Tiruvallur(Tamil Nadu): A court here slapped a fine of Rupees 15,498 on Zomato following the complaint of a customer that Dosa and Uttapam were missing from the item list after placing an order worth Rupees 498.
Anand Shekhar, hailing from Tiruvallur district's Poontamalli, placed a food order for Rs 498 on August 21, 2023, from Akshaya Bhavan restaurant, including uttapam and dosa, via the Zomato app.
After receiving the parcel, when Shekhar unwrapped it to eat, other dishes came to his notice except the uttapam and dosa. He immediately initiated a call to the Zomato Customer Service Center officer and informed him about the missing food items.
Shekhar also filed a case in the Tiruvallur Consumer Grievance Redressal Commission against the online food platform, as he ended up without any solution from customer service.
The case filed by Shekhar came up for hearing in the Thiruvallur Consumer Court. During the hearing, Zomato stated, "Our job is to act as a middleman between the restaurant and the customer and buy the food ordered by the customer from the relevant hotel. Also, the parcel is delivered by the hotel management. We cannot verify the quality of the food inside it. The hotel management should have been made a party in this case."
But the Court President, Latha Maheshwari, refuted the claim and said that the platform has been charging Rs. 73 as a service fee from the customer. "Therefore, Zomato is responsible for correcting whether the service is being provided properly; moreover, the petitioner's contract is directly with Zomato," the court added.
The court further asked Zomato to refund Rupees 498 spent by the petitioner while placing the order and a total of Rs. 15,498 as Rs. 10,000 for mental anguish and Rs. 5,000 for litigation expenses.
