Snag in new product: Exercise right to refund

Pushpa Girimaji

In May last year, I bought an air conditioner for our bedroom. The machine, however, worked only for a month and during the height of summer, stopped functioning. On our complaint, the company sent a mechanic, who, after examining the air conditioner, said its compressor was not working and had to be replaced. However, this was never done. Every time I called, the company gave a lengthy explanation for the delay and said the machine would be fixed soon. However, it never happened. Subsequently, the company admitted that the compressor was not available as it had stopped manufacturing the model that I had bought. They are now offering me a new, split air conditioner (I had bought a window model earlier) of higher capacity, but at 50 per cent its cost, in lieu of the old model. Is this a fair deal? The new model is certainly very good, but I have to shell out 50 per cent of its cost.

I would straight away ask you not to take that offer. The company sold you an outdated machine, with a defective compressor. And it stopped working within just one month! So the company has to either give you a full refund along with interest and compensation for the suffering undergone by you in the hot summer months without the AC, or offer you a new, better model, but without charging anything extra. If such a model is more expensive than what you have bought, the company has to absorb the extra cost and treat it as compensation for the harassment undergone by you and your family. That would be a fair deal and not what the company is offering.

If the company disagrees, should I go to the consumer court? Can you quote a similar case for my benefit?

I would suggest that you first try to get the company to see reason in your demand. Do this through the ‘Convergence Initiative’ of the National Consumer Helpline, run by the Indian Institute of Public Administration, on behalf of the union ministry of consumer affairs. Log on to nationalconsumerhelpline.in and check if the company from which you bought the air conditioner is registered with them. If so, send your complaint to the National Consumer Helpline and they will forward it to the company and you may well get relief. If not, you will have to file a complaint before the consumer court.

I will quote for your reference, Jugnu Dhillon Vs Reliance Digital Retail Ltd and others, decided by the Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in 2014 (FA NO 359 of 2012). This case is somewhat similar to yours. Here, the complainant bought two air conditioners in February and got them installed. In May, when they started using the ACs, one of the two did not work and the complainant was told that the compressor was defective, but the company cannot replace the AC, as demanded by the consumer, as it was an old model and they did not have any of those.

The complainant refused to accept the repaired AC and demanded either a refund or a replacement with a new model. On failing to get either, the complainant filed a consumer complaint. Unfortunately, the consumer court at the district level looked at the one-sided warranty of the manufacturer and not the right to refund or replacement given under the Consumer Protection Act and held that the complainant was bound by terms and conditions of the warranty that only promised rectification of the defect or replacement of the defective parts! So the complainant filed an appeal before the consumer court at the state level.

The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission set aside the order of the lower consumer court and directed the retailer and the manufacturer to refund the cost of the air conditioner, along with compensation for mental agony and harassment and cost of litigation. While doing so, it observed that the Commission had, on a number of occasions, reiterated that when a product is found to be defective soon after purchase, it is always better to order refund and not replacement because the consumer would have lost faith in the company’s product. Besides, if the repaired product is returned to the consumer and if it develops a snag again, then the consumer would be put through a greater level of harassment, the Commission observed.