the complainantby the first opposite party only after the receipt of the lawyer’s notice, immediatelysenta letter to the complainant’s lawyer under Ex.B.2 requesting him to registera complaint at the call centre number and also requesting to provide the phone number of the customer so thattheycould book the complaint if he is not able tobook the complaint.Butit seems that the complainant has neither registered a complaintat the call centre number 1800 209 5511mentionedin the Ex.B.2 nor provided his phone number to the second opposite party so as to enablethemselves tobook the complaint.Therefore the second opposite party can not be allegedwith any deficiency of service for the reason that no prior notice was given to the second opposite partypriorto the filing of the complaint and further even immediatelyhaving got knowledge of the complaint made by the complainant, the second opposite party has promptly sent a letter to the complainant’s advocate under Ex.B.2.Had the complainantregistered a complaint orat least provided his phone number to the opposite party as provided by him thelatter would havegot the defect of the refrigerator rectifiedthrough his service personnelin time.Having failed to complywith the request of the second opposite party made under Ex.B.2 the complainant is notjustified in making such allegation of deficiency of service against thesecond opposite party.Therefore, the second opposite party can not be held to be deficient in his service. But the first opposite party having failed to make arrangements to get the defects of the refrigerator rectified through the servicepersonnel of the second opposite party in timeand having beenevasive and lethargicthrough outwithout taking any steps togive redressalto the complainant is totally deficient in his servicetowards thecomplainant.

9) POINT NO.2:    In the result, the complaint is  allowed in part as against the  1^st opposite party and  is dismissed as against  the 2^nd opposite party.   The first opposite party is directed either  to replace the defective refrigerator sold to the complainant with a new refrigerator of the same model  or all its equalent or to  pay  the sum of Rs. 9600/ the price of the refrigerator with  interest at the rate of 12% per annum from 29.07.2011  the date of sale of the said refrigerator till  the date of its  realization and to pay Rs.10,000/ (Rupees ten thousand only) towards compensation for the mental agony and hardship  of the complainant  owing  to the deficiency of service  of the first opposite party and also to pay Rs.5000/ (Rupees five thousand only) towards cost of the litigation to the complainant.  The  said amount of  compensation  of Rs. 10,000/   shall be paid  by the 1^st opposite party to the complainant within 30 days   from the date of this order, failing which  the said amount shall carry an interest at the rate of 12% per annum from the date of this order till date of  its payment

                 This order was dictated by me to the Steno Typist, transcribed by her and corrected  and pronounced by me on this  12th  day of  March 2015.

MEMBER I                                                                                                 PRESIDENT

List of documents on the side of the complainant:                                                            

List of documents on the side of the 2^nd opposite party:

MEMBER                                                                                          PRESIDENT