For charging Rs 5 extra, retail chain fined Rs 55,000 by consumer court

The Ghaziabad district consumer forum has directed the Easy Day retail chain, owned by Bharti Enterprises Limited and operated by its subsidiary Bharti Retail Limited, to pay a compensation of Rs 55,000 to a consumer for overcharging a product he had bought from one of its stores.

The complainant Shashank Mishra bought Listerine mouthwash from the store in Govindpuram. “I was charged Rs 115 for the product which I paid through my credit card on January 31, 2015,” Mishra said. “Later I realised that the MRP of the product was Rs 110 and I brought the anomaly to the notice of shift manager but nothing happened. Three days later, I saw that my protest had not had the desired effect as I had to pay Rs 115 again when I bought the same product. So I slapped a legal notice on Easy Day, to which they did not respond. That forced me to file a case with the consumer forum on December 1, 2015.”.

After more than one-and-a-half years since Mishra filed the case, the forum on June 9 this year delivered its verdict. In its order, the forum ordered the retail chain to pay a compensation of Rs 55,000 to the complainant within 60 days. The forum further said that if Easy Day failed to pay the compensation amount within the stipulated time, it would have to pay the complainant an interest at the rate of 10 per cent.