Chennai consumer panel orders manufacturer, service provider and seller to jointly pay Rs 35k for faulty refrigerator

CHENNAI: The Chennai North District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed a product manufacturer, product service provider and product seller to jointly pay Rs 35,000 towards a customer whose refrigerator had complaints immediately after the purchase.

The complainant, T Vijayalakshmi, purchased a LG refrigerator in December 2024 for Rs 20,906.78 from Reliance Digital in Perambur with one-year warranty.

Since the day of installation, there was a water leak from the refrigerator, spoiling vegetables and dairy items stored inside. When she raised complaints to Reliance Digital, they told her to contact Saakshi Enterprises in Kolathur, a service centre. The proprietor from Saakshi visited and checked the humidity level at the complainant’s premises, and said that the normal humidity level of refrigeration is 70% but in her house, it was 80%.

However, nothing was mentioned in the communication she received about the humidity level from anyone. And, there were no complaints about the humidity level from her neighbours in the past 15 years.

The proprietor noted the issues and informed the service centre but the issue was not resolved. Even after repeated complaints, no action was taken.

So, Vijayalakshmi sent a legal notice to all the parties that they refused to rectify the problem even though the product was under warranty. The commission, headed by the president D Gopinath, members V Ramamurthy and Kavitha Kannan, allowed the complaint against all the opposite parties for product liability action as per Sec-83 of Consumer Protection Act, 2019 as the product manufacturer, service provider and seller, and found that they were jointly liable for the same.

The opposite parties were directed to refund the cost of Rs 20,906 with 9% interest from the date of purchase till the date of realisation. They were also directed to pay Rs 15,000 towards compensation for product liability action, monetary loss, mental agony, pain and sufferings and litigation cost within two months from the date of receipt of the order.