The online shopping portal Flipkart will have to pay Rs 15,000 as compensation for selling its customer a defective mobile charger that damaged his mobile phone.
Dr Ahmed AQ Irfani, the one who filed the complaint said that in January 2016, he bought a charger worth Rs 259 from the e-commerce site but when he put his phone on charging, within 10 minutes, the phone’s wire got burnt after which his phone became unusable.
When the petitioner complained about the incident, Flipkart offered to give him a new charger but did not agree on giving him compensation for the loss incurred.
“Following my complaint, the e-commerce website offered to replace the charger they delivered at my place, but they refused to provide any compensation for the loss I incurred,” complainant Ahmed AQ Irfani said.
“In fact, Flipkart suggested that the device could have been damaged due to the sudden rise in power,” added Irfani.
Meanwhile, Flipkart in its defence said that the company acts as an intermediary between buyer and seller and is not responsible for the quality of the product.
In a report published in Times Of India, the bench, while hearing the case said, “Flipkart cannot shirk their liability on the grounds that they did not charge any consideration from the complainant. The complainant purchased the product through Flipkart and therefore there exists a relationship between a consumer and the service provider between the two.”
The bench added that it was written on the box that charger has the capability of absorbing power fluctuations ranging between 100 volts and 240 volts and therefore, the petitioner should get compensation for the loss incurred.
