I am a 70 yr Senior citizen residing in Bangalore. In 2014 my husband had purchased a flat in prestige in pre launching paying his Life Savings. They handed over the flat in 2019.In 2020 to furnish I got an Interior Designer to furnish my Apartment. He estimation for Rs.6 Lakhs and promised to complete in 3months.Slowly he collected 5 Lakhs.Now after 1 year 6 months, He was not able to complete and avoiding our phone calls. Again one months back asked me give money for completing. I refused, asked him to finish. With great difficulty 70% he did with lot .of mistakes and again started demanding money . Because of this I lost one Year rent and one year maintainance charges Rs.5,60,000/. Now I barred him from entering my apartment and now he sent me a bill of Rs 2,70,000/ for till today work is incomplete. Now how do I go about this person who is calling me day and night to pay the remaining amount. Kindly suggest how to handle I this. Vimala Shyam
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You must be having agreement entered into writing with contractor wherein he quoted Rs 6 lakhs and work was to be completed in 3 months
2) in reply to contractor bill take the plea that till date work has not been completed although18 months have passed since award of contract and Rs 5 lakhs paid to him
3) that you would pay balance amount of Rs 1 lakh on completion of work
Hi, There is no need to pay sum of Rs. 2,70,000/-. First, you need to issue legal Notice and thereafter you need to file a Complaint in the Consumer Commission.
You can send him a legal notice stating the same and id he still harasses you can file a police complaint against him for harassment
- Since, you have entered into an agreement with the said interior designer for carry the said work , then you can claim refund and damages for the unsatisfactory work.
- Further, as per Section 10 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 , An oral agreement is as equally valid, as a written one , and the legality of an oral agreement, cannot be questioned.
- Further , as the said interior designer has not completed the assigned work as was agreed , then he cannot charge any amount from you, and even you can recover the paid amount from him.
- Send a legal demand notice to him and ask for the refund of entire paid amount , and if no refund then file a compliant before the Consumer Forum against him on the ground of deficiency of services .
You can contact a lawyer and issue a legal notice to the interior design contractor mentioning the flaws on his side and instead of obliging his demands, yo may make a demand from his side for the damages you suffered due to his slow and incomplete work, besides taking almost 70% of the contractual amount.
After that you can drag him to consumer court for deficiency in service and for compensation accordingly
Dear Client,
Section 2 (11) of Consumer Protection Act, 2019 defines Deficiency of Service as “any fault, imperfection, shortcoming or inadequacy in the quality, nature and manner of performance which is required to be maintained by or under any law for the time being in force or has been undertaken to be performed by a person.The burden of proving the deficiency in service is upon the person who alleges it. The complainant has, on facts, been found to have not established any willful fault, imperfection, shortcoming or inadequacy in the service of the respondent.If there is any deficiency in delivery of service, then orders can be passed to remove that deficiency For instance, if an insurance company makes unnecessary delay in giving final touch to the claim, then under this Act orders can be passed to immediately finalise the claim.The term 'defect' is defined under Section 2 (10) of Consumer Protection Act, 2019 as “any fault, imperfection or shortcoming in the quality, quantity, potency, purity or standard which is required to be maintained by or under and law for the time being in force or under any contract, express or implied.
Thanks & Regards
