Mobile service centre asked to pay Rs 2000 cost to customer

New Delhi, Jan 12 (PTI) A West Delhi-based authorisedservice centre of consumer durables major Samsung Electronicshas been held guilty by a district consumer forum of renderingdeficient services to one of its customers for its failure torepair his mobile phone in time.

While holding Rani Bagh-based Rahul Traders, anauthorised Samsung service centre, guilty of negligence inserving its customers, the North West District consumer forumat Shalimar Bagh has ordered it to pay Rs 2,000 to East Delhiresident B P Rathore, who had given his mobile handset forrepair.

"We are of the opinion that the service centre shouldhave returned the repaired handset on the date given and iffor some reason it was not possible, then on the next dategiven by it", a bench headed by forum''s President Babu Lalsaid."However, in the present case only after filing of thecomplaint and after many visits by the complainant, therepaired handset was returned by the service centre, which inour opinion, amounts to deficiency on its part and alsoreflects their negligent services," said the bench, which alsoincluded forum''s members S Shankar and S C Jain.

The district forum passed the order on a complaintfiled by Rathore seeking compensation from the servicecentre''s owner for causing physical and mental harassment bydelaying the repair of his handset.

Rathore has contacted Rahul Traders, the authorisedservice centre for repairing his handset, Samsung SGH-E840 onMarch 6, 2009 and was asked to collect the handset on March 9,2009.

But when Rathore visited the shop to collect his phoneon the date of delivery, he was asked to come after 2 or 3days.

But on his next visit, the centre told him that hishandset was yet to be repaired and asked him to come back afew days later.

As the service centre refused to return his handsetdespite his repeated visits, Rathore approached the consumerforum accusing it of rendering deficient services and seekingcompensation for it.

Curiously, the service centre repaired his mobilephone soon after he moved the forum and returned it to him.