The city consumer court has come to the aid of Anandhi Sairaj from Adyar who had lodged a complaint against a cellphone company when her new phone stopped working within a week of purchasing it.
The court ordered the cellphone firm to pay Rs8, 000 as compensation and rectify the defect immediately.
Anandhi said that she had informed the cellphone firm that her mobile phone was not working properly but the salespersons did not redress the problem. They continued to dodge her requests, she alleged.
“I bought a Nokia 6080 for Rs4,999 recently. A week later, the phone stopped working,” said Anandhi in her complaint.
“When my husband V. Sairaj approached the mobile store and the Nokia Care shop, the salespersons said the handset would be replaced within 15 days. However, they did not attend to our complaints. When we asked them again, they did not give a positive reply,” she said.
Anandhi said that it was an unfair trade practice for a shop to neglect the consumer when the product becomes defective within the warranty period.
In their counter, the cellphone firm representative said that the salespersons assured her that she would be given a new phone.
Judge V. Gopal said that deficient service was meted out to Anandhi. The judge ruled that the firm should pay `8,000 as compensation within six weeks and repair her cellphone.