Overcharged Rs 26, customer wins Rs 3,000 compensation from Maharashtra consumer court

3 min readMumbaiUpdated: Jun 24, 2026 05:40 PM IST

A Maharashtra consumer court ordered a store to pay Rs 3,000 after a customer proved he was overcharged by Rs 26 (Image generated using AI).

A consumer court in Maharashtra last month directed a departmental store to pay a customer Rs 3,000 in compensation and litigation expenses after he was overcharged by Rs 26 while buying a household item.

The complainant, a 34-year-old private sector employee, approached the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission, Chhatrapati

Sambhajinagar in 2024. He stated that on May 9, 2024, he purchased a household pest-control spray from D-Mart Mega Mall in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, formerly Aurangabad.

According to the consumer, the store had advertised a promotional price of Rs 115 for the item, down from a stated maximum retail price (MRP) of Rs 125. However, after making the payment, he checked the base of the container and discovered that the actual printed MRP was only Rs 99. Realising he had been overcharged by Rs 26, he approached the store management, who allegedly ignored his complaints.

Defending its pricing before the commission, the store management argued that the consumer was mistaken. They claimed the store was stocking two distinct batches of the same product simultaneously, each priced differently. One had a printed MRP of Rs 125 and was offered at a discounted rate of Rs 115, while the other had a printed MRP of Rs 99. The store asserted that the customer had picked up a bottle from the higher-priced batch and was therefore billed correctly.

Commission slams ‘deficiency in service’

The commission said the store had failed to provide any evidence that the specific batch sold to the consumer carried a higher MRP. It stated that the consumer had provided the total invoice for his purchase that day, amounting to Rs 1,573, confirming that he was indeed a customer at the store.

He also submitted a photograph of a bottle priced at Rs 99, but the store refused to accept it. Also, the store provided invoices from other dates surrounding the customer’s purchase, revealing that the same product had distinct prices of both Rs 99 and Rs 115 in separate batches.

The commission stated that the customer had a valid claim for a refund, as he provided a photograph showing that he had picked up a Rs 99 bottle but was charged for a more expensive one.

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“The store failed to provide concrete evidence linking the item’s barcode to the higher price batch, establishing a clear deficiency in service,” the commission observed in its order dated May 11, made available this month. It directed that the store pay Rs 1,000 towards compensation and another Rs 2,000 towards litigation costs.

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