Consumer court: Shop sued for Rs1.1m over Rs800 casing

Petitioner says shop sold him locally-made casing instead of the real thing.

LAHORE:

A consumer court has issued notice to the owner of a mobile phone shop for October 14 in a suit seeking damages of over a million rupees because the store allegedly sold a faulty phone cover.

Petitioner Muhammad Salman contended that he had sought to purchase a casing or shell for his Nokia E66 from City Mobile, owned by Muhammad Omar. He said that Omar had offered him locally-made casing costing up to Rs400, but he had asked for authentic casing. He said that the respondent then sold him what he claimed was authentic casing for Rs800.

Salman said that he then paid Rs500 at another store to get the casing fitted. He said that he soon realised that the item was not authentic, as the camera button on his phone did not work properly in the new casing. It also quickly lost its shine. He said that he had twice contacted the respondent and visited his shop to demand a refund, but Omar had refused to do so and had threatened him.

He asked the court to direct City Mobile to pay him a total of Rs1.013 million: Rs800 for the casing, Rs500 for the replacement, Rs100,000 for loss of business, Rs200,000 as compensation, Rs500,000 for ‘mental torture’, Rs250,000 for ‘embarrassment’ and Rs50,000 for lawyers’ fees.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Muhammad Omar said that he had sold Salman an authentic phone casing and the complainant had damaged it. He said he would fight the case in the consumer court.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 27^th, 2012.