Alka Sari Case
- Posted by CERC India
- Posted in Interesting Complaints
Mrs. Hansaben Shah had bought a cotton sari from Alka Sari Centre for Rs. 70/-. Even before a wash, she wore the sari on a couple of occasions, but it started tearing on its own. She complained to the dealer who said goods once sold could not be taken back nor was refund possible. On receiving the complaint, CERS approached the shop and received the same reply. The dealer added that he would not be intimidated even by legal action. CERS got the sari tested in a textile laboratory with complete details such as count construction, tear and tensile strength, barium activity number, etc. and found that chemically the sari had completely degraded . CERS then demanded that the dealer should pay not Rs. 70/- -the price of the sari- but Rs. 170/-, including the laboratory testing charges. The dealer who was not willing to pay Rs. 70/- to Mrs. Shah four months earlier, volunteered to come to the Centre and hand over Rs. 170/-, of which Rs.70/- was refunded to the complainant and Rs.100/-went towards the testing charges.
Unfortunately, there are complaints where mediation fails to set things right and CERS has to hold out threats of direct action or actually resort to it. The following are two such instances :