Et Tu Pizza Hut! Serves Chicken Pasta Instead Of A Vegetarian One–A Harried Consumer’s Tale.

Featured

Posted on November 27, 2012 by Runjhun

complaint against Pizza Hut, Serves Chicken Pasta Instead Of A Vegetarian One

And here come another veg/non-veg mix up!

This time is Pizza Hut!!!

Honestly, how difficult it is to distinguish a vegetarian serving from a non-vegetarian one?

Going by the rate at which this error is being repeated by the most reputed food chains in the country, it sure must take an Einstein to make the distinction. Us, lesser mortals, marking the distinction by looks and smell..tch!..only we knew the intricacies.

So this story comes straight from the non-veg heartland in the country-Kolkata. The heartland status notwithstanding, it is completely unjustified to shove non-vegetarian food down any vegetarian’s throat. The beliefs notwithstanding, it is a matter of respecting and upholding individual choices,

Pradeep Kumar, a consumer residing in Salt Lake City Kolkata had ordered a Veg Pasta at Salt Lake Pizza Hut. What he got instead was a Chicken Pasta, a mistake that could hardly be dismissed as a case of mixed boxes. To add on to the woes of the consumer, there was absolutely no response from the outlet when the consumer complained to them about the mix up. Nobody at the outlet as much as apologized for this blatant violation of their responsibility and duty as a respectable and reliable food chain.

As we have said earlier, oversights can be sometimes forgiven but deliberate disrespect of consumer’s grievances and rights can definitely neither be ignored nor be forgiven.

Pizza Hut! We really did expect better from you!

(Picture Credit: cyberrockk.com)

Trapped In A Lift! 18 Years Later, Ambassador Hotel Ordered By National Commission To Pay 2L To Every Victim.

Posted on November 25, 2012 by Runjhun

Complaint against Ambassador Hotel, To Pay 2L To Every Guest Trapped By A Faulty Lift

Trapped in a lift!

That is the stuff horror fantasies are made up. And people like Manoj Night Shyamalan have made an enviable fortune out of them.

But if ever these fantasies were to translate into reality, one would realize that there are plenty of other life threatening considerations than say a ‘devil’ or a ‘witch’ in the group that interestingly seems to get ‘activated’ onlywhen trapped in a lift, benevolently sparing the rest of the humanity.

If you ever were to be trapped in a lift outside a Shyamalan movie, chances are you wouldn’t be worried about that blood sucking monster–you would be too busy being suffocated!

Truth is scarier…way scarier than fiction when it comes to lift-traps.

Six Ambassador Hotel guests in Mumbai had figured it the hard way. What they did also figure is that somethings are more horrifying than even a lift-trap–like quest for justice in India. 18 years after the horrifying case of faulty lift, a careless hotel and just saw death in the eyes guests–National Commission finally delivered justice or whatever was the closest possible thing after all this time; a whopping compensation of Rs. 200,000 per guest!

Now who said we believed in justice delayed is justice denied. In this country, it is usually wise to be just happy that justice was at least delivered, insane time-frame notwithstanding.

18 years ago, six guests including 2 foreigners were trapped in a faulty lift in the Ambassador Hotel in Mumbai for over two and a half hours and were almost suffocated to death. 18 years down the line, the National Commission has finally held the hotel management guilty of negligence and deficiency in services, ordering them to pay a compensation of Rs.200,000 to every guest along with Re. 10,000 as costs.

The hotel had not heeded the warning by lift management company OTIS nor had they displayed the Do’s and Don’t stickers provided by the company . They were not only negligent but also ill equipped for handling emergency situations.

The hotel has to pay the compensation by December 23 or it can choose to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court.

18 years is a long time and Rs.200,000 is lots of money.

Whether justice was delivered? We will let you decide!

After 18 years, six get compensated for hotel negligence (India TV News)

Arrest Warrant Against Mr. Ratan Tata! A Car Did It! A Consumer’s Victory Against The Mighty Tatas.

Featured

Posted on November 9, 2012 by Runjhun

arrest warrant against Ratan Tata, the car that started it all!

Arrest warrant against Mr. Ratan Tata on a consumer complaint!!!

This is a remarkable landmark in the field of consumer dispute litigation and indeed a consumer victory worth a dramatic celebration!

And Consumer Tadka is proud to have been following this story from its very inception and is even more proud to be amongst the first ones to report this awe-inspiring consumer victory!

It wasn’t long ago when we featured Chetan Gill’s story of his triumph over Tata Motors and its authorized dealers in Chandigarh. Chetan’s newly bought Tata CS had begun creating serious troubles within a month from its purchase, which could neither be identified nor rectified despite repeated visits to the workshop. A complaint was filed with the Chandigarh consumer forum and both the Chandigarh District forum and the Chandigarh State Commission held Tata Motors and the dealers liable towards the aggrieved. (Read full story Bumpy Road! Tata Motors’ Consumer’s True Tale Of Victory Against Harassment, Delay And Denial!).

What was significant in this verdict was that the State Consumer Commission not only ordered Tata Motors to pay a compensation of Rs.60,000 to Chetan but also repair of all the defects in the car and if the defects are not removed to the satisfaction of the complainant then refund of full price of vehicle without taking any depreciation into account.

As we had reported, Chetan promptly received the compensation of Rs.60,000 from Tata Motors. However, the defects in the car were not rectified to Chetan’s satisfaction even though the car was kept at the workshop for 7 days and Chetan repeatedly brought the defects to the notice of the workshop. Even though the defects were not rectified, Chetan was not refunded price of the car as directed by the Consumer Commission.

Relentless Chetan filed an execution petition with the District Forum contending that Tata Motors and their dealers, Joshi Autozone were liable to pay him Rs. 4, 80, 573, the price at which the defective car was purchased along with an interest payable at the rate of 12% from January 17, 2011. Tata Motors contended that the defects had been repaired but the forum concluded that there was nothing on record (job card etc.) to show that any action was taken to rectify the defects that were found in the car. Hence, rejecting their contention, the forum found Tata Motors and their dealers liable to refund the full cost of the vehicle, to the tune of over 4 lakhs to Chetan.

This was not all. What is most remarkable about this verdict is that forum found Tata Motors (represented by Chairman Mr. Ratan Tata) and the dealers guilty of violating the orders issued by State Commission, hence liable for punishment under the Consumer Protection Act. Warrants of arrest were issued against the erring parties, requiring their presence before the forum on November 26 when the quantum of this sentence would be decided.

And now, Chetan awaits the spoils of this well-deserved victory!

The (Un)Health Club! Health Club In Delhi Illegally Terminates Membership, To Pay 2L As Fine.

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Runjhun

Complaint Against Health Club In Delhi Illegally Terminates Membership, To Pay 2L As Fine.

And we always thought health clubs were meant for promoting physical and mental health!

Apparently, A UK based health club’s Indian branch thinks otherwise!

Consumer issues are spread far and wide, popping their ugly heads out of corners we had mistaken to be sacrosanct. This time, the ugly, severed issue head has tumbled out of a health club which apparently has pretty ‘unhealthy’ outlook.

This particular health club, in a complete disregard of the any kind of health of the consumer, terminated his membership “illegally” and in violation of the contract.

This consumers had to suffer this ire after they had raised issues regarding changes in the facilities offered to them, from what was promised at the time of signing the membership agreement.

However, the New Delhi District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum took a serious note of the situation and prevailing irregularity and slapped the club with a fine of Rs 2 lakh by a consumer forum here for “illegally” terminating the membership of two persons for raising issues of deficiency in facilities offered by it.

The forum also directed Delhi Police and the civic agencies to review the no-objection certificate granted to the health club to run its business here.

Health Club Fined Rs. 2L For Illegally Terminating Membership (Business Standard)

Picture Credit: livingstingy.blogspot.com

Warning: Taking A Flight? Check Your Meal! Airline Pays Dearly For Serving Non-Veg To A Veg Passenger.

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Runjhun

Complaint Against Etihad Airlines, To Pay Over 50K For Serving Wrong Meal

Seems mixing up veg and non-veg meals is the latest fad in the vibrant world of a consumer issues.

It has barely been a couple of days since we reported the Domino’s fiasco (Read the full story here-Beware! Your Veg Pizza May Have Non-Veg Topping!).

Serving non-veg in the middle of Navratra, that too, in the middle of Gujarat…whoa! that were some guts!

And close on heels, comes another story–not so daring but equally preposterous.

Its an airline this time, which had mixed up its Reds and Greens.

Delhi-based Etihad Airways has been directed by the UT Delhi Consumer Forum to pay a fine for serving a non-vegetarian meal to a vegetarian traveller. The mix up, here however, was more of the seats than the actual food. However, the error was still a serious issue because not only did the passenger’s ticket specifically stated that meals were to be vegetarian but also she confirmed from the air-hostess while receiving the meal about it being vegetarian.

The forum, taking a serious note of this negligence and deficiency in service, directed the airlines to compensate the complainant with Rs 50,000 for causing her mental agony, tension and trauma. Additionally, the airline has been directed to bear litigation costs of Rs 15,000.

Airline Fined For Serving Wrong Meal (Indian Express)

(Picture Credit: http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~osawant/photography.html)

Banking Troubles! Car Sold By Standard Chartered Despite Full Payment Of Dues, To Pay Around 3L!

Posted on October 22, 2012 by Runjhun

Complaint Against Standard Chartered And HDFC Bank, Pay Heavy Compensation In Separate Cases

We have had said it before and we say it again, loan defaulters cannot be harassed and cannot be subjected to measures above and beyond the law.

And yet, routinely, defaulters are subjected to treatment which is entirely impermissible in a civilized society.

A complainant, a Delhi resident’s car, a Maruti Omni, was sold by the bank after the complainant, declined to take it back, saying its vital components were removed. While hearing the complaint, the Delhi State Consumer Commission, observed that one hand the appellant bank (Standard Chartered) is entering into an arrangement to return the car on payment of Rs 30,000 and on the other hand its officers allowed parts of the car to be removed which is a case of negligence and serious deficiency-in-service and hence upheld the order of a district forum that directed Standard Chartered Bank to pay Rs 297,000 to a loanee for seizing her car on non-payment of Rs 30,000 and selling it in spite of her paying all the dues later on.

Consumer forum asks Standard Chartered Bank to pay Rs 297,000 to aggrieved customer (Yahoo)

Ina separate incident of an erring bank and an aggrieved consumer, a complainant who had approached HDFC bank to invest 2L in her account into an FDR was in for a rude shock when she went to encash the FD and found that despite er instructions, her money had been instead invested into an HDFC insurance policy she had never wanted.

The local branches of HDFC Bank and HDFC Standard Life Insurance Company were found guilty of providing deficient service as well as lacking professional ethics by District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum which directed them to refund a sum of Rs 2 lakh along with 6 per cent interest from the date of deposit till the date of payment and compensation of Rs 5,000 for the harassment caused to a complainant within 30 days of the receipt of the order.

Consumer forum tells HDFC to refund Rs 2 lakh to account holder (The Tribune)

(Picture Credit: Creativegenes)