Man wins ₹30,000 after suing furniture firm for ‘ruining’ wife's sarees: Report

A Bengaluru resident won ₹30,000 after suing a furniture company over a fungus-infested wardrobe that “ruined” his wife's favourite silk sarees. Mahesh K, a resident of Bengaluru's Rajarajeshwari Nagar, sued Pepperfry after seeing that his wife's sarees were damaged due to fungal growth in their newly purchased wardrobe, The Times of India reported.

He reportedly bought some furniture from the online store back in June last year, including a wooden wardrobe that cost ₹18,000. To his dismay, he soon discovered that infestation inside the wardrobe had damaged his wife's sarees. Unsatisfied with the grievance and redressal process after having contacted Pepperfry's customer care, Mahesh decided to take the company to consumer court.

READ | Beyond our reach: Bengaluru court to man claiming ₹50 lakh after finding worms in chocolate bar

He claimed a compensation of ₹5 lakh apart from a full refund in his legal notice. Mahesh represented himself in the Bangalore Urban 2nd additional district consumer disputes redressal commission in the city's Shantinagar area, and provided pictures of the wardrobe, where fungus had infested the wood.

The furniture company's attorney meanwhile argued that the allegation of selling damaged furniture was false, and that the reason for fungal infestation was bad weather. An year later, on June 6, 2023, the court observed that Mahesh had not produced any pictures of his wife's damaged sarees, but also took the furniture firm to task for blaming Bengaluru's weather after selling a bad product.

READ | Employee sued IBM for not giving him pay rise. Case dismissed

It ruled in the complainant's favour at the end and directed the firm to refund ₹18,000 to him. It also ordered the company to pay an additional ₹10,000 for the trouble the couple went through and ₹2,000 towards litigation charges incurred by the man.