E-Paper
Man gets ₹22,000 relief as matrimonial agency fails to find groom for daughter
Despite assurance of prompt services, the agency failed to set up meetings with the shortlisted matches, the Panchkula resident complained
A Panchkula man has been awarded a compensation of ₹22,000, along with partial refund, after the matrimonial agency he hired to find a suitable match for his daughter failed to provide the promised services.
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chandigarh, directed New Delhi-based Sycoriaan Matrimonial Services Limited to refund ₹64,000, which is 80% of the fees paid, along with ₹15,000 as compensation for deficiency in services and ₹7,000 as cost of litigation.
Pawan Kumar Sharma, of Sector 21, Panchkula, had hired the agency to find a match for his daughter, who works at a private bank in Delhi. For this, he paid ₹80,500 on May 12, 2017.
Despite assurance of prompt services, the agency failed to set up meetings with the shortlisted matches, Sharma complained.
The company also kept sharing profiles, which did not meet their requirements. He wrote to them thrice in 2018 to stop sending these profiles and issue a refund, but to no avail, following which he approached the consumer court.
Sycoriaan Matrimonial Services Limited said they provided 112 suitable profiles over 20 months as per the plan chosen by Sharma. However, they changed their preferences and rejected the profiles, which they cannot be blamed for.
‘Harassment writ large’
Dismissing the arguments, in its order on Tuesday, the consumer commission said, “No credible proofs of the complainant having received and reverting in rejection of all claimed 112 profiles have been produced. It seems that only with a view to dodge this commission, the matrimonial agency has coined this excuse. The harassment suffered by the complainant is also writ large.”
Further, by not promptly refunding the amount paid and redressing the customer’s grievance, the agency certainly and definitely indulged in unfair trade practice, the commission held.