Consumer Grievance
Mrs. Maggie sent a jacket to a Clear and Clean Dry cleaners pvt. ltd. (A well reputed brand Name) in January 2022. The jacket was purchased at a price of Rs. 45,000. She had previously sent the jacket for dry cleaning by Shine Dry Cleaners and the jacket was cleaned well. However, she noticed that her jacket had white discoloration marks when she collected the jacket this time. On informing the dry cleaner, Mrs. Maggie received a letter confirming that discolouration indeed appeared after the jacket was dry-cleaned. She contacted the dry cleaner and its Public Relation Manager multiple times and requested for compensation for discoloured jacket but to no avail. Upon Consumer court’s intervention, Shine Dry Cleaners agreed to compensate Rs. 25,000 to Mrs. Maggie for the discoloured jacket. Later, the Public relations department of the company issued a clarification regarding the above case.
Which right was exercised by Mrs. Maggie at the first instance?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Right to be Heard
Option (1) Right to seek Redressal — Incorrect. Redressal means getting relief, such as compensation. It came only at the end, through the consumer court.
Option (2) Right to Safety — Incorrect. This right protects the consumer from goods and services that are dangerous to life and health. A stained jacket is a poor service, not a danger to her safety.
Option (3) Right to be Heard — Correct. The right to be heard lets a consumer complain and be heard when a good or service is not satisfactory. Her first step was to inform the dry cleaner, and then to contact the firm and its Public Relation Manager again and again with her complaint.
Option (4) Right to be Informed — Incorrect. This is the right to full information about a product before buying it, such as its ingredients, price and date of manufacture. She was not asking for such details.
Note: The passage is adapted from the application exercise on Mrs. Mathur at the end of the chapter ‘Consumer Protection’ in the NCERT textbook; NTA has changed the names and the amounts. This question is part (a) of that exercise.
NCERT (2026-27 Edition): “…She had previously sent the jacket for dry cleaning with Shine Dry Cleaners and the jacket was cleaned well. However, she noticed that her jacket had white discoloration marks when she collected the jacket this time. On informing the dry cleaner, Mrs. Mathur received a letter confirming that discolouration indeed appeared after the jacket was dry cleaned. She contacted the dry cleaner multiple times and requested for compensation for discoloured jacket but to no avail.” “(a) Which right was exercised by Mrs. Mathur at the first instance.” “4. Right to be heard: The consumer has a right to file a complaint and to be heard in case of dissatisfaction with a good or a service. …” |