Hotel Told To Pay Rs 2 Crore Compensation Over Haircut

A bad haircut has cost a luxury hotel chain ? 2 crore, with the consumer court ordering damages to a model who had complained that her dreams were "shattered".

Due to a bad haircut, a luxury hotel, ITC Maurya had to pay ? 2 crore to a model. The incident happened in 2018. Aashna Roy was a model for hair products because of her long hair. She has done modelling for VLCC and Pantene. She had gone to the salon at the ITC Maurya on April 12, 2018, to get a haircut. Since her regular stylist was not available, the staff provided her with another hairstylist. She had doubts about this hairdresser but the salon said that "she had improved". The model had given specific instructions for the haircut. But the hairdresser allegedly chopped off her long hair leaving only four inches from the top and leaving it barely touching her shoulders. The stylist cut Roy’s hair against what she had asked for. The salon then offered her free hair treatment. However after the treatment she had a feeling that her scalp was burnt and her hair had turned rough.  She still experiences allergy and itching due to the treatment. The woman said then no action was taken against the hairdresser, so she complained to the hotel management but still no action was taken. 

She was upset and so she filed a complaint with the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC). NCDRC is like a court which focuses on problems with products or services that we buy. In her complaint she demanded a written apology from the hotel, and compensation for "harassment, humiliation and mental trauma". On 23rd September 2021, NCDRC agreed that the salon did a wrong haircut, so the  woman lost her expected modelling assignments and suffered a huge loss and shattered her dream to be a top model. The court said that women are very cautious and careful with regard to their hair. She would spend a huge amount on keeping the hair in good condition. So they asked the hotel to pay 2 crore as compensation to the model as she also had to quit her job and had a lot of stress and trauma for 2 years. The hotel said the compensation she had asked for was too much. 2 crore is too much compensation and they said she was lying and trying to spoil their reputation. 

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