Man who received soaps instead of iPhone 7 Plus will be paid ₹1 lakh in compensation

The order for an iPhone 7 Plus was placed through Snapdeal on March 4, 2017 and the wrong parcel was delivered two days later -- on March 6.

A consumer had received soaps instead of iPhone 7 Plus which he ordered through Snapdeal. (REUTERS)

A lucky consumer will be compensated with ₹1 lakh for receiving soaps instead of an iPhone 7 Plus back in 2017.

Parveen Kumar Sharma, a 36-year-old engineer from Mohali had ordered an iPhone 7 Plus from Snapdeal on March 4, 2017. The product was supposed to be delivered by March 12. Once the package was delivered, the engineer received five bars of Rim soap.

Following this incident, Sharma said he made complaints but the courier service, Bluedart said they were not responsible as the package was sealed. Two more emails were sent to Snapdeal but no action was taken against it, Indian Express reported. Additionally, it allegedly even deleted the user's account.

Sharma then took the matter to the Mohali Consumer Forum and filed an official complaint on June 19, 2017.

"Snapdeal provides a technology platform for independent sellers to sell their products and sellers are solely liable for products sold by them. Sellers are also contractually bound not to violate the terms of usage of the platform, including indulging in any fraudulent activity. Snapdeal will take required action against the respective seller and will also consider appropriate legal remedies against the order," a Snapdeal spokesperson said.

The iPhone 7 was being sold by third-party seller, Pious Fashion. On Tuesday, Snapdeal said that it has removed around 8,000 sellers from its platform in the last eight months over counterfeit products.

The Mohali Consumer Forum, which took up the matter on receiving a complaint, has directed Snapdeal, Pious Fashion and courier service Blue Dart to pay ₹one lakh to Parveen Kumar Sharma, a civil engineer. The compensation has been categorized as refund of ₹81,799 along with interest of 8% per year since March 4, 2017. This is in addition to ₹10,000 litigation costs all three platforms have to pay.

With inputs from IANS.