Reply to 'unfair trade practice' charges: MRTPC to Tanishq

NEW DELHI: The Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) has issued notice to Tanishq on a complaint alleging that the company was enticing consumers through misleading advertisements and overcharging them by offering inferior quality jewellery.
A MRTPC Bench comprising its Chairman Justice C M Nayar and member Moksh Mahajan directed Tata''s subsidiary Tanishq to file a reply and appear before the Commission on November 28.
The complainant Joginder Singh, a consumer activist, had alleged that on testing the jewellery, purchased through Tanishq''s ''exchange offer scheme'', its purity was found to be below the certification given by the company.
The Tanishq advertisement captioned ''19 Karat = 22 Karat impure to pure exchange offer'' gives an impression that the consumer would get the price of 22 kt gold in exchange for 19 kt and above gold jewellery, he submitted.
"This impression is highly misleading and deceptive as Tanishq deliberately has not mentioned that they are charging 10 per cent or five per cent of the cost of the old ornaments as handling charges," the complainant claimed.
The non-disclosure of vital information was itself an adoption of unfair trade pratice, he alleged, and claimed he was also overcharged by Tanishq.
The rate charged in the invoice was in excess by Rs 160 per ten grams, he said. When verified with the Jewellers Association of Delhi, on May 21, 2002 - the date of purchase of the jewellery - the rate of 24 kt gold was Rs 5320 per 10 gm, he claimed.
The rate of one gm ought to have been Rs 487.66, whereas in the cash memo the rate for one gm has been charged as Rs 498 resulting in overcharging, Singh said.