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Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 27
Charging a different price from that in the open market for a water bottle cost Piccadily Cinema , Sector 34, Chandigarh; PepsiCo and its vendor Dhillon Kool Drinks & Beverages Pvt Ltd dear. The consumer forum has ordered them to pay a relief of Rs 22,000, along with the litigation fee and extra cost charged for the bottle, to the complainant jointly or severally.
In a complaint to the forum, Navdeep Singh Nayyar, a native of Hoshiarpur, stated that on June 5, he went to the cinema to watch a movie. During the movie, he purchased a water bottle of Aquafine brand from the food outlet there for Rs 40.
When he enquired about the high price from the attendant, he was shown the MRP of Rs 40. Left with no other alternative, he purchased the bottle. He said the same brand water bottle with a similar quality and quantity was available in the open market for Rs 20.
In its reply, Pepsico stated that the price was fixed by taking into consideration the kind of customers to which the product was being sold and the manufacturers' financial cost. It has to incur higher cost for keeping their product for sale in cinema halls. The cinema authorities denied having charged extra for the bottle while the vendor added that they had no control over fixing the price.
“...PepsiCo has also failed to prove its stand by any cogent evidence that it had to incur higher cost for keeping their product for sale in cinema Halls as averred in its reply...The opposite parties failed to establish their stand with any cogent and convincing evidence for the dual fixation of price... we find no reasonable basis for the fixation of dual price on the bottle...,” observed the forum.
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