Birthday surprise ruined: Tata Unistore to pay Rs 15K for canceling Hyderabad resident's laptop order

Hyderabad: District Consumer Redressal Commission, Ranga Reddy has directed Tata Unistore Limited to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 and litigation cost of Rs 5,000 to Hyderabad resident for unfair trade practices and causing severe mental agony.

Case details

Chiranjeevi Dharma Veer Kumar Bandi, a private employee placed an order for an HP Pavilion X360 2-in-1 14-dw1037TU laptop through Tata Unistore Limited’s website on June 7, 2021, for his cousin’s birthday. Chiranjeevi made an online payment and also used a coupon code specific to the payment method of ICICI credit card which gave Rs 2,000 instant discount bearing order ID:113043505. Chiranjeevi’s cousin's birthday was on June 12, 2021, and the product was bound to be received before the date.

However, during the process, Chiranjeevi got to know about the EMI option. Therefore he cancelled the order to place a new one. However, he could not place the order as he had already used the coupon.

Chiranjeevi contacted customer care and informed them about the issue. Tata Unistore Limited's customer support team suggested Chiranjeevi try again after two or three hours. However, it did not work. Chiranjeevi again contacted the Tata Unistore Limited team which further extended it to June 8, 2021, before 9 am.

Customer support team failed to respond

Chiranjeevi for the fourth called the customer support team and they gave a reason to try the website instead of applications, but it also went in vain. Chiranjeevi called the customer support team more than five times and spent two to three hours sorting out the issue. Later, he placed a new order through a different payment option on the Tata Unistore Limited platform on June 8, 2021, for Rs 52,492.36 with order ID:113080777

When Chiranjeevi realized that the coupon code was working for a discount, he placed a second order for the same product with order ID 113080776 for Rs. 51,492.36. Tata Unistore Limited provided a tracking option of delivery through its delivery partner `Delhivery’ for order ID:113080777 which was expected to be delivered by June 13, 2021. The order with ID:113080776 was supposed to be delivered on June 14, 2021. However, both the orders showed the status as `yet to be delivered’.

On June 14, 2021, Chiranjeevi once again asked the customer support team regarding the delivery information with order ID 113061777. The team said due to the COVID-19 situation, the delivery might get delayed by 48-72 hours. At this point, Chiranjeevi thought of canceling the order as the customer support team gave an assurance of initiating the refund.

Laptop damaged in transit

On June 15, 2021, the order ID: 113061777 was showing the status as processing and when Chiranjeevi contacted the support team, it said the order was in transit and he could cancel it at the time of delivery. Chiranjeevi further submitted that after three days, Tata Unistore Limited also canceled Chiranjeevi’s other order with ID:113080776 and the reason given by them was that the product got damaged in transit. The team said it has initiated a refund as well. Without Chiranjeevi's consent or even notifying him, they canceled the order.

Chiranjeevi stated that the information of order ID:113061777 was showing canceled, but the order with ID:11308776 was still showing `pickup pending’ on the logistics website. In utter dismay, Chiranjeevi approached Tata Unistore Limited's customer support team. They gave an email ID `csmanagement@tatacliq.com’ for further queries.

To Chiranjeevi’s consternation, the customer support team executives were extremely incompetent in issuing any form of effective communication to the complainant even after sending three emails on this issue. The complainant did not receive any proper response from the customer support team in resolving the request raised by him and tried to send emails and speak to customer support for more than six hours.

On June 21, 2021, Chiranjeevi after much persuasion and several discussions with the incompetent customer support, raised an issue on X. On June 23, 2021, he received an apology with an assurance to refund money and offer to pay Rs 1,000 credit to Chiranjeevi’s account which he denied. Tata Unistore Limited returned the booking amount after 25 days.

He said the misconducts, unwarranted, illegal, unethical actions against the law by Tata Unistore Limited proves deficiency of service including the breach of trust due to which Chiranjeevi suffered mental harassment and Tata Unistore Limited is liable to pay the compensation and cost to him.

Hence Chiranjeevi knocked on the doors of the Consumer Redressal Commission for justice. Tata Unistore Limited filed its written version denying the deficiency in service and unfair trade practice by them.

Tata Unistore Limited operates through its brand names `Tata Click’ and `Tata Click-Luxury’ which are the online technology platform marketplace accessible through the web, mobile applications, and tablet applications and operated by the opposite party which facilitates sellers to display their product listings and other data to sell them online to the buyers who visit https/luxury.tatacliq.com.

It is pertinent to note here that actual sale takes place between the seller and the buyer and the Tata Cliq is classified as an “intermediary‟ as per the provisions of the Information Technology Act 2000. The firm said the instant complaint is false, frivolous, and vexatious and is liable to be dismissed as the complaint is based on unfounded and concocted statements of facts aimed only to enrich Chiranjeebvi unjustly and illegally and thereby malign the goodwill and reputation of Tata Unistore Limited.

The transaction is governed by the terms and conditions as were agreed between the parties and the complainant is fully aware that it reserves the right at their sole discretion to refuse or cancel any order for any reason whatsoever with no liability. Nevertheless, Tata Unistore Limited offered a sum of Rs 5,000 to Chiranjeevi as a gesture of goodwill vide their email dated August 27, 2021. Needless to mention, the amount paid by Chiranjeevi has been refunded in its entirety to him and was accepted by him unconditionally.

The firm said it is evident that the present complaint is malafide and Chiranjeevi should be outright rejected. Tata Unistore Limited has diligently responded to the email of Chiranjeevi and he has been duly apprised of the reasons for cancellation. The allegations of Chiranjeevi to the contrary are denied and disputed. It is denied that the respondent caused mental harassment to Chiranjeevi and he is no longer a customer or a consumer of Tata Unistore Limited as he had accepted the refund of the amount paid by them. Hence, there is no cause of action in favor of Chiranjeevi as against the respondent. Hence, prayed to dismiss the complaint with exemplary costs.

Two laptops were not delivered by Tata Unistore

After hearing the arguments, the court noted that Chiranjeevi had ordered two laptops expecting them to be delivered on June 13 and 14, 2021. But the two laptops were not delivered. And both the orders showed the status as `product yet to be delivered’. None of the customer support team was giving any effective communication to Chiranjeevi regarding the non-delivery of the products purchased by him as the first order placement for the purchase of the laptop started June 8, 2021, and accordingly, payment was made for the same and he continued to follow up till June 23, 2021.

The customer support team on June 26, 2021, offered Rs 5,000 credit to Chiranjeevi’s account which was denied by him. Without any proper reason for the non-delivery of the product, keeping the money of any prospective buyer for an indefinite time is unacceptable and proves a deficiency in service and unfair trade practice which caused severe mental agony to Chiranjeevi. Hence, these points are decided in favor of Chiranjeevi. Therefore he is entitled to a compensation of Rs.10,000 for suffering mental agony along with Rs 5,000 towards the cost of the Chiranjeevi.