Vodafone ordered to pay Rs. 10,000 compensation to customer

The Thane District Consumer Redressal Forum (TDCRF) Thane ruled that Vodafone was deficient in providing services to one of its customers and ordered the company to pay him a cash compensation of Rs. 10,000.

TDCRF president Umesh Jawalikar and member N D Kadam stated in their order that the company and its dealer should jointly pay the compensation in three months from the date of order or else pay interest at the rate of 12 percent per annum from the date of order, until the amount is realised.

The case relates to one Prabhakar Y Joshi of Badlapur from Thane district who had purchased a mobile connection from a Vodafone dealer in 2007.

At the time of purchase of the cellular phone connection, he was assured by Vodafone's agent in Badlapur, Parth Telecom, that he would receive trouble-free signal reception throughout Maharashtra state.

However, the customer told the consumer forum that whenever he went to his native place Srivardhan, he never received Vodafone network connectivity during 2007-2008 and lodged a claim of Rs. 44,000 from Vodafone and the dealer.

The respondent company and the dealer in their submission told the forum that at certain times, due to technical issues and geographical location, the customer might not get network connectivity and this was already mentioned in the contract.

After hearing both parties, the consumer forum arrived concluded that Vodafone's service was deficient and there was interruption in its services not merely once or twice, but repeatedly during 2007-08.

The company and its dealer never paid any heed to his complaints, the complainant told the forum, and hence he had lodged a complaint.