Holiday Gift Guide »

Nokia tried to shaft a customer in India by giving them a used mobile

By: , IntoMobile
Saturday, December 30th, 2006 at 11:23 AM

Leading mobile phone manufacturer Nokia India Private Limited (NIPL) has been held guilty of ‘unfair trade practice and deficiency in service’ by a Consumer Forum after it tried to pass off an old handset as new one.

The South-West District Forum directed the company to pay Rs 22,000, including the cost of the phone, to one Sameer Sharma, who had complained that his original handset, which had battery problem, was replaced with an ‘old and refurbished’ instrument by NIPL.

"NIPL indulged in unfair trade practice in replacing the defective handset with an old refurbished set which too did not function properly," the Forum, comprising President SL Khanna and Member SR Agrawal, said in a recent order.

Accepting Sharma’s request for refund of the cost of the handset, it observed "the complainant was justified in losing confidence in the product of NIPL as after spending a huge sum, he purchased the set but was saddled with a defective one".

Sharma had in September last year purchased a Nokia 6681 mobile set but soon found that its battery drained very fast and that it had a low capacity of battery backup.

In his complaint, he said that he had approached NIPL office in Mahipalpur here after an advise from the dealer and deposited the handset with it on September 22.

After Sharma visited their office a number of times, he was given another set which he found to be an old and refurbished one having more problems.

He had requested NIPL to replace the defective handset with a new one of the same model but all these went unheeded and he decided to approach the Forum asking for the refund of cost.

Source: DNA India

If there is one aspect of Nokia that needs a spit shine it’s the warranty department. "Being an international company, they should offer an international warranty" Those were the words Darla used in a conversation we recently had. Well let me step it up a notch, that warranty service better be gold. Lenovo treated me like a king when the USB ports of my laptop failed, what’s going to happen if I ever have an issue with my E61?!

About The Author

Stefan Constantinescu

Stefan Constantinescu (@WhatTheBit on Twitter) has loved technology since as far back as he can remember. It started with computers, but in the past few years his passion has turned to mobile devices. As a mobile phone enthusiast who lives and breathes devices that connect to the internet, he knows he is not alone with this radical fascination of all things wireless. He is strongly opinionated and enjoys a good debate so leave comments in his posts and he’ll get back to you! Stefan began blogging as a hobby in the fall of 2006 and joined IntoMobile in the summer of 2007. Later he got a job at Nokia in March 2008, but as of June 2009 he has rejoined the IntoMobile team. He is currently based out of Helsinki, Finland.