Motorola, service centre penalised

Amarjot Kaur

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Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 30

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum-I, Chandigarh, has penalised Sant Rameshwari Enterprises (service centre), Sector 20-D, Chandigarh, and Motorola Excellence Centre, Gurugram, for collecting mobile repair charges from Chandigarh resident Baljeet Singh during the warranty period.

It has ordered the firms to refund Rs 11,400, the cost of the mobile, along with annual interest at 7 per cent from the date of its purchase (October 17, 2017), to the consumer. The companies were also directed to pay Rs 5,000 each as compensation and litigation fee to Baljeet.

On October 17, 2017, Baljeet had purchased a Motorola mobile handset, with a one-year warranty, from Flipkart at cost of Rs 11,400. He claimed that on May 9, he faced certain issues with the handset and took it to the service centre where his phone was repaired and returned to him. Thereafter, he again faced problems with its display and approached the service centre on May 22. Despite one-year warranty period, the service centre demanded Rs 5,200 as repair charges.

He contacted Motorola Excellence Centre’s customer care and sent e-mails to do the needful, but they delayed the matter. Eventually, they claimed that the handset being damaged by liquid was out of warranty.

Later, Baljeet filed a complaint against Motorola Excellence Centre, Sant Rameshwari Enterprises (cervice centre), and Bangaluru-based Flipkart Internet Private Limited for charging repair fee during the warranty period.

Flipkart contested the complainant’s claim and filed its reply, saying: “Flipkart is merely a marketplace which offers a platform to third-party sellers and buyers to transact inter-se”. 

Forum president Rattan Singh Thakur and member Surjeet Kaur absolved Flipkart of the charges levelled against it and penalised the other two firms. 

Notably, nobody appeared in the court on behalf of Motorola Excellence Centre and Sant Rameshwari Enterprises.