CHENNAI: A consumer forum directed the manufacturer Lenovo India to provide a compensation of Rs 35,999 for failing to replace a damaged smartphone in 2016. C Vadivel, a resident of Perambur, submitted at the forum that there was a defect in the motherboard, resulting in the phone going dead.
C Vadivel purchased a Lenovo brand X3 mobile online on March 2, 2016, by paying a sum of Rs 20,999. However, on the next day, the phone began to develop problems with the screen going blank. Unable to attend calls with the fingerprint scanner also failing, Vadivel sought the help of a service centre and found that the motherboard was faulty. With no reply from the mobile company, he issued legal notices to the company and also submitted a petition at the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chennai (North), seeking compensation of Rs 5 lakh.
Despite several notices, the company failed to file their written arguments and were set ex-parte from the forum. The forum presided by K Lakshmikantham and member PV Jeyanthi observed that it was found that the software installed at the time of purchase was changed from Android Lollipop 5.1 to Marshmallow 6.0.1, utilising most of the space in the phone, thus causing problems.