Column: WiseBuys

A number of recent verdicts from the IV Additional District Consumer Forum in the city is a virtual alert for consumers. The cases range from violation of MRP on goods to damaging household effects during shipping. Vinay Prabhu had bought an Aquaguard Water Purifier (model Inova) on 6 March 2007 from Eureka Forbes ltd. in Benaganahalli, Bangalore. But from the date of purchase the purifier gave him trouble. The purified water was bad and difficult to drink. White and black particles floated inside the water and he immediately complained to the shop. He had to complain several times before they…

The club culture can be very addictive to most of us who after a hard day's work imagine that instant health and happiness awaits us at the club. They promise to give us untold delights - free access to all clubs, free air tickets to holiday resorts, sites with coconut groves, swimming pools, movie clubs and much more. The reality is shocking. Three disgruntled consumers who were badgered, coaxed and almost forced into becoming members of The Country Club here have had to complain to the consumer forums which have ruled in their favour. Three more approached CREAT, a consumer…

If fools did not go to market, cracked pots and false wares would not be sold. -- Jean Le Malchanceux (in the twelfth century). In India, consumers have had a raw deal in the market place and suffered in the field of health and welfare. Earlier they had recourse to the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act. But after The Consumer Protection Act, 1986 came into force, and key amendments took effect in March 2003, consumers have been learning to assert themselves while buying goods and services. As a Bangalorean, what should be the first thing on your shopping…

If you were going to buy a residential apartment from a building named 'Radiant Manor' you would quite naturally except to get a perfect home to live in. This is what Venkatesh Narayan Baichwal of Jayanagar had hoped for when he entered into a construction agreement in March 2005 with Radiant Homes (Proprietor, Manohar Karkal). This firm had agreed to construct a residential apartment for him measuring 975 square feet on the second floor of a building named Radiant Manor. The agreement was that the seller would pay Rs.11,97,500 for construction of the apartment inclusive of Rs. One lakh towards…

On 20 September, the III Additional Bangalore Urban District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum ordered a Bangalore based dentist to pay up Rs.One lakh as compensation to a young student who suffered due to deficient service from the dentist's clinic. M A Shilpa aged twenty, doing her post graduation course in economics and business, in an evening college in Bangalore, went to the Tarana Dental Clinic in Padmanabhanagar, Bangalore, during the first week of June 2006, complaining of pain in her lower right jaw. Dr Archana Hegde, (B.D.S. Esth. Dent.USA) examined her, filled a cavity in her tooth, and prescribed some…