Student to get refund for being sold an "inferior iPod"

A consumer forum has now directed an authorized store in the country to cough up Rs. 17,400, towards refund to a medical student for "deceiving him by selling him an "inferior iPod"." The North District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum asked iWorld Business Solutions Pvt Ltd (iWorld) had been approached by Ankit Singhal, a medical student who was looking to buy a third generation iPod for his studies. It was then that according to reports the store "practiced deception" and instead sold him a second generation iPod by "representing" it as third generation.

Store directed to pay refund to the student..

According to reports, the bench presided by Babu Lal noted, "When the customer demanded third generation iPod, it was duty of the seller to sell only third-generation iPod. In the present case complainant (Ankit Singhal) was sold a second-generation iPod representing it to be a third-generation which is in the nature of deception practiced upon a customer just to sell inferior iPod. The thing sold did not conform to its description. In the circumstances we are of the view that complainant is entitled for refund of amount of iPod. Accordingly, we direct the opposite party (iWorld) to refund the amount of Rs 12,400, the price of the iPod." 

Singhal, a medical student from Maulana Azad Medical College had purchased the iPod from iWorld Business Solutions Pvt Ltd (iWorld) for Rs. 12,400. However, according to this report found that the invoice that was given to him by the store showed the iPod as being third-generation one, but he found it to be second generation, when he looked up its details on the official Apple website. He further added that despite several requests neither did the store replace the iPod nor did they refund the amount that was paid by him. The forum furthered an ex-parte against the store, since no one was present for it, while also directing them to "collect the iPod from Singhal at its own expense". The store has also been asked to pay him the Rs. 12,400 as refund and a sum of Rs. 5,000 as litigation cost.

Only recently were there reports of Apple offering an 'iPod Nano (1st generation) Replacement Program. As the name suggests, Apple asked all the users of the iPod Nano (1st generation) (only these, and not the other iPod Nano users) to stop using their iPod Nanos and approach the Cupertino-based company to receive their replacement unit, at no charges. It elaborated that batteries of the iPod Nano that were sold betweem September 2005 and December 2006 are said to pose a safety risk, since a manufacturing defect in them caused the batteries to overheat. With passing time, batteries tend to get more prone to glitches, and hence a replacement is logical.

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