Mumbai Court Orders Flipkart Refund; Apple India Not Implicated

A Mumbai consumer court has ordered Flipkart and its seller, International Value Retail Pvt Ltd, to refund over Rs 1.11 lakh to a customer who received beard growth oil instead of an Apple iPhone 14 Pro ordered online, along with Rs 70,000 in compensation and litigation costs. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission held that repeatedly closing the customer's complaints without relief amounted to unfair trade practice and ruled that Flipkart and the seller were jointly and severally liable, while dismissing the complaint against Apple India. The commission emphasized that an ecommerce platform cannot distance itself from a sale after it is facilitated, especially when a different product is immediately reported, and that the failure to investigate, recover the wrongfully delivered parcel, or provide a replacement or refund amounted to deficiency in service. The case involved a purchase on April 22, 2023, for Rs 1,11,793 under a no-cost EMI, with the main package arriving a day later containing beard oil instead of the iPhone. The orders repeatedly showed the complaint as resolved without relief, prompting the court to assign responsibility to both the platform and the seller for the loss and inconvenience caused. The ruling explicitly dismissed Apple India from liability.