'Expiry of warranty no defence if product has inherent defect'

Expiry of the warranty period of a product will not absolve its manufacturer or seller from their liability if it has a inherent manufacturing defect, a consumer forum here has said.
"Merely because warranty period has expired, would not absolve the opposite parties, manufacturer or seller of the goods, from the liability if it (product) suffered from an inherent manufacturing defect..," the North District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum said.
The observation was made by the forum while directing LG Electronics to pay Rs 56,000 to a customer who was sold a defective LCD TV which started switching off on its own within a few days of purchase and despite being repaired several times the problem kept recurring.

"In the present case, after a short duration of purchase of the LCD the switching off problem occurred in it. Though it was rectified yet again the same problem crept up. When the same problem crept up again and again, we are of the view that LCD had some manufacturing defect not capable of being removed and the same was not in a marketable condition," a bench presided by Babu Lal said.
The bench also said that in such a situation, the company was duty bound to either replace the product or refund its cost and directed LG to return the LCD TV's cost, Rs 54,000, to Delhi resident Ashima Markandeya and to pay her Rs 2,000 as cost of litigation.

Ashima in her complaint had alleged that the LCD TV she had bought from a authorised dealer of LG started switching off on its own a few days after its purchase and despite being taken to the service centre several times, the problem kept recurring.
Despite the switching off problem persisting in the LCD TV even after several repair attempts, LG did not replace it nor refund its cost, she had said.
LG in its defence had contended that during the warranty period the LCD TV was repaired and once the warranty was over it was not under obligation to repair or replace the TV.