Swiggy faces ₹35,000 fine for overcharging Hyderabad man

Swiggy has been slapped with a fine of roughly Rs 35,000 for charging a Hyderabad man wrong delivery fee, which he alleged was calculated by inflating the distance between the restaurant and the delivery location. In a ruling in favour of the Swiggy user, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Hyderabad ordered the food aggregator platform to refund the full amount it collected on the order and pay additional sums as the compensation for litigation costs, mental distress, and punitive damages.

Inflated distance

Emmadi Suresh Babu, a Hyderabad resident, noted in his complaint to the Commisison that he bought the 'Swiggy One' membership, which waives delivery charges on orders that meet minimum value and maximum distance requirements. However, when he placed an order from a restaurant he claimed was located 9.7km away, Swiggy asked for a delivery charge of Rs 103, showing him an inflated distance of 14km. Babu managed to prove to the Commission that the restaurant's distance from his location could not warrant any delivery charge under Swiggy One, using Google Maps screenshots.

The hearings, however, were one-sided as Swiggy was absent throughout, said the report, causing the court to proceed ex-parte.

The order

The court ordered Swiggy to refund the full order amount of Rs 350.48 to the customer and pay an interest of 9 per cent on top of it since the complaint filing date. Swiggy has also been ordered to reimburse the Rs 103 delivery charge. According to the order, the food aggregator must also pay Rs 5,000 for the mental distress, Rs 5,000 towards the complainant's litigation costs, and an additional Rs 5,000 in punitive damages, which will go to the consumer welfare fund of the Ranga Reddy district commission.

Additionally, the Commission has instructred Swiggy to stop inflating delivery distances for Swiggy One members. Swiggy has 45 days to comply with the order, per the report.