For charging Rs. 1 each from two customers for carry bags, the Chandigarh Consumer Forum has directed a Liberty store in the city to pay Rs. 1,500 and refund Rs. 2 to the complainants. Jeevaraj and Ravi of Chandigarh stated that they had purchased two pairs of shoes on October 21, 2019 from the Liberty exclusive store at Sector 22, Chandigarh, by paying Rs. 1,299 for each pair. The complainants alleged that were charged Rs. 1 each for two carry bags though they did not intend to purchase the same. Thus, alleging unfair trade practice on part of the store, the duo filed a case at the consumer forum. Following the complaints, a notice was sent to the Liberty store seeking its version of the case. However, nobody appeared on behalf of them, and it was therefore proceeded as ex-parte on January 23, 2020. The forum after hearing the matter held, “To our mind, it would have been very odd and inconvenient for complainants to carry the items purchased in hand throughout without a carry bag.” The forum further added, “…At any rate, charges of such things (carry bags) cannot be separately foisted upon the consumers and would amount to overcharging. In this manner, definitely and surely, the complainants and other gullible consumers like them have certainly been taken for a ride by the Opposite Party (Liberty store)…the present case, clearly establishes the high headedness of the Opposite Party of which the complainants became the victim and felt the burnt, as a result the complainants have been left with no alternative, except to knock the doors of this Forum, which further aggravated their pain & harassment…” The forum thus directed the store to refund Rs. 2 wrongly charged for the carry bags; and pay Rs. 1,000 as compensation and Rs 500 as cost of litigation.
