One of my clients recently had a case which I am explaining below and if you are stuck in such similar situation, here is what to do.
Note: Due to attorney-client privilege, I cannot disclose complete case details or identify the actual parties involved. However, I am sharing the essential facts and legal approach so that if you find yourself in a similar situation, you can understand the available solutions and legal remedies.
TL;DR: A month of missed deadlines, unfulfilled assurances and unanswered calls after a warranty defect is confirmed amounts to a deficiency in service. You don't have to keep waiting for a repair you no longer trust. You can file a complaint before the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission and ask for a refund of the price paid, plus compensation for the delay and the mental agony it caused.
Key Facts of the Case
- A smart television was bought on an e-commerce platform in the second week of March 2025 for ₹9,999, with a standard manufacturer warranty.
- The screen developed a defect in early July 2025, comfortably inside the warranty period.
- The company's own technician confirmed the panel needed replacement, and a seven-day resolution window was promised.
- The seven days passed with no repair, followed by roughly a month of repeated assurances, unreturned calls and unread WhatsApp messages.
- A complaint was already filed on the National Consumer Helpline, and an informal notice was sent in mid-August. Neither produced a resolution.
- The customer stopped asking for a repair and asked for his money back instead.
- The consideration paid is well below ₹50 lakh, so the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has pecuniary jurisdiction.
- The claim rests on deficiency in service under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019, read with the warranty terms of the sale.
Aniket Joshi paid ₹9,999 for an Onida smart television he bought on Flipkart. That was the second week of March 2025. By early July the screen had developed a defect, and the set was still well inside its warranty.
He called customer care. And called again. Twenty calls, one answered, is roughly how he described it to the Chamber. He then filed a complaint on the National Consumer Helpline, and only after that did a technician turn up at his Nagpur flat. The panel, the technician confirmed, needed replacement. Seven days, he was told.
Seven days became three weeks. An informal notice went out in mid-August. The email reply said the complaint was under process and would be resolved soon. A customer-care agent separately promised an update within 24 hours. Neither happened. By the third week of August the calls simply went unanswered.
So he changed tack. Instead of chasing a repair he no longer believed in, he asked for his money back and approached the Chamber of Advocate Sudhir Rao, where the file was rebuilt as a consumer complaint rather than another round of follow-up calls. Advocate Sudhir Rao's experience in handling warranty and deficiency of service matters helped the issues be framed correctly from the first hearing, and the District Commission allowed the complaint, directing a refund of the price paid along with compensation for the delay.
The Direct Legal Answer
Can I demand a refund instead of a repair?
Generally, yes. Section 39(1) of the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 empowers the District Commission to direct the opposite party to remove the defect, to replace the goods, to return the price paid, or to pay compensation. These are alternatives, not a fixed sequence. A refund is an independent relief you can ask for on your own facts.
Does a month of delays count as a deficiency in service?
It can. Section 2(11) of the Act defines deficiency as any fault, imperfection, shortcoming or inadequacy in the quality, nature and manner of performance undertaken in pursuance of a contract. Repeated assurances that are never honoured, and a promised repair window that quietly expires, sit squarely within that definition.
Do I have to wait for the repair to fail first?
No. Nothing in the Act requires you to exhaust a repair route before seeking a refund. Where the delay is long and the communication has broken down, consumer commissions have treated the refusal or inability to service the product as the deficiency itself.
What if the company says the warranty allows only repair?
Warranty terms are contractual, and they can't cut down a statutory remedy. A manufacturer can offer repair as the mode of redressal, but it cannot use that clause to defeat a claim when it has failed to deliver even the repair within a reasonable time.
Advice in Such Cases
Consult with Lawyer: The very basic and important step to start is talk to Lawyer / advocate. You should not hesitate in paying his consultation fee i.e. might be in range of Rs. 10,000 to 50,000 depends case to case. He is helping you in this situation to come out. He is expert in the domain and can help you explain the procedure which you might have never explored. A good lawyer can get the issues resolved much faster than you think.
Preserve everything in one place. The invoice, the warranty card, the technician's job sheet, the call logs, the WhatsApp chat, and every email reply. Consumer commissions decide on documents, and a clean paper trail shortens the case considerably.
Put your demand in writing once, clearly, before filing. State the amount, the timeline, and the relief you want. If the reply is another vague assurance, that email becomes your best evidence.
File at the right forum the first time. Consumer matters turn on procedural and evidentiary nuance, and general practitioners often miss the distinction between a warranty claim against the manufacturer and a claim against the seller for the same transaction. An advocate who regularly handles these matters usually gets to a hearing faster and frames the reliefs better.
Applicable Sections of Law
- Section
- Section 2(7), Consumer Protection Act, 2019 — defines who is a "consumer". A person who buys goods for consideration, and any user of those goods, is covered.
- Section 2(11), Consumer Protection Act, 2019 — defines "deficiency". Any fault, imperfection, shortcoming or inadequacy in the quality, nature and manner of performance falls inside it.
- Section 2(47), Consumer Protection Act, 2019 — defines "unfair trade practice". Whether it applies here depends on what the listing page and the warranty promised at the time of sale. That is a question of fact, and the invoice and the product page usually decide it.
- Section 34, Consumer Protection Act, 2019 — gives the District Commission its pecuniary and territorial jurisdiction.
- Section 35, Consumer Protection Act, 2019 — the provision under which the complaint itself is filed.
- Section 38, Consumer Protection Act, 2019 — the procedure the Commission follows once the complaint is admitted, including notice to the opposite party.
- Section 39, Consumer Protection Act, 2019 — the reliefs available: removal of the defect, replacement of the goods, refund of the price paid, and compensation.
- Section 69, Consumer Protection Act, 2019 — the limitation period. Two years from the date the cause of action arose.
- Consumer Protection (Jurisdiction of the District Commission, the State Commission and the National Commission) Rules, 2021 — fix the District Commission's ceiling at ₹50 lakh in value of the goods or services.
- Section 2(9), Consumer Protection Act, 2019 — sets out "consumer rights", including the right to seek redressal against unfair trade practices and the right to be heard. It is the right you are actually exercising when you file.
- Consumer Protection (E-Commerce) Rules, 2020 — apply to the platform and to the seller listed on it, and deal with delivery, refunds and complaint redressal. Which of the two is answerable on your facts depends on whether the platform ran the sale or merely hosted it. The invoice and the listing page usually settle that question.
A television that fails inside its warranty is a commercial grievance. It is not a criminal matter in itself, and the facts described above do not turn into one merely because a company stopped answering the phone.
What Happens After You File
A consumer complaint is not a letter of complaint. It is a pleading, and it has a shape. Roughly, this is the order of events.
- Drafting. A complaint under Section 35, supported by an affidavit, with the reliefs stated in numbers — refund of the price paid, interest, compensation for the delay, and costs. Vague reliefs get vague orders.
- Documents. The invoice, the warranty terms, the technician's job sheet, the National Consumer Helpline complaint number, the notice you sent, the email replies, and the call log. Each one is an exhibit.
- Filing. Before the District Commission that has territorial jurisdiction, which is usually where you live or work, or where the opposite party has an office. Many commissions accept filings through the e-Daakhil portal. On a claim of this value, the fee is nil or nominal, and the filing counter can confirm the exact figure.
- Admission and notice. Once admitted, the Commission issues notice to the opposite party under Section 38. That party ordinarily gets thirty days to file its reply, extendable at the Commission's discretion.
- Evidence. Both sides file evidence by affidavit. Then arguments, then the order.
- If the order is ignored. The Act provides a route for enforcement of a Commission's order. Winning on paper and being paid are two different stages, and it helps to plan for the second one.
The Act asks the District Commission to endeavour to decide a complaint within three months of the opposite party receiving notice, and within five months where the goods need laboratory testing. Those are targets. They are not what happens in a defended matter in a busy district, where a year is common and eighteen months is not unusual.
Can I Get a Refund Instead of Repair? The Timeline in Practice
The short answer is yes, and the reason is that Section 39(1) lists the reliefs as alternatives. Removal of the defect, replacement, refund of the price, and compensation. There is no rule that says you must accept a repair first and complain later.
What decides the case is not the section, though. It is the paper.
A commission is being asked to believe that the company promised something and did not deliver. A single email saying "your complaint is under process" is worth more on that point than twenty paragraphs of narration about phone calls nobody picked up. So the practical work before filing is collecting, not arguing.
Three things usually decide how the matter goes:
- Whether the defect was confirmed by the company's own staff. A technician's job sheet naming the part and the recommended replacement is the strongest single document in this kind of case.
- Whether there is a written promise with a date on it. "Seven days" in a message is a deadline. "Seven days" said on a call is a memory.
- Who was actually the seller. A marketplace listing and a seller's invoice point to different opposite parties, and naming the wrong one costs months.
What the Commission can do, and what it will not
It can order a refund. It can order compensation. It can order the company to pay the cost of the complaint.
It will not usually make anyone rich. Compensation for mental agony in a consumer matter of this size is modest by any measure — the point of the claim is to get the money back, not to punish. Anyone who tells you a ₹10,000 television turns into a large award is selling something.
It also will not fix your set. If what you actually want is a working television, ask for a replacement, not a refund. The relief you choose at the drafting stage is the relief you get at the end.
On these facts, there may be nothing to argue
Honestly: a claim of this size is sometimes not worth a contested fight. If the opposite party appears and settles at the first hearing, that is a good outcome and it happens. If it decides to contest on jurisdiction or on whether the platform or the seller was the responsible party, the cost of pursuing it can exceed the value of the set. That is a calculation to make with the papers in front of you, not a decision to make on principle.
There is also the other side of the ledger. Nobody has seen the company's file. It may have a service record showing attempts to repair that the customer never acknowledged. We have one side of this.
Frequently Asked Questions
How long do I have to file a consumer complaint?
Two years from the date the cause of action arose, under Section 69. For a warranty dispute, that is usually counted from the refusal, the expiry of the promised repair window, or the last meaningful communication — not from the date of purchase. Delay beyond two years can be condoned if you can show sufficient cause, but do not build a plan around that.
Can I file against both the seller and the manufacturer?
Usually yes, and it is often sensible, because it stops the two of them from pointing at each other in a hearing. Where an e-commerce platform is a marketplace rather than the seller, its liability is a narrower question and depends on its own rules and conduct.
Do I need a lawyer for a claim this small?
Plenty of people file these themselves, and the Commission permits it. A lawyer earns their fee where the opposite party appears with counsel, where the reliefs are mixed — refund plus compensation plus replacement — or where jurisdiction is contested. For a straightforward refund on a confirmed defect, the drafting is the part that matters most.
Should I let a local repair shop open the set?
Be careful. Getting it opened by someone outside the authorised network can give the company an argument about the warranty, and it destroys the best evidence you have — the condition of the unit as the company's own technician left it.
Is the National Consumer Helpline complaint enough?
No. It is a grievance route that often produces a call back. It is not an order, it is not binding, and it does not stop the limitation clock. It is useful mainly as a dated record that you raised the issue and were not answered.
What to Send Us
If you are in this position and want to know whether there is a claim worth filing, send these four things. You do not need to write a long email.
- The invoice or the order confirmation, with the date and the amount.
- The warranty terms — a photograph of the card or a screenshot of the listing page.
- Whatever the company's technician left behind, or its written reply, whichever you have.
- Two lines on when you first complained and what you were told.
Anything you sent the company — the notice, the email, the WhatsApp thread — attach it as it is. Do not tidy it up.
Advocate Sudhir Rao practises criminal defence, cyber crime and economic offences at the Supreme Court of India, with chambers at Lawyers' Chamber, Chamber No. 86, Supreme Court of India, New Delhi – 110001. For a consumer matter, the file is looked at first for one question: whether the documents establish a confirmed defect and a broken promise on a date. If they do, you will be told what the complaint should ask for. If they do not, you will be told that too.
Write to me@sudhirrao.com, call +91 97295 06771, or use the form at /contact-us. The first step is a short call, not a filing.
This article is general information about Indian consumer law and is not legal advice on your own situation. Warranty terms, limitation dates and the correct opposite party all depend on documents that have to be read before anything useful can be said.
Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India