Court crushes vegetarian’s ₹2cr claim over French fries

Court crushes vegetarian’s ₹2cr claim over French fries

Vindhya.Pabolu@timesofindia.com  01.12.2024

Bengaluru : In a tale straight out of a comedy of errors, a 33-year-old vegetarian and Ulsoor resident turned a billing slip-up at McDonald’s into a legal drama worthy of a blockbuster: He filed a jawdropping Rs 2 crore compensation claim for what he alleged was ‘mental distress’ after being mistakenly billed for a chicken burger instead of his ordered French fries! 

However, the Bangalore Urban II Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission was not enthused: it dismissed the case by pointing out that the simple billing error did not impact his dietary preference. It all started at the McDonald's restaurant at Lido Mall in Ulsoor when Jimit Jain (name changed), and his nephew ordered vegetarian French fries. However, the restaurant issued a bill for a non-vegetarian McFried Chicken Burger (MFC) with order number 292 and charged him for the same, which is costlier. When Jimit raised the issue, the staff apologised and even offered Rs 100 because of the billing error. But Jimit wasn’t “lovin” it. He demanded a formal apology from the restaurant —which never came—and the situation escalated faster than a McFlurry melts in the summer sun. 

Subsequently, Jimit lodged a complaint, which was treated as NCR (non-cognisable report). Jimit also sent an email to McDonald's, to which he received a reply. Later, he approached the consumer court charging McDonald’s with deficiency of service and sought compensation of Rs 2 crore, alleging mental distress and public humiliation. The restaurant representatives countered, stating the complaint was false, frivolous, and acted with malafide intent to gain wrongful compensation and tarnish their reputation. They further argued that the billing error was due to oversight, was not intentional, and was immediately corrected with an offer of Rs 100 as the differential amount, which the customer refused. 

After reviewing documents submitted by both parties, the court pointed out the obvious: Jimit did get his vegetarian French fries, and the billing goof-up didn’t affect his dietary preferences.

The court declared that a mere billing error, promptly fixed with multiple apologies and an offer of Rs 100, doesn’t amount to service deficiency—or grounds for a multi-crore compensation claim