The National Consumer Commission has ordered Mercedes Benz India and one of its Chennai dealers to pay Rs 2 lakh as compensation to a customer for selling him a used demo-car.
As per a statement given by National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, "Selling of used demo car without the knowledge of the customer amounts to an unfair trade practice within the Consumer Protection (CP) Act."
While ordering the compensation, NCDRC bench of Justice R K Batta and member Vinay Kumar stated, "Any false representation of rebuilt, second-hand, renovated, reconditioned or old goods as new goods, for the purposes of promoting sale thereof, amounts to an unfair trade practice and the victim deserves to be compensated."
The ruling was given on a complaint of a private firm executive, Mukund Reddy who bought a Mercedes Benz car of E 250 D model in year 1998 from company’s Chennai based dealer – Trans Cars India Ltd.
Soon after purchasing the car, Mr. Reddy started facing problems like mall functioning of stereo, discoloration and peeling-off of the paint on doors and rear hatch back. He asked the dealer and the company Head office in Pune to replace the car with a new one, as it was a case of deficiency in service from the company’s side.
However, the commission said that this was not a case of deficiency in service. "Complaints in relation to the paint of the car and the music system have been appropriately attended to through repainting and replacement of the music system, without any cost to the complainant," it said.
