Bengaluru Court Penalises Myntra Of Rs 45,000 For 2 Customers Over Gold Coin, Gift Coupon Disputes

(MENAFN- AsiaNet News) The Bengaluru Urban Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has ordered the popular e-commerce platform Myntra to compensate two aggrieved customers a total of Rs 28,000 due to service deficiencies and unfair business practices. Additionally, the company faces a Rs 45,000 penalty that must be paid into the consumer welfare fund.

The first case involved Roopini Nagaraj, an employee at Mercedes-Benz, who was issued a gift coupon worth Rs 52,000 by her employer to shop on Myntra. After purchasing various items totalling Rs 3,668, she was left with Rs 48,332. However, by August 28, 2022, she received a call from Myntra regarding a return order she never placed. Although she followed instructions to cancel this unauthorized return, by September 3, her account showed a zero balance.
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Subsequent investigations revealed unauthorized access and fraudulent transactions from her account. Despite reporting the issue immediately, Myntra took until November 14 to deactivate her account, prompting the court to question the delay and possible internal misuse of her account.

Myntra's response, described as offering a gift coupon only to then negate its value through internal manipulations, was harshly criticized by the court. They ordered Myntra to pay Ms. Nagaraj Rs 45,489 as a refund, Rs 8,000 in compensation, and Rs 5,000 for legal costs. An additional Rs 25,000 is to be paid as punitive damages to the consumer welfare fund.

The second case concerned Komal Santoshkumar Jain, who faced issues after purchasing gold coins worth over Rs 63,000 on May 19, 2023. His order was unexpectedly cancelled, and instead of a refund to his bank, the amount was credited back to his Myntra account, according to a report on
TOI.
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Jain's repeated requests for either the delivery of the gold or a proper refund were ignored, prompting legal action. The court found that Myntra had no right to cancel the order unilaterally and labelled the act of crediting the refund to the Myntra account instead of the customer's bank as demonstrating "bad faith."

As a result, Myntra is to ensure the delivery of two 5-gram gold coins to Jain or pay him Rs 63,768 with an annual interest of 10% from the date of purchase until the payment is made. Additionally, Myntra must pay Rs 20,000 in compensation, Rs 5,000 for litigation expenses, and contribute another Rs 20,000 towards the consumer welfare fund as punitive damages.

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