After filing plaint in Consumer Court, the Tata Dealerships has been directed to pay the buyer the extra charge collected for purchase of a Tata Tiago
In November 2018, Janakiram K purchased a Tata Tiago XZ variant from Concorde Motors, authorized dealership for Tata Motors Limited for Rs.5.19 lakhs. At the time of purchase, he took a loan of Rs.4 lakhs but stated that that an excess amount of Rs.40,000 was charged and since he was a defence employee should have received this as subsidy.
District Consumer Forum directed to reimburse buyer
Following the delivery of the Tiago, Janakiram K, resident of Mamidipally in Nizamabad district, appealed to the dealership on multiple occasions to refund this amount, but his pleas fell on deaf ears.
Even as Concorde Motors stated that they would inform him about the status of the refund, 5 months after the purchase, the buyer was informed on 19th April 2019, that there was no excess amount charged and hence there was no question of refund.
This caused Jayakiram to file a complaint with the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum – I at Hyderabad, alleging that the Tata dealership intentionally cheated him of this amount by not providing subsidy. Even as Concorde Motors remained ex-parte, Tata Motors stated that all sales and purchases were handled by the dealerships directly.
Several e-mails addressed to Janakiram, regretting the refund of the subsidy amount from Concorde Motors were on record with the Consumer Forum. The Forum asserted that a payment receipt of Rs. 65,000 from Canteen Stores, Department of Defence and cash receipt for Rs 40,000 as balance confirmed the customer’s purchase.
Unfair Trade Practice
Refusal to refund this subsidy amounted to unfair trade practice and deficiency in service as was decided by the Consumer Forum. In the light of this lapse, the Forum directed Concorde Motors to pay the buyer Rs.70,000 for charging extra amount at the time of purchase. This Rs.70,000 included refund of Rs.40,000 subsidy, compensation of Rs.25,000 and Rs.5,000 towards costs incurred by the complainant in filing the complaint with the Forum.
As announced earlier this year, Tata Motors is gradually exiting its passenger vehicle retail business with Concorde Motors India. This is a part of the company strategy to move out of non-core assets and businesses during the economic downturn that the country if facing. Concorde Motors has been a 100 percent subsidiary of Tata Motors since 3rd July 1999 but is reporting losses to the tune of Rs.105.69 crores in FY19 while revenue stood at Rs.1,215.08 crores.
