Sony Mobile Ordered To Compensate Guwahati Customer 9 Years After Sale

Nine years on from the purchase of a mobile handset, a Guwahati-based customer has finally received good news after the Kamrup district Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed Sony Mobile company to compensate the complainant for not providing adequate post-sale services.

In a laudable ruling, the Kamrup district Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed Sony Mobile company to compensate Nina Bairagi within 45 days after she reportedly faced a lot of duress regarding the purchase of a Sony mobile phone on August 10, 2015.

According to the complainant, she had purchased a mobile phone costing Rs 52,990 from Sony Centre in Guwahati's Christian Basti. However, within a month, the phone was damaged and stopped working altogether after it slipped off her hand and fell. Subsequently, she took the phone to Rajgarh based authorized service centre of the company, but was told that the model would not be repaired there.

Instead, they offered to replace the phone with a new one. However, they sought Rs 25,000 on top of the price she already paid to purchase the phone just a month ago.

Not agreeing to it, the complainant then e-mailed her issues to the New Delhi office of Sony Mobile several times. However, she received no response. When she could not avail the post-sale services at the authorized service centre, she approached the Consumers Legal Protection Forum with her complaint.

Based on her complaint, the forum's secretary and advocate Ajay Hazarika and administrator and advocate Subhash Mohan Sharma filed a case numbered 12/2016 against Sony Mobile on behalf of the Bairagi in February 2016.

Over the next nine years, the trial continued with lengthy arguments and testimonies. Finally, the commission through a directive issued against Sony Mobile for faulty service system and ordered it to compensate the victim within 45 days. The company has been ordered to fix the phone within that period and additionally pay the customer Rs 40,000 with 10 per cent interest and a further Rs 10,000 for the cost of the litigation.

If the company fails to adhere to the directive, it will have to pay a 12 per cent interest on the entire sum it is already liable to pay to the victim.

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