A city-based consumer forum has directed a courier company to pay a customer the value of a smartphone after the consignment was lost during transit from Bangalore to Guwahati.
The 3rd Additional Bangalore Urban District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission issued the direction to DTDC Courier and Cargo Ltd. on a complaint from P. Purabhi of ESIC Medical College and Hospital, Rajajinagar.
The company has been directed to pay Rs. 28,855, the value of Samsung Galaxy Note II, and Rs. 5,000, as compensation. The company had refused to pay Ms. Purabhi the cost of the phone while claiming that she did not insure the consignment by paying the risk surcharge of 0.2 per cent of the value of the consignment.
The company had also contended that Ms. Purabhi was eligible for only Rs. 500 as compensation as she had also not declared the value of the consignment.
However, the forum found that the consignment booking invoice contained columns like tariff, value-added service charges, risk surcharge, service tax and total amount.
It found that Rs. 345 was written in the total amount column while the other columns were left blank.
The forum said that since the columns were left blank, it has to be assumed that total amount included risk surcharge at 0.2 per cent of the value of the consignment, as the complainant produced the purchase receipt of the mobile phone.
The forum also said that the company did not bother to mention the value of the consignment in the invoice, except mentioning the brand name and the weight of the phone.
