Woman pays twice for mattress, e-commerce website ordered to pay Rs 22,000 payout

A woman has won Rs 22,734 after the Kannur District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission held an e-commerce website liable for unfair trade practice and deficiency in service, as it failed to deliver a mattress ordered by the woman even though the payment had been made online.

President Ravi Susha, Member Molykutty Mathew and Member Sajeesh KP were hearing a complaint filed by a woman who had ordered a mattress through an e-commerce website and paid using a digital payments app. Even though the money was debited from her account, she did not receive the mattress and had to make a second payment as the website had denied receiving the first amount.

“It is clear that the money has been debited from the account of the complainant when attempting to purchase a product which has never been delivered. The debited amount has not been credited back till date, even after non-delivery of the product,” the October 9 order read.

The district commission further said that since the website was not ready to deliver the product or refund the amount to the woman, its act had caused “much mental agony and financial loss” to her, and it was “directly bound” to solve her complaint.

The woman claimed that on October 1, 2024, she had ordered a mattress from an e-commerce website, which had to be delivered within one week and paid for it online through a digital payment app. The woman alleged that though the money was debited from her account, the mattress was not delivered.

The woman stated that when she raised her grievance with the e-commerce website, it said that it had not received any money and was not ready to deliver the mattress. The woman contended that she had to send the amount again to the e-commerce platform and consequently received the product, but when she asked the website to refund the amount already paid by her on October 1, 2024, there was no response.

‘Only an intermediary’

Advocates Sandeep Sukumaran and Vivek PK, appearing for the e-commerce website, argued that the website was only an intermediary and that the woman was a victim of false debit transactions. The counsel submitted that the money debited from the woman’s account was never received by the website and no such transaction had been recorded.

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Advocate TP Ramachandran appearing for the Kerala Gramin Bank submitted that the money transferred by the woman was credited into the website’s account and was not auto reversed. The counsel stated that the turnaround time for UPI transaction was one day and as per the National Payments Corporation of India the beneficiary bank of the website should have given the amount to the woman within one day else, she was entitled to compensation.

Advocate AK Sajithkumar representing the digital payments app urged that the transaction done by the woman was was a peer to external merchant transaction and the app only acted as a third-party application provider on the UPI framework. The advocate argued that since amount had been credited to the website’s bank account, it was solely responsible to refund money or fulfill the delivery.

‘Mental agony’

The district commission observed that the the account statement of the woman clearly showed that the amount was debited to the e-commerce website’s account and when the woman approached the website with her grievance, the order details were erased from the e-commerce platform.

The commission noted that it was clear that the e-commerce platform was liable to refund the money of the woman as it never verified the transaction with its bank even after getting the trace of the transaction from the digital payments app.

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The district commission held that only the e-commerce platform was liable for deficiency of service and unfair trade practice and directed it to refund Rs 7,734 to the woman. The website was also ordered to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation for mental agony along with litigation costs of Rs 5,000.

Takeaway

The ruling establishes the obligation of e-commerce website to ensure proper products are given to their customers and that the concerns of consumers must not be ignored, causing them unnecessary inconvenience. For consumer-related grievances, individuals may contact the consumer helpline in their respective states and union territories (Kerala: 1800-425-1550) or call the National Consumer Helpline on 1915 for assistance.

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