New Delhi: A consumer commission case landed a judgment in the favor of the complainant and held “IndiaCakes”, an online cake delivery platform, liable for the failure of the delivery of the cake on the occasion of the complainant’s grandmother’s birthday. The commission ordered the firm to refund the prepaid costs borne by the consumer, in addition to the compensation and litigation charges, within 60 days.
It was seemingly a joyous event for the family when it planned to give their grandmother, whose birthday was being celebrated, a half-kg pineapple cake from IndiaCakes, to be delivered on the same day when it was placed, to Sultanpur district, Uttar Pradesh. But soon, there were allegedly misleading notifications sent from the official email of the company, which demanded extra charges for a remote delivery location, such a charge wasn’t disclosed at the moment of placing the order. Then, another email was received by the customer stating that the order had been processed, but it turned out that the cake was never forwarded.
Following a consistent quest for answers by the customer, IndiaCakes replied after two days of the order mess-up and stated that the delivery was attempted at the address but wasn’t accepted by the customer. It further added that as the order was proposed, no refund would be initiated. The customer rejected such a claim, alleged it to be false, and clarified that the call by the delivery partner was made only to confirm the delivery address, but after the call, the partner never appeared. This was proved when the complainant submitted an audio recording of the telephonic conversation.
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With this proof, the customer care agreed to process a refund, and the commission also noted the evidence in support of the petitioner. When IndiaCakes in their defense stated that the order was rejected by the family and, since the cake was a perishable item, the consumer had to bear the cost, leaving no option to initiate the refund, the commission rejected the firm’s defense wholly. It stated that there is a provision for a refund in the company’s own terms and conditions in cases of non-delivery to a remote location, and the refund is given as coupon codes. The Delhi consumer commission favored the consumer’s plea and directed IndiaCakes to pay 1,031 rupees as the refund, 2,000 rupees to compensate for mental and physical stress, and 2,000 rupees for litigation costs.