Chandigarh: A well-known bubble-gum company has been directed by a consumer court here to pay a compensation of Rs.300,000 to a customer who was not given a Trip to America prize nearly eight years ago.

The Union Territory (UT) consumer disputes redressal commission, while upholding the 2002 order of a consumer court in Ludhiana city in Punjab, said the bubblegum company, Perfetti India, which manufactures the Big Babool brand of bubblegum, had resorted to unfair trade practices by denying the Ludhiana resident, Jeevan Kumar, his prize.

The Ludhiana consumer court had earlier ordered a compensation of Rs.200,000 to the customer but the company appealed against it. The case was transferred to the commission based at Chandigarh which has imposed the compensation of Rs.200,000 and cost of Rs.100,000 on the company.

The commission held that the company misled consumers through its trip to America prize offer.

Kumar had bought the bubblegum from a shop in Ludhiana in 2001 and found the numbers which made him eligible for the prize inside the wrapper. He claimed the prize but the company said that the wrapper was tampered with and refused to give the same.

After the customer approached the consumer court, the bubblegum company put up various excuses to deny the prize.