Agarwal packers asked to pay 2.44L to octogenarian

AC, LCD TV and washing machine among appliances that got damaged in accident

A South Mumbai Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has asked Agarwal Packers and Movers Pvt. Ltd. to pay up Rs. 2.44 lakhs to an 82-year-old who had availed their transport service in 2010.

The truck which had transported the items from Mumbai to Bilaspur in Chattisgarh had met with an accident and many electronic appliances he had bought only a month ago for his new home in native - among them AC, TV and washing machine had reached his residence damaged.

The items had been transferred to another vehicle after the accident, but Chavda had been in the dark about it when the delivery of the items was delayed by a few days. His advocate told the forum that he had got to know about the accident only when he saw the damaged condition of the items when they reached his place

Chavda said in his complaint he had paid Rs. 54,000 for the transport. In this was included Rs. 9,000 as insurance for the items. The company had pegged their value at Rs. 3 lakhs. The invoice for the new items showed their total cost as Rs. 4 lakhs. The company however was ready to pay only Rs. 1.15 lakh to him for the damages. The senior citizen had not accepted the offer and filed a complaint with the consumer forum in 2011.

The company had contended before the commission that the items were old and used and defended the damages they had offered.

The forum declared the company deficient in service for not delivering the goods in four days as had been promised and in proper condition. Its President Sneha S. Mhatre also noted that the senior citizen had planned to use the items in his new home for which he was to hold a housewarming ceremony and had invited many guests for the function. He had sent the items with them with trust, it said and noted that it was only after eight months of the incident that the company had offered to pay him the damages.

It remarked that the company had kept the 82-year-old retired senior citizen waiting for compensation for ten years and did not pay him compensation despite repeated follow-ups and asked it to pay him Rs. 15,000 as compensation for mental agony he suffered.