Some years ago, a resident of Bangalore had a narrow escape when the blades of a ceiling fan got detached from the motor and came hurtling down at full speed. More recently, a customer at a shop in Gurgaon, Haryana, was hit by the moving blades of a small, wall-mounted fan, when they got detached from the body of the fan. I also remember a case that had come up before the consumer court many years ago — a consumer had been injured when the ceiling fan in a movie theatre in Mumbai had come crashing down on her.

I am quoting these cases because usually we tend to forget all about this electrical contraption once it is fixed to the ceiling or the wall. They may not need servicing every year, but it does help to have them serviced and re-mounted once in a while.

Of course if you want to replace your old fan with a modern one, you are most welcome to do so, but do make an informed decision and look at features such as safety, performance, power consumption, breeze delivery, energy efficiency and the noise level. In fact given the spiralling costs of power, you need to make sure that the fans are energy efficient and give good air delivery. A Delhi-based consumer group, Voice, had conducted comparative testing of ceiling fans in 2006 and it might be a good idea to take a look at their website.

You also need to look at the after-sales service of the dealer. A consumer recently complained about a brand new fan that was making a rattling noise when fixed. In order to get the retailer to change it, he had to make several phone calls. Eventually, the retailer changed the model and forced the consumer to not only pay more for it, but also for its installation. So check out some of these things before you decide to buy a fan.

Consumers who have bought China-made models have also had some problems with retailers refusing to take responsibility for them. Well, what retailers perhaps do not know is that they are fully responsible for the products that they sell and this applies to imported goods too. While in the case of India-made fans, the manufacturer can also be held liable, in the case of imported goods, the importer can also be held responsible for the quality of the product that he imports. That’s why it is mandatory for all imported packages to carry the full name and address of the importer.