A consumer court imposed heavy fines on prominent online retailer Daraz.pk for providing a faulty product to a customer.
According to reports, consumer court judge Mukesh Kumar Talreja directed Daraz.pk to pay Rs50,000 to the claimant in compensation and also pay a fine of Rs15,000 to the government treasury account.
The court also directed the online retailer to change the product or return the amount (Rs7,795) paid by the customer for the product and improve its services and standards as per the expectation of consumers. It further ruled that if the defendant failed to fulfill these orders within one month, he or she will be punished with imprisonment along with a heavier fine.
The court in its order said it is undderstood that when mental torture, agony and emotional stress was made out then the court has to grant damages as compensation and therefore, the court quantified the general damages for suffering mental agony and emotional distress as Rs50,000.
Dania Kashif filed a complaint against Daraz.pk via its managing director under Section 26 of the Sindh Consumer Protection Act, 2014. She ordered one Play-Doh DohVinci from the website of Rs7,795 which was delivered in a sealed parcel in November, but the product was dry and in bad condition and the price mentioned on the box was Rs6,730 instead of Rs7,795. The plaintiff felt severe stress and agony because of the faulty order. Before approaching the court, she had filed a complaint through the website’s helpline, but they did not entertain it.
The defendant party denied the allegations and argued that the claim was filed beyond the legal period of 30 days and the complainant ordered the product by agreeing to terms and conditions of the website which read that the defendant was not a party to the contract with either the seller or any other third party. However, the court did not rule in their favour and slapped them with a fine.
