Concu Mixes Veg Non-Veg Orders, Consumer Forum Imposes Rs 50,000 Fine
Hyderabad: Close to the heels of Mrs. Sudha Murty's statement made during an interview that she only goes to a pure vegetarian restaurant as she, a pure vegetarian, is wary of mix up of utensils between the vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes in other restaurants, we have a case in Mana Hyderabad where Concu Cakes mixed up an eggless cake order with an egg cake for a vegetarian consumer.
Unwitting consumer collected her order from the outlet and only realized the mix up when her cousin, for whose birthday the cake was ordered, cut it and offered her a bite of the cake. After her complaint was not handled by the Concu team to her satisfaction, the harried consumer approached the District Consumer Redressal Forum with her complaint.
On Friday, District Consumer Redressal Forum in its order found Concu guilty of deficiency of service and directed Concu management to pay the complainant appropriate compensation of 40,000 for the mental suffering and anguish caused and 10,000 for the legal costs within 45 days.
The incident dates back to August 10, 2022, when complainant Mrs DS Chowdary of Pragathi Nagar placed the order for an eggless cake on Concu Cakes website and made the payment of 2,500. She was supposed to pick up the cake on August 16th on the occasion of her cousin's birthday. She picked up the cake from the Banjara Hills outlet of Concu at the appointed time.
She then proceeded to celebrate her cousin's birthday where the cake was cut and offered to her. After taking a bite of the cake she discovered it was not an eggless cake. It tasted awful and smelled of egg. She filed a complaint with the Concu customer support team on 17th August 2022. Immediately after filing the complaint she was contacted by the owner of Concu who apologized for the mistake of delivering the wrong order to her. She further offered her a refund for the cake and a complimentary lunch/hamper. She accepted the refund which was processed on 23rd August 2022 but declined the complimentary lunch/hamper offered.
Mrs Chowdary claimed that since the consumption of egg cake in the confusion botched her religious practice and caused her mental agony, she was forced to approach the consumer court. She maintains that she had never consumed non veg food or eggs and had bought only eggless cakes till date, a practice jeopardized by Concu's careless handling of her order.
