Clothing brand, courier firm put on notice for ‘sending flour bag instead of garments’

KARACHI: A consumer court has issued notices to a clothing brand and a postal service on an application alleging that they had delivered a sack of flour instead of garments worth more than Rs50,000.

The court has summoned the defendants to appear on Jan 31 to respond to the allegations.

Muhammad Usman Malik, a consumer, had filed an application under the consumer protection law before the judicial magistrate of the consumer court (East) against Maria.B, a clothing brand, and a postal service, PostEx (Pvt) Ltd, alleging “gross negligence” and that the defendants had committed serious deficiencies in service and engaged in unfair trade practices.

After a preliminary hearing, the court summoned the defendants to appear before the court on Jan 31.

In the application, the plaintiff claimed that on Dec 1, 2025, he had placed an order through the official website of Maria.B for the purchase of garments worth Rs55,864. Four days later, the courier service contacted him, informing that the order was out for delivery and shared the rider’s details along with a tracking number.

He added that although the rider handed over the parcel to him, he discovered after opening it that instead of the ordered item, the parcel contained a five-kilogram sack of flour.

Referring to a screenshot of the complaint lodged with the clothing brand’s customer support through email, the plaintiff claimed that he did not receive any immediate response to his grievance.

The plaintiff later sent a legal notice to the defendants through his counsel through courier. In response, he claimed, the clothing brand initially assured him that the amount would be refunded. However, despite this assurance, the brand later offered him a voucher or coupon in instead of a cash refund, which he described as a deliberate waste of time.

The plaintiff asked the court to issue a decree against the defendants to refund the amount of Rs55,864 along with 25 per cent interest. He also pleaded for an amount of Rs200,000 as compensation for mental agony, stress, discomfort and undue hardships.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2026