The Five-Year Warranty That Shrank to One
In March 2025 Meenakshi, a schoolteacher in Coimbatore, bought a front-load washing machine for ₹32,000 from the manufacturer's own website after seeing a banner promising a 'free 5-year comprehensive warranty on the motor and drum'. The machine failed in July 2025. The service engineer reported a cracked drum; the company replied that the drum was 'not covered' because the failure was caused by 'external impact', and enclosed a warranty card - never shown before purchase - limiting cover to one year. The dealer in Coimbatore that delivered and installed the machine says it is only a dealer and is not liable. Meenakshi holds the invoice, a screenshot of the banner, four emails spread over six weeks and the service report. She spent ₹1,800 on a temporary repair and ₹2,500 on repeated follow-ups. The company now offers ₹18,000 'as a goodwill gesture' if she signs a form withdrawing all claims and agreeing not to post about the matter. She wants the machine repaired, her costs, and compensation for three weeks without it.
1. Which consumer rights are affected, who can she make parties to the complaint, and before which Commission should she file? Give the jurisdiction limit and limitation period.
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Rights affected: the right to be informed - warranty terms were not disclosed before purchase and a card produced afterwards cannot cut down what the advertisement promised; the right to safety - a drum that cracks in four months is not fit for purpose; the right to be heard - the company answered by disclaiming; and the right to seek redressal. The banner is an express term of the contract, and substituting a one-year card afterwards is an unfair trade practice and a misleading advertisement.
Parties: the manufacturer, since she bought on its own website and it is the seller as well as the product manufacturer; and the dealer as a second opposite party, because installation was its job and a faulty installation is a deficiency in service, and because it repeated the warranty assurance at the point of sale.
Forum: the value of the goods plus the compensation claimed decides the forum. Under the 2021 jurisdiction rules, the District Commission hears claims up to ₹50 lakh, the State Commission from ₹50 lakh to ₹2 crore, and the National Commission above ₹2 crore. Her claim is well inside the District Commission's limit, and she may file at Coimbatore, where she resides and where the cause of action arose.
Limitation: two years from the date of the cause of action - here the refusal to honour the warranty. She is comfortably within time. She should send a written notice first and preserve the banner screenshot and all four emails.
2. Advise her on the ₹18,000 settlement offer. What is she actually being asked to give up, and what should her counter-offer be?
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What the offer is worth: ₹18,000 against a ₹32,000 machine, ₹1,800 already spent on repair and ₹2,500 on follow-ups - she would be out of pocket even if the machine were repaired free. But the money is not the real issue.
What she is giving up: the clause withdrawing 'all claims' would extinguish her right to the replacement or repair she is entitled to, and the non-disparagement clause would stop her warning other buyers. Such a clause cannot take away her statutory right to approach a Consumer Commission, and it cannot bar a complaint to the Central Consumer Protection Authority, which can act on misleading advertisements on its own motion - with penalties on the manufacturer of up to ₹10 lakh for a first offence and up to ₹50 lakh for a repeat offence. A private settlement does not switch off that power.
Counter-offer: replacement of the machine, or a refund of ₹32,000 plus ₹4,300 of costs plus ₹10,000 for the three weeks without it, with no confidentiality clause; at most, a clause settling all claims relating to this one defect. She has leverage - the filing fee before the District Commission is nominal, she can appear in person without an advocate, and the company's exposure includes a public finding on the misleading advertisement. Mediation under the Act is free and quicker, and is worth trying before a hearing.
3. Assess the dealer's legal position and explain what the dealer should have done at the point of sale and after the complaint.
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Legal position: as a product seller the dealer is not automatically liable for a manufacturing defect in the drum, and it may pass on the manufacturer's warranty. But it is liable for two things of its own: any promise it made at the point of sale - if its staff repeated 'five-year warranty' orally, that is its own representation - and deficiency in installation, which was its responsibility. Saying 'we are only a dealer' therefore does not remove it from the complaint; it invites being joined as a party and being ordered to pay costs. A dealer who installs the machine also needs proof of a correct installation to defend the company's 'external impact' theory.
At the point of sale: display and explain the warranty document before payment, state clearly what is excluded, register the warranty in the buyer's name, hand over the invoice and warranty card together, and demonstrate correct loading so that impact damage is unlikely. Good salesmanship treats after-sales service as part of the product itself - the augmented product - because in a city like Coimbatore repeat and referral business is the cheapest sale the dealer will ever make.
After the complaint: log the complaint the same day, give the customer a written acknowledgement and a reference number, obtain the service report in writing, forward it to the manufacturer within 48 hours, and give the customer a resolution date instead of silence. The dealer and manufacturer should agree a service-level agreement with a 7-day resolution window, so that a ₹1,800 repair does not turn into a consumer case and a public relations problem.