[Pakistan] Manufacturer delivered a defective product for a STEM competition. Contract was signed by a minor. How to proceed with Consumer Court?
Our high school STEM racing team hired a Pakistani manufacturer and mentorship group to build our race car for the "STEM Racing UAE" competition. The total contract was for 3.75 Lakhs PKR.
- The manufacturer cut corners and delivered a defective car.
-- During the competition, the official technical inspectors deemed our primary car damaged/un-raceable.
- We were forced by the officials to deploy our secondary backup car, which carries an automatic, massive point penalty in this competition.
- Our theory and design scores were high (putting us at 26/47), but the physical car failed so badly we placed 45/47 in racing. Another team using the same manufacturer suffered similar hardware damage.
The contract was signed entirely by our team captain, who is under 18. Furthermore, he signed it on behalf of our high school, despite having zero legal or administrative authority to bind the school.
Three of our members (who actually paid) are seeking to recover our specific shares of the 3.75 Lakhs PKR. We verbally demanded a refund; the manufacturer refused, claiming they "went above and beyond," and then refused to communicate.
Since the contract was signed by a minor (under 18), is it completely void?
We plan to take this to the District Consumer Court. Does our "final written notice" need to be drafted by an actual lawyer to qualify for the mandatory 15-day notice period, or can we send it ourselves via registered post or email?
Will the competition officials forcing the use of the backup car serve as sufficient third-party proof that the product was defective?
We will get our detailed score breakdowns soon. Should we wait?
Do we have a strong case?
Is a lawyer required? We can not pay the fees and this is an actual registered company.