A Jalgaon advocate was so incensed when D-Mart charged him extra for a bag of rice, that he fought for two years to get his money back. D-Mart had to pay compensation of Rs 10,000
Advocate Vijay Danej fought for two years before the consumer forum ordered D-Mart to compensate him
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A Jalgaon advocate was so incensed when D-Mart charged him an extra Rs 81 for a bag of rice, that he fought for two years to get his money back. Now, he can take comfort in the knowledge that the same bag of rice will end up costing the supermarket at least a hundred times more, after the consumer court ordered it to pay compensation of Rs 10,000.
Two years ago
In 2014, Vijay Danej visited a D-Mart branch in Jalgaon and purchased 6.205 kg of rice at the rate of Rs 40 per kg. “I should have been charged R248 for the same, but was actually billed R329 for 8.225 kg of rice. After reaching home, I realised that I had paid R81 extra. I went back to the store, but the staff at the cash counter refused to accept my claim. Finally, I lodged a police complaint and a case with the district consumer forum,” he recalled.
On November 16 this year, his efforts finally paid off, and the consumer forum directed D-Mart to compensate Danej to the tune of Rs 10,000. “The forum has ordered the retail giant to pay the amount within 30 days of the order. If the company fails to comply, they will have to pay 9% annual interest on the amount,” Danej added.
The other side
The advocate representing the supermarket in this case, Pravinchandra Jangle, said they are mulling on challenging the order in the state consumer forum, as the orders “were delivered without appropriate examination of the evidence.”
The defence advocate
claimed that Danej never went back to the D-Mart branch to raise a complaint, and instead went straight to the police. In court, Danej had produced the rice bag with the price sticker on it, but Jangle suggested that this rice bag may not be the same as the one in the bill.
“The complainant had purchased several items from D-Mart. If there was an error in the weighing machine then it should have reflected in all items purchased by him. How can there be a goof-up in weight and billing with one product only?” Jangle questioned.
He added, “We feel that the facts were not correctly examined. Hence, I have advised the company to challenge the order at a higher forum.”
Despite repeated attempts to contact D-Mart for comment, there was no response from the management.
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