Swiggy to pay Rs 35,000 for excess cost per customer membership in Hyderabad

Latest update:Nov 4, 2024, 11:53 am IST

Emmadi Suresh Babu purchased a Swiggy One membership that offers free delivery within a certain distance.

Membership offers free shipping within a certain distance. (Photo: PTI)

Swiggy, one of the food delivery platforms, was forced to pay a fine of Rs 35,000 for overcharging a customer in Hyderabad. Emmadi Suresh Babu has reportedly purchased a Swiggy One membership that offers free delivery within a certain distance. But that didn’t happen the day he ordered food from the platform. The incident occurred in November 2023. According to Suresh, Swiggy has allegedly increased its delivery distance from 9.7 km to 14 km. Because of this, he was charged an additional Rs 103 as delivery charges.

According to a Times of India report, following a complaint in the consumer court, they decided to review the evidence provided by Suresh, which included screenshots from Google Maps. After examining the evidence, the court concluded that Swiggy had improperly increased the delivery distance. The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Ranga Reddy, Telangana asked Swiggy to refund Rs 350.48 along with 9% interest from the date of complaint.

The court also ordered Swiggy to pay Rs 5,000 for mental anguish and inconvenience caused to Emmadi Suresh Babu. Swiggy has also been asked to bear legal costs of Rs 5,000 and has been told to stop increasing the delivery distance, particularly for Swiggy One members. The court also directed the company, co-founded by Sriharsha Majethi, Nandan Reddy and Rahul Jaimini, to contribute Rs 25,000 as penalty to the Ranga Reddy District Commission’s Consumer Protection Fund. Swiggy has 45 days to comply with the court order.

In 2023, another customer accused Swiggy of overcharging by Rs 4. The customer claimed that their total should have been Rs 255, but was charged Rs 259 instead. To back up her complaint, the person shared a screenshot and wrote: “Oh my god! This is a real scam and I found Swiggy does it even for me! Here is my latest order and it is 255.60. But they take 259? It stinks. It can’t be some random mistake, it seems to be on purpose to add 3 rupees extra. What’s going on?”

At the time, a Swiggy spokesperson clarified that the company had not overcharged any customers. They said all customers paid the correct amounts for their orders. The spokesman noted that there was a technical failure, which was resolved after complaints.