HYDERABAD : The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Khammam, on Thursday imposed a collective fine of Rs 42,969 on Amazon and a third-party seller for not delivering a sofa ordered by a customer. Moreover, the e-commerce giant has also been alleged of not refunding the order amount.
According to the complaint, N Arun Kumar of Khammam placed an order for a U-shaped sofa through the online shopping platform in October last year. However, despite repeated requests by Kumar via email and phone in the following months, the selling parties did not deliver the item even after receiving the amount for the product. Additionally, they responded with “evasive replies”, the complaint mentioned. As a result, the complainant filed a complaint with the consumer forum.
In its reply to the legal notice issued, Amazon claimed that they had informed Kumar that the third party had dissociated itself from them, due to which the product could not be delivered. It added that a complete refund was initiated into the customer’s account.
However, the Commission noted that Amazon neither appeared before it nor provided any evidence to prove its contentions.
The commission also observed that, despite Amazon’s claim that the product was sold by a third party, it could not escape its liability because the entire correspondence was done through their platform.
Citing Section 2 (36) (iv) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, the Commission remarked that being a product seller also amounts to being the manufacturer of that product.
“Product manufacture means a person makes a product and sells, distributes, leases, instals, prepares, packages, labels, markets, repairs, maintains such product, or is otherwise involved in placing such product for commercial purpose, (vi) being a product seller of a product is also a manufacturer such product,” the Commission said.
Noting that failing to deliver the ordered product within the specified time amounts to “sheer negligence and deficiency” on the part of sellers, the Commission has asked the latter to either deliver the sofa or reimburse the complete amount within 45 days from March 15.