The DoC filed the case against the company after an investigation showed that Suresh Chandra Adhikary, a consumer, was cheated over a gift offered by Mayos noodles, one of the company´s products. [break]
On January 24, 2010, Adhikary won a car as prize through the coupon kept inside a Mayos noodle packet he had bought from a grocery shop at Balaju. "Congratulations, you have got a car," the charge-sheet filed at KDC quotes the coupon as saying. The coupon is in safe-keeping with Adhikary.
"I was excited at first. But at the same time I had doubts that I would actually be given the prize because I had seen so many cases of fraud involving gift offers," Adhikary told Republica.
With the coupon that offered him a car, Adhikary went immediately to the company to claim his prize.
"The company officials treated me very rudely. They said they could provide me only a toy car and not a real one," Adhikary, said, adding, "I refused to take the toy car and demanded an actual one as per the coupon."
Adhikary tried his best to persuade company officials to honor the advertisement that they have long been disseminating. The ad says one can get a car and other bumper gifts if you buy Mayos noodles.
Adhikary decided to knock at the doors of the DoC after he found the noodle company indifference to his demand. He lodged a complaint at the DoC on February 23, 2010, demanding an investigation against the company´s gift offer.
Acting on Adhikary´s complaint, the DoC summoned the noodle company officials and asked them to furnish written clarifications as to why they refused to award Adhikary a real car.
Recording a statement at the DoC on behalf of the company, Lekh Raj Gautam, sales manager, defended the company saying it was a mistake.
"Our objective was to award a toy car and not an actual car. The coupon offering an actual car was a printing mistake," the charge-sheet quotes Gautam as saying, adding, "We have apologized publicly through a notice in the Annapurna Post daily. Hence, the company is innocent."
Following Gautam´s statement, the DoC asked the noodle company to furnish the public notice and other evidence to proof that that it was innocent.
"The company failed to furnish the documents as sought by the department. Our investigation concludes that the noodle company cheated consumer Adhikary through its undesirable business activity. We have therefore filed a fraud case against Himalayan Snack and Noodle Pvt. Ltd.," the charge-sheet further states.
The DoC, in its documents, has demanded that Adhikary be given an actual car and the noodle company punished by court order as per provisions of the Consumer Rights Protection Act.
Company officials denied the allegation of fraud and termed the case filed at KDC an "unnecessary burden" on the company.
"Our objective was to give a toy car as gift. However, due to a printing mistake, a car was offered in the coupon. We have already clarified the matter through a public notice in a newspaper. We have also furnished a copy at the DoC," said Arun KC, sales manager of the company.
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