Dell asked to pay Rs 42,200 to customer for selling defective laptop

The East District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has asked Dell India Pvt. Ltd. to pay a sum of Rs 42,200 to a Delhi-based complainant, after his laptop stopped working while still under warranty.

In August 2010, Delhi-based Abhinav Kumar purchased a Dell laptop for Rs 42,200 and paid Rs 2,700 extra for an additional year of warranty. Within just seven months of that buy, the Dell laptop started having problems, as per reports. Kumar alleged that even the guys at Dell’s service centre could not fix the problem, and by June 2012, it broke down completely. 

Fined!

In his complaint, Kumar also alleged that the laptop had some manufacturing defects.

The computer manufacturer, though, claims that it looked into the problem each time the complainant brought it to the service centre. They reportedly even offered to fix and provide a replacement to Kumar, but he denied.

Now a bench presided by N A Zaidi has directed the company to refund to the complainant Rs 42,200 towards cost of the defective laptop.

Additionally, the forum observed that Dell offering to replace Kumar’s defective laptop itself confirms that the laptop did come with manufacturing defects.

In two separate instances last year, mobile phone makers Spice and Nokia were asked by consumer forums to pay up for selling defective wares. The South-II District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum held Nokia India guilty of indulging in unfair trade practice, following a complaint by Delhi resident Rohan Arora. Nokia India was subsequently directed by the forum to pay Arora a sum of Rs.67,000 for allegedly not only selling him a defective phone, but also failing to either repair the device or refund the cost.

Spice Mobile was asked to pay a fine amounting to Rs.18,000. The mobile phone manufacturer, as alleged in complainant Dr Asha Sharma’s affidavit, failed to fix or return her mobile phone that she had given to the company's service centre for repairs.

News sources