BENGALURU: The DTDC Express Limited had to pay heavily for non-delivery and failure to return a consignment as the error led to a major embarrassment of a city youth. The client had used the service to send a ready-made suit as a gift to his best friend for his marriage in Hyderabad. The bridegroom, due to company’s gaffe, had to scramble for a suit at the eleventh-hour.
The Bangalore Urban Second Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission directed the DTDC and it’s branch at Ullal to pay Rs 11,495 , cost of the suit, with 10 percent interest per annum and to refund Rs 500 being the booking charges to AS Siddesha, a resident of Pramod Layout, for gross negligence and deficiency of service. Moreover, the commission directed them to pay Rs 25,000 compensation and Rs 10,000 litigation cost to Siddesha.
“The non-delivery and failure to return the consignment has hurt the complainant’s reputation, who had to face the embarrassment as he could not send the gift to his friend at the time of the marriage. The complainant’s friend had to struggle to get the right fitting suit at the last minute,” the commission said.
Siddesha, complainant, and Manish Verma, bridegroom, were colleagues who later became close friends in 2017. Siddesha had promised to gift Verma a suit for his marriage.
He had couriered it on November 25, 2019 to Verma, whose marriage was scheduled on December 1, 2019 at Hyderabad. The consignment, however, did not reach Verma. The DTDC informed that the consignment was lost/stolen during transit. The company said the loss was not within their control and could have been an act of God. DTDC claimed that the complainant was not liable for any reimbursement as he had not declared the value of the consignment, not paid risk surcharge and also not insured by paying extra premium at the time of booking.
However, the commission said that if there is a condition to collect the risk surcharge and extra premium before the consignment, nothing prevented DTDC to collect it and it cannot escape liability.