Secondhand: Notice issued over defective mobile phone

LAHORE:

A consumer court on Wednesday issued a notice to the proprietor of a mobile phone shop accused of selling a defective mobile phone that caused the petitioner “embarrassment in front of his relatives”. The petitioner has demanded Rs500,000 as damages.

Muhammad Zafar said he had purchased a secondhand mobile phone for Rs12,000 from Muhammad Iqbal of Iqbal Mobile Phone Shop in Sanatnagar. Zafar said Iqbal had assured him that he would take responsibility if the phone malfunctioned.

Zafar said a few days later, he was at a wedding when his phone began to malfunction. Some of the keys did not work properly and there was distortion in the reception. Zafar said he had approached Iqbal who told him to bring the phone to his shop to have it repaired. He said when he went to collect the phone the keys still did not work.

Zafar said he complained about the problem to Iqbal, who refused to replace the phone or return his money.

Muhammad Iqbal said Zafar had told him that there was something wrong with phone’s reception. “We fixed that problem. He never told us about the malfunctioning keys,” he said.

“We would have fixed the keys if he had come to us rather than going to the court about it,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 13^th, 2014.