Court orders Sony Mobile to pay Rs 50,000 to a woman for not fixing her phone in 2015

A consumer court in Assam has ordered Sony Mobile Communication and its two local outlets to pay over Rs 50,000 to Nina Bairagi. Why? Because they failed to repair her mobile phone almost nine years ago!

The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission of Kamrup issued its ruling on July 26. Sony Mobile, Sony Center at Christian Basti, and Sony Service Center at Rajgarh Main Road must pay Bairagi Rs 40,000 with 10 per cent interest for the "physical harassment and mental agony" she suffered since filing the case. They also need to pay Rs 10,000 to cover legal costs. And if they don’t pay up within 45 days? The interest jumps to 12 per cent until they do.

It all started on August 10, 2015, when Bairagi bought a Sony Mobile handset for Rs 52,990. Just a month later, the phone became unusable after an accidental drop. When she took it to the Sony Service Center, they told her they couldn’t repair it and that a replacement would cost Rs 25,000.
Bairagi reached out to Sony’s headquarters in New Delhi, but despite assurances, her problem wasn’t resolved. Frustrated, she turned to the Consumers' Legal Protection Forum, Assam, which filed a case on her behalf in 2016.

Sony Mobile tried to dismiss the complaint as "frivolous" and a misuse of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. But after a prolonged legal battle, the court found Sony Mobile guilty of deficient service. They now have 45 days to repair Bairagi’s phone and pay the compensation.

With inputs from PTI