COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum ordered a petrol outlet management to shell out Rs 50,000 as compensation for cheating a customer.Sakthi Ganapathy, an advocate, bought petrol from an outlet named Asoka Service Centre on Trichy road on June 29, 2012. When he got the bill, he was shocked to see that the printed price was Rs 75.27 when the retail price on the day was Rs 72.14.
Hence, Sakthi Ganapathy filed case with the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum in 2014, headed by president A P Balachandran and members R D Prabhakar and C Amudha. The petrol outlet management maintained that the customer did not buy petrol from their station on the day in question. However, evidence suggested that despite the petrol price being reduced to Rs 72.14 on June 29, 2012, the management cheated the customer by not reducing the retail price.
On August 28, the forum ordered Asoka Service Centre to pay the cheating amount Rs 5 (rounded off) and Rs 50,000 as compensation for cheating the customer. The forum a, “The customers must be made aware of petrol and diesel price on daily basis. They can check it on the oil company websites. Many petrol outlets do not reduce the price as and when announced, but are proactive when the price is hiked.”