Bengaluru woman sues Flipkart for wrongly charging her for shampoo bottle, wins Rs 20K compensation

A Bengaluru woman who sued e-commerce giant Flipkart for wrongly charging her extra money for a bottle of shampoo, has won the case after four years. A city consumer court that heard the case has asked the firm to pay her a compensation of Rs 20,000 and to refund an amount of Rs 96 that was charged more than the maximum retail price.

According to a report in The Times of India, the complainant, Palace Guttahalli resident Sowmya P, had ordered a bottle of Patanjali Kesh Kanti protein hair cleanser in October 2019 during the Big Billion Days sale. She paid a total of Rs 191 for the product via PhonePe.

However, upon receiving the product, she noticed that the MRP printed on the back of the bottle was only Rs 95 and that she was wrongly charged Rs 191. Upon reaching out to Flipkart's customer care team, she was asked to return the product to initiate a refund. She was assured that there would be a change in Flipkart’s policies on such matters but it came to her notice that no such action had been taken by the firm against the seller HBK Enterprises based in Surat.

Sowmya then decided to take matters into her own hands and filed a complaint with Bangalore IVth additional district consumer disputes redressal commission in Shantinagar against the firm and the seller for charging more than what the MRP of the shampoo was.

The woman fought the case on her own by presenting proof including photographs and other documents. Even though Flipkart’s counsel denied all allegations, it failed to justify why the firm sold the product at a price more than the MRP.

As the court pronounced the verdict in the case on October 13, 2023, it noted that the firm had sold the product for an extra price to make an unlawful gain and that it was an act of unfair trade practice.

Apart from the refund of Rs 96 that was wrongly charged, the court ordered the firm to pay the complainant Rs 10,000 as compensation for deficiency in service, Rs 5,000 for unfair trade practice, and Rs 5,000 towards her court expenses.