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Mumbai: The additional District Consumer Redressal Forum for Mumbai suburban district has fined high-end bagmaker Esbeda for charging ₹ 20 for carry bags with promotional material. The court has asked them to pay a fine of ₹ 13,000 and to deposit ₹ 25,000 with the Consumer Welfare Fund of the consumer forum.
The forum was hearing a consumer complaint by Wadala resident Reema Chawla, filed through her lawyer Prashant Nayak.
According to Nayak, the company indulged in unfair trade practices by selling carry bags to customers with their brand name and thus advertising at the cost of the consumer.
Though notice was served to the company, it did not appear before the consumer forum to contest the consumer complaint. The forum, therefore, proceeded ex-parte against the company.
While holding the company guilty of unfair trade practices, the forum observed that it not only charged ₹ 20 for the carry bag but also printed the name of their brand by which they advertised their brand through the consumer.
“In a way this means, the company charged ₹ 20 to the consumers for their advertisement. When consumers were charged even when they were used for a company’s advertisement, it was nothing but exploitation,” the forum said in an order.
The complainant purchased an Esbeda bag on August 4, 2019, amounting to ₹ 1,690 from its store in Kurla. She was charged an additional ₹ 20 for the carry bag. The complainant claimed that when she escalated the issue, the store manager ignored her complaint.
Nayak argued that ‘respondent (Esbeda) being seller is duty-bound to provide the basic accessory like carry bags for carrying the products purchased from their respective store. It is highly unprofessional and deficient towards the consumers to charge for the bags which are branded and used for the respondent branding & advertisement purpose.’
The forum issued notice to Esbeda on the complaint of Chawla. The company, however, failed to appear before it hence the forum conducted a hearing of the case ex-parte.
The forum accepted his contention and said, “The company didn’t provide the carry bag having their name printed on it for free of cost, but charged ₹ 20 for it. Further through this, they intended to advertise their brand. This is an exploitation of consumers hence the company must pay ₹ 25000 towards Consumer Welfare Fund.”
Charul Shah is senior reporter covering the legal beat for Hindustan Times. She has spent over a decade in the industry covering criminal investigations and judiciary from Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Bengaluru. ...view detail
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