Cricketer sues DC Design over booking amount

Cricketer Dinesh Karthik, has sued DC Design for failing to refund the booking amount that he had paid for the DC Avanti sports car.

DC Design displayed the DC Avanti at the Auto Expo in 2012 and 2014. While the company started accepting bookings for the Rs. 35 lakh vehicle in December 2012, it was only earlier this year, that it started deliveries of the car.

Cricketer Dinesh Karthik, was one of the people who had booked the Avanti. In May 2013, he paid an amount of Rs. 5 lakh to book the car at a dealership in Chennai. According to Karthik, the dealer promised to arrange a test drive by January 2014. If he was satisfied after the test drive, he would be given delivery of the vehicle the next month and if not, the booking amount would be refunded.  However, the dealer could not arrange the test drive in time and did not respond to Karthik's queries on the delivery time.

The dealer finally responded to the cricketer's email in April 2015 and Karthik managed to get a test drive of the Avanti on May, 18, 2015. He did not find the car to his liking and cancelled his booking. When he sought refund of the booking amount, the dealer refused, saying that it was not possible since he had taken a test drive of the vehicle.

Karthik then had to send a legal notice to the company, which said that he had accepted and signed the terms of purchase of the car. The company also mentioned that the terms and conditions did not allow them to refund the money.

According to Karthik, the dealer could not produce a copy of the document that he had allegedly signed.

Now, Karthik has moved a consumer forum in the city and is seeking compensation from DC Design for failure to refund the booking amount. He has appealed to the forum to direct the dealer to refund the booking amount along with interest and pay a compensation of Rs. 5 lakh for causing mental agony.

The case was heard recently. The next hearing has been scheduled for September 23, 2015 by the district consumer disputes redressal forum, south Chennai.

Source: ET Auto