Elevator firm asked to pay `4.14 lakh penalty
Ending a five-year long battle, the district consumer forum has ordered Otis Elevator Company to pay a compensation of `4.14 lakh along with nine per cent interest rate from the year 2008, after the company failed to install an elevator for the complainant. In an order passed on Thursday, the forum also asked the company to pay `10,000 as compensation for the mental harassment it had caused to the complainant.
According the complainant, Supratha Investment Service Limited, in June 2006, it had asked Otis to install an elevator at one of the company’s bungalows in Khandala. Accordingly, the concerned parties signed a contract in 2007, and the total cost of the project was decided at `4.6 lakh. The complainant was asked to pay a token amount in order to start with the project.
In July 2007, the complainant paid `1.6 lakh as the first investment, and the second installment of `2.53 lakh in January 2008. However, despite receiving 90 per cent of the token amount, the elevator company did not make a move to install the elevator. After waiting for two years, the complainant finally registered a complaint with the consumer forum.
Even after receiving summons from the forum, Otis Elevators did not bother to respond or file an affidavit in the forum.
While arguing the case in the forum, advocate Jinita Shah, the counsel for the complainant said, “The firm not only failed to provide the services to my client, but it also failed to return the invested money.”
Post new comment