Cricketer Dinesh Karthik filed a lawsuit against DC Design after the company’s dealership in Chennai failed to deliver his DC Avanti.
They say a lean compromise is better that a fat lawsuit. DC Design might just learn that the hard way. Cricketer Dinesh Karthik has filed a lawsuit against the company. According to the Dinesh’s petition, he had booked the DC Avanti at the Chennai dealership of the company in May 2013. After being promised to test drive the vehicle in January 2014, Dinesh paid Rs 5 lakh as the booking amount on the condition that the amount would be refunded, in case he was unsatisfied with the car after the test-drive. Production delays caused the dealer to postpone the test drive. After numerous reminders, a test drive was arranged for a harrowed Dinesh in Pune.
When Karthik finally drove the car after a year and a half in May this year, he was disappointed by it. In his experience, Dinesh found “the specifications and the driving comfort did not match the glib marketing pitch”. Following the test drive, disgruntled Dinesh demanded a refund from the dealer. In response to this, the company declined from returning the amount since, Dinesh had already signed and accepted the terms of the agreement. When asked for the document that Dinesh had allegedly signed, the dealer failed to produce it.
After nearly two years, Dinesh dragged the manufacturer to the consumer court and has demanded the dealer to not only refund the advance of Rs 5 lakh, but also an additional Rs 5 lakh in compensation for the mental agony caused by the ordeal. Commenting on the case at hand, Dinesh’s counsel, Sanjay Pinto said, “The crux of the dispute is whether or not the conduct of the opposite party constitutes an unfair trade practice. How can one possibly expect a consumer to forfeit the entire advance when he is not satisfied with the product? No law will permit that.”
