KOCHI: The Ernakulam District Consumer Redressal Forum has asked the manufacturer of a popular brand of television to pay Rs 37,750 to a consumer for failure to render necessary services. According to the complainant, he had bought a 39-inch LED television set in 2013 from an authorized dealer of the company. The television set, however, developed technical problems within the warranty period and the complainant registered the issue on the website of the company for repair. The company failed to attend the complaint.
The technician informed the complainant that the repairing could not be undertaken due to the unavailability of some of the electronic components. The matter was taken up several times with the company but the issue was not addressed. The company even sent a regret letter to the consumer for its failure to attend the complaint in time on June 25, 2016.
Even after that, there was no progress in rectifying the faults. The consumer then approached the district consumer redressal forum complaining that the company had failed to render aftersales services as required under the law. The company opposed the complaint on the ground that the petition was not registered in the proper format and the warranty of the equipment had lapsed as the television set was not examined by the authorized technician of the company.
The complainant stated that spare parts of a product should be available in the market at least for 15 years after the sale and that the company had failed to meet this requirement. The forum headed by president Cherian K. Kuriakose upheld the argument of the complainant about the lack of availability of the spare parts and awarded the compensation. Out of the Rs 37,750 as compensation, Rs 22,750 has been given as the price of the television set, Rs 10,000 as compensation and Rs 5,000 as litigation expenditure.
