Vizag Central asked to pay customer Rs. 21K for charging Rs. 12 for carry bag

Visakhapatnam: A consumer court in Vizag city has ordered Central, a division of FLFL (a multi-brand clothing retailer) located at VIP Road in Vizag city, to pay Rs. 21,000 as compensation to a customer for charging him Rs. 12 for a carry bag.

Members of the Visakhapatnam District Consumers Commission-I, Rahimunnisa Begum and Varri Krishna Murthy, also asked the retailer to refund Rs. 12, charged for the bag, to the complainant, Seepana Rama Rao, an advocate.

According to the complainant, he purchased clothes worth Rs. 628.96 from Central on 14 July 2019. He had asked the cashier to put the clothes in a bag. The cashier did so, then asked the complainant to pay Rs. 12 for the carry bag.

The complainant asked why he should pay for the bag and refused to pay, but the cashier insisted on payment of Rs. 12. The complainant paid the amount and spoke to the manager who refused to give him the carry bag for free. Later, the complainant noticed that the bag had Central's logo on both sides.

When the complainant explained to the manager and executives of the store that charging for a carry bag (which was used to advertise the store) was illegal and requested them to supply the carry bag for free, the manager shouted at the complainant.

Mr. Rao felt that he was wrongly charged for the bag and approached the consumer forum.

In its order, the commission partially allowed the consumer's plea and ordered the retailer to pay Rs. 21,000 towards compensation for mental harassment and Rs. 1,500 towards the legal costs.