A major retail chain in Chromepet was found to have stuck incorrect barcodes on shampoo bottles in order to sell them over the Maximum Retail Price (MRP). The retail chain, Saravana Stores has been fined Rs 15,000 by the consumer forum for selling a Rs 130 worth shampoo bottle for Rs 333 — more than double the Maximum Retail Price (MRP).

S Isaac, a resident of Sithalapakkam, purchased some household articles from the said outlet on July 8 last year. When he was checking the bill, he found that a Garnier brand shampoo was priced at Rs 333 instead of the Maximum Retail Price (MRP). Confused, he checked the barcode on the shampoo & it showed the same price.

2 days later, he again went to the outlet to cross-check & found that the product was being sold at Rs 333 & not the Maximum Retail Price (MRP). 2 weeks later, Isaac approached the District Consumer Redressal Forum (DCRF), Kancheepuram, seeking compensation.

Saravana Stores, in response, said Isaac purchased L’oreal shampoo & not Garnier as the latter was out of stock during the said time of purchase.

Also, the complainant purportedly fixed L’oreal shampoo’s barcode sticker on the Garnier shampoo bottle to blackmail & extract money, the manager of the outlet alleged.

Meanwhile, Isaac produced a written response by Saravana Stores to his complaint before approaching the consumer forum. The outlet, in its letter, admitted that one of its employees fixed stickers, supposed to be pasted on L’oreal shampoo, on the Garnier shampoo bottles by mistake. Also, the outlet apologized with an offer to exchange or to refund the remaining amount even as it refuted claims in the consumer forum.

Besides, the outlet was unable to submit evidence — copy of the stock register — to support its claims in the forum that Garnier shampoo was out of stock then & was refilled only a week later.

Based on this, the forum directed the outlet to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to the complainant for causing mental agony due to deficiency in service & another Rs 5,000 towards cost of litigation.

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