Readymade shop in Chennai charges Rs 8 for paper carry bags, directed to pay Rs 15,000
The complainant, M Sridhar, purchased clothes from the garment shop, Easybuy, in July 2023 for Rs 8,373. While billing, the staff at the counter allegedly forced him to buy two paper carry bags, stating that carry bags were not given free of cost.
CHENNAI: A readymade garment shop, which charged Rs 8 from a customer to provide paper bags to carry clothes that he bought for more than Rs 8,000, was directed to pay Rs 15,000 for unfair trade practice and deficiency in service by a consumer panel in Chennai.
The complainant, M Sridhar, purchased clothes from the garment shop, Easybuy, in July 2023 for Rs 8,373. While billing, the staff at the counter allegedly forced him to buy two paper carry bags, stating that carry bags were not given free of cost.
Even after Sridhar said he had no interest in buying the bags, the staff at the shop disregarded it and made him buy two paper carry bags, each worth Rs 8. What angered him further was that the bags were of such poor quality that they could not be used more than once.
Angry at the manner in which the staff forced him to buy low-quality carry bags despite spending a sizeable amount to purchase clothes from the shop, Sridhar decided to adopt the legal route. He sent a legal notice seeking the shop to repay the Rs 16 it collected from him, and an additional Rs 25,000 towards compensation.
"Despite Sridhar refusing to pay charges for carry bags, they were so adamant that unless separately paid for carry bags, they wouldn't provide the carry bag. On seller's compulsion and force, the complainant paid Rs 16 for two carry bags," said the complaint that was filed before the Chennai North District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission.
After the hearing, the commission headed by its president Gopinath D, and members V Ramamurthy and Kavitha Kannan directed EasyBuy to pay Sridhar Rs 10,000 towards compensation for unfair trade practice, deficiency in service, mental agony, torture, pain and suffering, including the cost of carry bags, and also Rs 5,000 towards litigation cost within two months from the date of receipt of the order.
If it failed to follow the direction and pay on time, the complainant is entitled to get not only the amount but 9 per cent interest per annum from the date of this order to till the date of realisation.
The panel also directed Easybuy to put a board and clearly display the message that carry bags were chargeable and would not be supplied free of cost in a noticeable place inside the shop within one month.