From time to time, we all hear stories about how supposedly closed cold drink bottles have had all sorts of things inside the bottle, ranging from cockroaches to pieces of metal, and so on. In a new twist that combines these stories with the push by our Health Minister to reduce the prevalence of smoking and tobacco consumption, a consumer found a bottle of Coca Cola containing a pouch of tobacco. He was shocked, and started a chain of correspondence with the company in order to discuss this, but apparently getting nowhere, he finally filed a case in the consumer redressal forum. And the consumer court ruled in his favor, awarding him a compensation of Rs. 15,000 (bringing the case dating from 2004 to a conclusion):

CHANDIGARH: The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Fatehgarh Sahib, has fined Coca Cola Rs 15,000 after a tobacco pouch was found in a bottle of the company. “The sale of contaminated Coca Cola, which is dangerous to human consumption is a matter of deficiency of service,” the forum said in its order.
It further said in the order that the fine is being imposed for causing harassment and mental agony to the complainant. The complainant had purchased six bottles of Coca Cola from the retail outlet on May 4, 2004. On reaching home he was shocked to see a pouch of tobacco in one of the bottles. When the matter could not be resolved despite a long correspondence with Coca Cola authorities, he lodged a complaint with consumer court.

This is typically what happens. What would normally happen in such a case is that the consumer would give up after some discussion with the company, either because he has not heard back or because he is reassured that this was an accident. And no production has 100% quality levels, so an occasional quality problem could pop up. What is needed however is that the company respond well to the consumer and not shirk their duty, which many companies in India do end up doing. To that extent, this is a good case; a consumer reported a problem to the consumer forum and got a solution.

The next time a stock broker defaults, you can make the stock exchange he operates in, pay. That is the summary of a landmark ruling of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. Investors can get up to a lakh of rupees from the stock exchange to which the defaulting broker is attached.
The ruling will provide additional security to investors over and above what is already offered by stock exchanges. It will also make stock exchanges more vigilant in examining broker records.
Since stock brokers charge a brokerage for services rendered by them, they are immediately liable to their customers (investors). However, it was not clear whether the stock exchange was also liable for the conduct of the brokers. The judgment delivered by Justice M B Shah on behalf of a bench comprising himself, Rajyalakshmi Rao and Anupam Dasgupta conclusively settled the issue on December 20, 2007.
Several consumers had filed complaints before the Delhi consumer forum against a broker as well as the Delhi Stock Exchange (DSE), for default with respect to the sale and purchase of shares. In all these matters, DSE tried to defend itself by claiming that it was merely a non-profit making organisation which regulated the business of sale and purchase of shares and debentures and that it was governed by the guidelines issued by SEBI. It also claimed that none of the complainants had hired the services of the stock exchange, as the investor merely pays a consideration in the form of brokerage to the broker and not to the DSE. So it was not rendering any service to investors and a claim against DSE would not be maintainable.
But could the stock exchange be held jointly responsible along with the broker? The district forum held that, indeed, the DSE was jointly liable, and so did the state commission in appeal. The matter then went in revision before the national commission, which was of the same opinion.

For a long time, many internet service providers in the country are getting away with providing a poor quality of internet services to consumers. In the past as well, TRAI has advised many internet service providers to make sure that they stick to providing 256 Kbps if they are proclaiming broadband services. TRAI has done this on the basis of studying the internet services provided in many other countries, and hence the decision.

Telecom regulator Trai on Wednesday asked service providers to specify minimum speed of broadband plan, which must be atleast 256 Kbps.
In a statement, the regulator said it has already written to all the service providers not to use words like “up to” while specifying minimum speed of the plan. The service providers have also been asked to bring to the notice of subscribers the definition of broadband while offering high speed internet connections.

Providing the required bandwidth is essential for enabling the internet revolution in the country, and part of that is only possible when internet service providers stick to their promises, and the regulator also lives up to their responsibility.