Godrej-GE fined: faulty fridge

The court has asked the company to refund him its price besides paying Rs 6,000 as compensation and litigation cost.

"The opposite parties (Godrej-GE and their dealer M/s Hari S Haran and Sons) had sold defective goods and it is a case of breach of warranty... They were deficient in service and caused a lot of mental agony and harassment to the complainant (S N Maurya)," District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (North Delhi) president K K Chopra, members Neeru Mittal and S C Jain said.

Maurya had on May 7, 1999 bought a 185 litre fridge from Godrej 'GE's dealer in Kamla Nagar in New Delhi for Rs 13,125 along with four-year service contract charges of Rs 175. But soon it stopped functioning, he alleged.

After he lodged complaints, Godrej-GE's mechanic replaced the drier and compressor besides refilling the gas in the fridge, he said.

Maurya's woes, however, had no end as the fridge did not work even after the repairs. He approached the consumer court claiming the refund of the fridge's cost and Rs 20,000 as compensation.

The company claimed that the fridge did not have any manufacturing defects and all the problems arose due to the complainant mishandling the fridge.

"It developed defects during the warranty period and despite several complaints, the defects were not rectified," the court noted and rejected the company's contention that all the alleged problems occurred during summer when there is excessive load-shedding and very low voltage during the day.