Dry-cleaner stains dhoti, customer gets Rs 5,000 as damages

BANGALORE: When it’s about gifts, emotions can run strong, even if it means dragging an issue to court. Murali Parthasarathy was distraught when a silk dhoti (loincloth), which his wife had gifted him on their 15th wedding anniversary in 2011, was stained by a dry-cleaner . Not the one to relent, the JP Nagar resident knocked on the doors of a consumer court which awarded him a compensation of Rs 3,000 as cost of the damaged dhoti, and Rs 2,000 for litigation.
On September 28, 2013, Murali gave a silk dhoti for dry-cleaning, along with other items to James Bond Dry Cleaners in JP Nagar. On October 18 when Murali took the items back, he noticed the dhoti had red and green stains all over it. When he went back to the shop, the dry-cleaner promised to re-wash the cloth. But, despite repeated calls, Murali never got his favourite dhoti back in its pristine form. Though the dry-cleaner agreed to replace the dhoti, nothing happened till the day the complaint was filed.
After waiting for a few months, Murali wrote to the dry-cleaner demanding Rs 9,000 towards the cost of the dhoti. When the company failed to respond, he approached the Bangalore urban district consumer disputes redressal forum. Murali maintained that his wife had purchased the silk dhoti from Angadi Silks in Jayanagar for approximately Rs 8,500.
According to the dry-cleaning company, water had flooded its premises due to a downpour, staining the dhoti in the process. The company said it was ready to pay Rs 5,000 towards the actual cost of the silk dhoti. Its representative brought a Mysore Powerloom Silk Manufacturer’s Cooperative Society Limited bill, dated February 17, 2014, that put the estimated cost of a silk dhoti at Rs 2,310.
The complainant, however, failed to produce the original bill to justify his claim that the dhoti cost him Rs 8,500. On July 25, 2014, the forum ordered the dry-cleaning company to cough up Rs 3,000 as compensation towards the cost of the dhoti, and Rs 2,000 for litigation.