Nokia To Pay Rs 5,000 For ‘harassment’

[savramesh 37]

IndianExpress

Thursday , Jun 04, 2009 at 0326 hrs IST

Chandigarh:

The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed Nokia India and Incharge Nokia Care HCL, in Sector 22, to pay Rs 5,000 as compensation for causing “harassment to a consumer”.

“Nokia is directed to pay the complainant Rs 5,000 as compensation for harassment, mental agony and financial loss and also pay the complainant another amount of

Rs 1,100 as cost of litigation,” the Commission said in a recent order.

The complainant, Kamal Singh, approached the Commission after his Nokia mobile phone (Model 6151) did not function properly a week after it was bought in October 2006.

When he went to the dealer, he was asked to pay Rs 1,500 as repair charges despite the mobile phone being well within warranty period. Singh paid Rs 112 as advance payment to repair it.

In his compliant, he said he visited the dealer “many times” after that, but they kept saying it was not ready. Finally, he was told he would be informed on phone when the “mobile comes from Bangalore, where it was sent for repairs”.

Singh then filed a complaint with the Commission.

In his reply, the dealer said the mobile was not under the warranty period, and that the mobile in question was water-logged, a defect not even covered under limited warranty.

The dealer said the complainant was told that the mobile was water-logged and that the repair charges would be Rs 4,500. He added that after paying the advance payment, the complainant visited the workshop only once.

But the Commission did not agree with the dealer’s claim. “The estimate of repair (charges) was Rs 1,500 and there is no other evidence to prove the story of the company that the complainant had been told that the repairs would cost a total of approximately Rs 4,500,” the Commission held.

[Harshal 11]

I think the complainant was at fault. The dealer must be telling the truth, why on earth else would he pay to get a brand new phone repaired.