Flipkart ordered to pay ₹10,000 to Mumbai man for 'mental harassment' over cancellation of iPhone order

livemint.com:

₹10,000 for the mental harassment he suffered after it cancelled his iPhone order. The cancellation was intentional to make extra profit, which amounts to a deficiency in service and unfair and restrictive trade practice adopted by the online platform, said the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Central Mumbai, in the order passed last month. The detailed order was available on Sunday.

The commission noted that though the customer had received a refund, he needed to be compensated for the mental harassment and agony he suffered because of the unilateral cancellation of his order. As per the complainant, a Dadar resident, he ordered an iPhone from Flipkart on July, 10 2022 and paid ₹39,628 using his credit card. The phone was supposed to be delivered on July 12, but six days later he received an SMS from the e-commerce company that his order was cancelled.

When contacted, the company told him that their Ekart delivery boy had made several attempts to deliver the product but the complainant was unavailable and hence, the order was cancelled. The cancellation has not only caused loss, and mental harassment but also subjected him to online fraud, the complainant said. Flipkart’s delivery partner, Ekart Logistics, was also a party to the complaint but the commission held that it is a delivery partner and there is no consumer and service provider relationship between the complainant and the logistics firm.

Flipkart, in its written response, said the complainant had mistakenly taken it as the seller of the product. The company said it merely operates as an online platform as an intermediary, and all the products on the platform are sold and supplied by independent third-party sellers. The seller in this case was