iPhone buyer gets beard oil; Flipkart, seller to pay Rs 1.11 lakh

A consumer court here has directed Flipkart and the seller to refund over Rs 1.11 lakh to a customer who received beard growth oil instead of the Apple iPhone he had ordered, and to pay Rs 70,000 in compensation and litigation costs.

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Additional DCF, Mumbai (Suburban), in its order passed earlier this month, held that repeated closure of the customer’s complaints without granting any effective relief amounted to “unfair trade practice”. It noted that the order was placed through the online platform by making the necessary payments.

“Therefore, the opposite party No 1 (Flipkart) owed a corresponding duty to ensure that the consumer received the product ordered and to provide an effective mechanism for redressal of consumer grievances,” the commission said.

An e-commerce entity cannot simply distance itself from a transaction after facilitating the sale, particularly where the consumer immediately reports that a completely different product has been delivered, it said.

The failure to investigate the complaint, recover the wrongly delivered parcel, provide a replacement or refund and repeatedly close the complaint without granting any effective relief “amounts to a clear-cut deficiency in service and also constitutes an unfair trade practice”, the commission said. The panel also emphasised that the failure on the part of the seller, International Value Retail Pvt Ltd, to deliver the contracted product and rectify the grievance despite repeated requests clearly establishes deficiency in service on its part.

Thus, both the platform and the seller are jointly and severally liable for the loss and inconvenience caused to the complainant, the commission ruled.

The complainant, a resident of Mumbai’s Powai area, had purchased an Apple iPhone 14 Pro (128 GB) on April 22, 2023, via Flipkart for Rs 1,11,793 using a no-cost EMI scheme.

While a separately ordered charger and cover were delivered successfully, the main package delivered the following day contained “beard growth oil” and packing material instead of the high-end smartphone.

The complainant alleged that despite repeatedly approaching Flipkart’s customer support between April and May 2023 and submitting all required documents, the company failed to resolve the issue.

Instead, the complaint was repeatedly marked as “resolved” without any refund or replacement being provided.

The consumer forum directed Flipkart and the seller to refund the principal amount of Rs 1,11,793 with an interest of 9 per cent per annum from April 22, 2023, until actual realisation.

Additionally, they were ordered to pay Rs 50,000 as compensation for mental agony and harassment, and Rs 20,000 as litigation costs within a period of 45 days.

Apple India, also a party in the case, had filed a written statement, contending that the complaint was not maintainable either in law or on the facts and deserved to be dismissed.

The company submitted that it is engaged in the business of selling Apple-branded products through independent dealers and resellers on a principal-to-principal basis and has no control over the obligations or of such independent sellers towards their customers.

Accepting their contention, the commission dismissed the complaint against Apple India.

It noted that the dispute pertained solely to the delivery of a wrong product and there was no evidence connecting the manufacturer to the packaging, dispatch, or the alleged deficiency in service.