India Today Book Club
False committments... Cheating

I got a call from Ms Shoma from ITBC (Phone numbers - 011-30818200 & 30818600) on 25.03.10 and she informed me that my name has been selected for "Sweepstakes" and I have been nominated for Top five prizes, the result of which will be declared on 30th April. She gave me following options to buy:

Kodak Digital Camera (Rs. 7598/-)

Philips Home Theatre System (Rs 7598/-)

Samsung Star Superb S 5560 phone (Rs. 12498/-)

HTC 3G Touch Phone (Rs. 19498/-)

She further told me that in case I purchase one more item from ITBC, I'll be given one assured gift cheque of 10, 000/- of ICICI Bank. I told her to confirm this on mail to me but she told that the scheme is going to close by 12.30 pm on that day and mail will be sent in the evening.

So, on basis of her verbal assurance, I made a payment of Rs 7598/- for Philips Home Theater DVD player. Booking ID is 880098225.

After that I got no mail from ITBC regarding the deal offered.

The very next day, I got call from another executive of ITBC. He offered that if I purchase Blackberry Bold Phone worth Rs 29999/- from ITBC then I'll be given Assured Gift cheque of 20, 000/- Rs. I asked if he can confirm this through mail but he denied. I told him that even if I get a confirmation mail regarding the previous purchase of Philips Home Theatre and assured cheque of 10, 000/- Rs., I'll buy the Blackberry phone from him. I told him to confirm regarding the previous deal offered by Ms Shoma and he confirmed that the deal was actual and there is no hidden fact. He also told me that the complete name of Ms Shoma is Ms Shoma Bose.

Then I called up ITBC Helpline and spoke with Ms Ramnik to check the staus as no mail was recieved by me as committed by Ms Shoma. To my utter dismay, she told me that there is no assured cheque of 10, 000/-.(Complaint no.- 431549)

I have trusted Ms Shoma just because of the fact that name of "India Today" is there but this is cheating on part of ITBC executives. It is a very wrong practise to lure customers.

Also, holiday voucher was promised and was mentioned on its website that was never given.

I have been sending mails to them since March but now even the auto replies have stopped.

ITBC seems to be club of cheaters and they lure people by making false committments. PLEASE AVOID PURCHASING ANY PRODUCT FROM INDIA TODAY BOOK CLUB.

Satinder Singh

Company: India Today Book Club
Country: India

  <     >