Sulekha website told to pay client for service deficiency

CHENNAI: A city consumer forum has rapped Sulekha.com for allegedly failing to adhere to the terms of a deal for a mobile beauty parlour advertisement on their portal, after collecting money for the same.

The mobile beauty parlour, run by one Vasumathi and Dinesh Kumar, submitted the yellow page order form and paid a sum of Rs 4,412 including service charges.  However, despite the promise made by Sulekha.com to create the new category for the venture of the complainant and to publish it within the stipulated time of one week from the date of application, they allegedly failed to do so.

“But it is very clear that the literature advertisement has not satisfied the complainant and it proves the deficiency in service,” said the District Consumer Redressal Forum, Chennai (South) presided over by president M Mony on February 7. “Considering the facts and circumstances of the case, this forum is of the considered view that  the opposite party shall pay a sum of `4,412 with interest rate of 9% per annum from the date of complaint, October 1, 2013 to the date of this order and also shall pay compensation of Rs 5,000 for mental agony.”

Sulekha.com said that a number of leads were delivered to the parlour. However, nothing was converted into propositions owing to ‘lack of ability on their part as well as being unable to exploit the leads to the maximum potential.’ However, the forum said, “The opposite party has not filed affidavits and documents to prove the contentions raised in the written version.”    

The portal contended that if the complainant was not satisfied with the advertisement, they could have cancelled it on Sulekha yellow pages within seven working days from the date of the advertisement going live.

It said that the complainant requested to get a refund for the deposit amount.  For the same, manager Kannan contacted the complainant and agreed to refund the amount after due processing period of 90 days. However, they said the complainant had not cancelled the contract within the prescribed period.

Repair faulty machine or pay compensation: Consumer Forum

Chennai: A city consumer forum has directed a dealer Digital Fine Systems and HCL Infosystems to repair an allegedly faulty Xerox machine or pay Rs 60,000 as compensation to a complainant. The complainant, R Padmanabhan, purchased the machine from the dealer on October 6, 2008, for `60,000 with a one-year warranty.

While using the machine there was a noise and the printouts were not clear. The company’s service person allegedly repaired the machine but the problem persisted. So, he wrote to the dealer to replace the machine, but did not get a response. “The opposite party has not denied the fact that there was unwarranted noise in the machine,” said the District Consumer Redressal Forum, Chennai (South), presided by the President M Mony. “The opposite parties are jointly and severally liable to repair the complaint within 30 days failing which the opposite parties are liable to pay machine cost of `60,000 as compensation.”