Consumer Rights: Mobile phone seller directed to pay Rs3,200 damages

Petitioner prayed that the court direct the respondent to pay him Rs50,000 damages and Rs15,000 litigation fee.

LAHORE:

A consumer court directed the proprietor of a mobile phone shop to pay Rs3,200 damages to a customer for selling him a defective mobile phone.

Petitioner Shahid Mehmood had said that on January 30, he had purchased a mobile phone from the Suffian Mobiles Shop at Hall Road for Rs2100. He said the phone battery stopped charging after a few days.

He contacted the respondent who directed him to change the phone charger that he did but the problem persisted.

He said he requested the respondent to repair the phone but he refused to do so.

He prayed that the court direct the respondent to pay him Rs50,000 damages and Rs15,000 litigation fee. The court issued a notice to the respondent, but he refused to receive it.
The court then issued bailable arrest warrants for the proprietor but still no one appeared before the court. In ex-parte proceedings, the judge directed the proprietor to return Rs2,100 to the petitioner and also pay him Rs1,100 damages.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2012.