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ShareNEW DELHI: Leading mobile phone manufacturer Nokia India Private Limited (NIPL) has been held guilty of 'unfair trade practice and deficiency in service' by a Consumer Forum after it tried to pass off an old handset as new one.
The South-West District Forum directed the company to pay Rs 22,000, including the cost of the phone, to one Sameer Sharma, who had complained that his original handset, which had battery problem, was replaced with an 'old and refurbished' instrument by NIPL.
"NIPL indulged in unfair trade practice in replacing the defective handset with an old refurbished set which too did not function properly," the Forum, comprising President SL Khanna and Member SR Agrawal, said in a recent order.
Accepting Sharma's request for refund of the cost of the handset, it observed "the complainant was justified in losing confidence in the product of NIPL as after spending a huge sum, he purchased the set but was saddled with a defective one".
Sharma had in September last year purchased a Nokia 6681 mobile set but soon found that its battery drained very fast and that it had a low capacity of battery backup.
In his complaint, he said that he had approached NIPL office in Mahipalpur here after an advise from the dealer and deposited the handset with it on September 22.
After Sharma visited their office a number of times, he was given another set which he found to be an old and refurbished one having more problems.
He had requested NIPL to replace the defective handset with a new one of the same model but all these went unheeded and he decided to approach the Forum asking for the refund of cost.
